James Hockney LLB(Hons)

Raglan School Road Safety Update

➡️ We continue to call for 20mph School speed limits at the Amberley Road and Raglan Road entrances. The call has been ongoing since 2018 and we not stop until this is secured. Currently only Wellington Road has a School time 20mph limit.

➡️ Add your support emailing Traffic@Enfield.gov.uk and please feel welcome to copy me in Cllr.James.Hockney@Enfield.gov.uk ➡️ Four years ago the community successfully secured the Zebra crossing and extended zig zag lines on Wellington Road.
➡️ We would like to see School walk to School project (known as walking buses) to encourage walking and reducing car use. Sadly there is £0 funding from the Council.

➡️ There have been complaints about anti social parking and we regularly contact parking enforcement about this. This occurs on many roads and most complaints are about Wellington Road and Manor Way. If you see anti social / illegal parking please contact parking enforcement.

We will not rest until there is a 20mph speed limit on Raglan Road and Amberley Road.

We continue to press the issue of tackling A10 speeding.

Our call is for average speed 📸cameras network between Southbury Road junction / Great Cambridge Road roundabout like the northern section of the A10.

Please sign the petition. https://www.change.org/p/sadiq-khan-enfield-average-speed-cameras-for-a10-southbury-road-junction-to-great-cambridge-road-roundabout

As one of your Bush Hill Park Councillors, I continue to proactively press the issue of road safety with Enfield Council. Sadly, the Council has stated on repeated occasions that the accident rates across Bush Hill Park are not high enough for intervention. Clearly this is disappointing to say the least; consistently road safety is one of the biggest concerns of residents and have raised the issue at the very most senior levels of authority.

Speed cameras are the responsibility of the Greater London Assembly (GLA). Funding is currently paused – but it is likely that these will be prioritised for high accident areas. To date all the Council have offered are LTNs (road closures to through traffic) which are clearly deeply divisive and controversial. The feedback I have received overall from local residents is a clear majority against.

The good news.

I have been working with the local Bush Hill Park Police and local crime panel (CAPE). Through this securing a commitment that speeding cars are one of the three key priorities for the Police. As a result of stopping these cars, due to other offences (eg no license, tax etc) over 30 vehicles have been seized in the last month. Where you can help. I am working with the Police and CAPE to set-up a ‘Community Speed Watch’ project for Bush Hill Park Ward. We are looking for volunteers to assist with this – if you are interested please let me know.

I am continuing to work with the Bush Hill Park Police and CAPE on the issue of speeding and dangerous driving.

This includes, through the CAPE, that speeding/anti-social driving is one of the key priorities for the Bush Hill Park Police. At the moment we are working on securing funds for the local officers to be trained on using the speed gun.

Some good news, is that whilst we wait on this; the local team still specifically allocated resources for car patrols in the meantime!

For instance a car driving erratically on Fords Grove N21 was stopped, the driver wasn’t insured to drive the vehicle and the vehicle has been seized.
The number of seized vehicles on Bush Hill Park in the last month has now EXCEEDED 15! Most of the time stops are due to the manner of driving.

On average the Bush Hill Park Police are seizing about one car per shift. However there are occasions where they process drivers for other offences such as using a mobile phone whilst driving – which doesn’t include seizing vehicles.

In addition, as the Police move towards undertaking speed gun work, they are asking for volunteers to join the Community Speed Watch scheme – where residents assist the Police. If you would be interested in helping please go to the the following link;
www.communityspeedwatch.org

At the local Bush Hill Park crime panel (CAPE) the issue of speeding was discussed in the Halstead Road / Firs Lane area. The local Police have access to speed guns and will put resource for an ongoing operation in the area.

This is welcome news, however in the longer term only a permanent solution of road safety measures will suffice.

Local residents have done a sterling job petitioning and emailing the Council for action. This is in addition to our own efforts as local Councillors pressing for action on speeding issues along Firs Lane, Halstead Road, Firs Park Avenue area.

Recently we have seen another spike; with many accidents taking place in the past week alone. This familiar site of cars driven to excess and then, inevitably lose control and smash into residents parked cars.

Whilst the Police efforts are welcome, the Council needs to come up with permanent solutions; they must be aimed at improving road safety, formally consulted with local residents and securing broad support before being put in place.

I have continued to ask the Council for a virtual meeting with local residents to move the issue forward.

We will continue to press Enfield Borough Council for action. 

I am continuing to work with local Primary Schools, Council, Police and residents to improve road safety around our three local Primary Schools.

To bring you up to date, here is the latest news;

Raglan School.

We continue to work to secure a 20mph speed limit around the School perimeter. Only Wellington Road features a reduced speed limit, and of course there are entrances at Amberley Road and Raglan Road. One step forward is that I secured a speed survey which took place in September. I am awaiting the report on this from the Council.

There have been some parking issues including on the zig-zag lines. I am working with Council Parking Enforcement and the Police to tackle this behaviour.

Firs Farm School.

The entrance of the School has changed to the Fairway – where there are no zig-zag lines. I have requested that the Council look at this. Like Raglan School I am working with the Council Parking Enforcement and Police on various parking issues in the area. We have also seen an ongoing issue of speeding on the road and have asked for a speed survey to be conducted by the Council.

Edmonton County School. 

During peak drop-off and collection times the road of Little Bury Street can become very congested with parking blocking residents driveways. Again I am working with the Council Parking Enforcement and Police on this.

I will continue to press for action at all three local Primary Schools.

There have been quite a few questions about the cameras, I have done to extra research and received a briefing. So here is a bit more detail.

(1) Securing the cameras. The community social media campaign was credited with being instrumental in getting the cameras.