IN REPLY to Councillor Bassam Mahfouz's letter in last week's Gazette regarding the installation of raised tables at the junctions of Uxbridge Road, Church Road and St George's Road in Hanwell. I am a resident of Hanwell and, with others, have been requesting a 'green man phase' crossing to be installed at this busy junction for more than 30 years.
The residents of Hanwell do not want raised tables, as they give a false sense of security to pedestrians. What happens if a considerate motorist giving way to pedestrians is caught on camera in the yellow box junction? It will result in a fine, and income for the council.
If the councillors of Elthorne ward can give time and effort to raise a partition regarding the skateboarding area in the local park, why will they not do the same for our cause of a crossing?
The council has stated that Transport for London will not entertain a pedestrian crossing at this busy junction, but allowed a crossing to be installed outside Lidl. There was no consultation by the council with local residents about this either.
I was informed by the previous council that the £50,000 allocated for installation some years back was still ringfenced for this purpose, but the consultation document just delivered to residents states that if this money is not used for the suggestion of raised tables it will be lost. How can this be so if it was ringfenced?
We were informed by councillors at a ward forum meeting that it is proposed at various places along Uxbridge Road to erect sheltered housing developments and that the pedestrian footfall will increase by 14,000, not including the extra footfall when Crossrail comes to Hanwell station.
Why not invest now and make this crossing safe? This is an interchange for seven schools as well as children's nurseries in the area. It is dangerous for parents with pushchairs and the elderly to cross at this junction and the increase in pedestrians will only make it more so.
The council has commissioned surveys, the main one by Living Streets in November 2004, which stated there were 660 crossings an hour and that 71 per cent of the
people making these crossings showed obvious signs of worry or nerves. In the main shopping area, an hourly pedestrian flow of 583 was recorded at that time.
There were also other questionnaires on this subject and, each time, the green man crossing request came top of the list for action.
The councillors were voted in by us and therefore should be supporting our request, not just going for the raised table option
JOHN MATTHEWS Hanwell
