On Monday 4h March 2023, the Cabinet of the council voted unanimously to make the camera scheme on the west side of WBR permanent. The scheme on the East was made permanent in Dec 2021.
This post explains the key points that came out of the meeting and explains what’s next for WBR.
Results of the survey
The council undertook a series of different surveys during the course of the trial period, including the borough-wide survey run by Opinium. The results of these consultations were published in the papers for the Council agenda and can be read here.
The main table summarising support for CAN schemes and air pollution measures was:
See full survey results here.
Analysis of the Key Performance Indicators
So does the The Clean Air Neighbourhood Scheme (CAN) meet its objectives?
As a reminder here are the objectives agreed between the Council and Resident groups between 2020 and 2022:
So does the The CAN meet these objectives?
Yes. The scheme reduces the number of vehicles on our roads, including the main roads, and as a result reduces levels of air pollution. Here is a useful visual of some of the conclusions.
However, since the bridge reopened in October last year, the volume of traffic coming off the bridge is no longer managed. The layout of the junction is too wide and allows more vehicles onto the road than can be released at the top. The ‘Tap’ on the bridge needs to be reinstated to see the numbers we saw in the first half of 2023. See more below.
What about the WBR?
The council reiterated their commitment to a substantial and very exciting redesign of the WBR away from a commuter through-route to a thriving destination high street putting people first not cars.
The Cameras are just the beginning
It is important to remember that the cameras are but one useful tool to help the transformation of WBR. Of course the road at times is still far too busy, too noisy, too stressful to cross and unpleasant to sit outside. Yet at other times it is too dangerous with speeding vehicles.
That is why the council have been working on designs for the complete transformation of the road.
We are urging the council to begin this transformation now.
For example, the Stephendale Road/Hugon Road junction.
This is one of the most dangerous crossing points for pedestrians and cyclists on the road. It is a hugely important crossing used by hundreds of students from Hurlingham Academy and Chelsea Academy, and due to the width of the road at this point, cars are often going too fast.
It is also the main remaining ‘conflict’ point on Wandsworth Bridge Road. This is due to some local drivers using Stephendale / Hugon roads as a cut-through. These vehicles turning in and out of this junction create tailbacks up the Wandsworth Bridge Road.
It is also the main remaining ‘conflict’ point on Wandsworth Bridge Road. This is due to some local drivers using Stephendale / Hugon roads as a cut-through. These vehicles turning in and out of this junction create tailbacks up the Wandsworth Bridge Road.
As a reminder, constant conflict interrupts the flow on the main road creating congestion and pollution.
So, the more these can be controlled the better traffic flows.
For this reason the Council will also be activating the cameras on Clancarty and Settrington Roads as these roads are currently being used as a mini rat-run.
See the full redesign proposals here:
https://wbrassociation.org.uk/wbr-transformation-design-progression
What about the junctions?
The junction on the Bridge
The council are in discussions with TFL for the total redesign of the junction at the bridge. Remember the Carnwath/Townmead junction has absolutely NO pedestrian phasing, i.e. pedestrians cannot safely cross the roads at any time. This is totally illegal, highly dangerous & urgently needs to be addressed.
In addition the junction is so wide that it acts as a funnel – allowing a huge volume of traffic to literally flood the WBR northbound and the buses get caught up in this crush.
A junction fit-for-purpose would be half the size, would have pedestrian crossings, bike priority lights followed by bus priority and would be narrow enough to be able to control the flow of traffic onto our residential road and local high street; The ‘Tap’.
Excess vehicles would then stack on the bridge, not in front of the homes and businesses on the WBR as they all too often do now.
With the CAN now in place traffic modellers are able to integrate the reduced East/West vehicle numbers into their calculations. The layout on the bridge is also currently part of a Wandsworth ETO (Experimental Traffic Order). Now we need to ensure that all three parties work together to finalise the design.
The Junction on the New Kings Road
Again this junction does not work well for anyone. Too often vehicles cannot get off the WBR because the space between the WBR lights and the Harwood Road lights is full. Pedestrians struggle to get safely across – especially from the Common to the east-side of WBR and in all instances crossing in one phase is not an option (again not meeting current guidelines). Finally cyclists heading South from the common risk life and limb trying to access the top of Wandsworth Bridge Road.
The council are sensibly looking at a redesign of these two junctions together as a single unit.
Update on Ubers and the CAN
Automatic exemption for Pick-ups or Drop-offs
Uber have now confirmed that any driver picking up or dropping off a passenger in South Fulham will be given automatic exemption from the cameras for that job. This will enable Uber drivers to feel confident collecting / dropping off their customers.
You can read more about this here. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/blog/hftrafficzone