proposal details

Proposed New Bus Lay-by and Stop, Chamberlayne Road The council are proposing changes to arrangements for northbound buses in the vicinity of Kensal Rise Station. There are currently six bus routes calling at Kensal Rise. Routes 6, 52/N52 and 187 continue beyond Kensal Rise towards Willesden. Routes 28, 302 and 452 terminate at Kensal Rise Station; routes 28 and 452 approach from the south and route 302 from the north. Currently all buses stop outside Tesco. Those that terminate may either immediately commence their return journey or travel via Dagmar Gardens and Linden Avenue to reach the two bus stands in Station Terrace where there is a rest room with toilets for the exclusive use of bus crews. 1. The Proposal The council are proposing to install a bus stop with lay-by in Chamberlayne Road opposite Chevening Road where routes 6, 52 and 187 will stop instead of in Station Terrace outside Tesco. The reason given for this proposal is to reduce congestion in the area of Station Terrace. The proposal involves the removal of a large, healthy, mature tree, one of a pair that are an important feature of the street scene, along with a narrowing of the pavement, which in some places will result in a pathway barely wide enough for a push chair - particularly in front of Minkie's and where the telephone boxes are located. The lay-by extends across the frontage and terrace seating area of Minkie's and the kerbside cycle racks are shown as being relocated to the area currently used by the Saturday Market. 2. Consultation The council are carrying out a short Public Consultation only in a very small area around the proposed site and finishing February 5th. Residents in the area surrounding the Kensal Rise District Shopping Centre are outraged at being left out, particularly given the damaging consequences of the proposal for their shopping centre. There is no public notice anywhere at the proposed site to indicate what would happen. Even in the small area, not everyone has received the consultation. The Brent website does not allow anyone to object either, whereas a planning application would. It seems that Transportation can rig the consultation with impunity by dis-allowing users of the area to comment. 3. The Area A few years ago local Residents' Associations, individual residents, retailers and councillors worked hard with the council and the charity Groundwork resulting in £25,000 being spent renovating and improving the area. Shortly afterwards Minkie's Deli opened, and has been a magnet attracting other new enterprises to Kensal Rise. This pleasant space with its mature trees and outdoor tables is now under threat from the proposal, together with great damage to Minkie's business. The destruction of the mature tree would also considerably impact on the street scene as seen from the outdoor tables of the Chamberlayne pub-restaurant opposite. 4. Congestion The proposal claims that buses are frequently delayed by vehicles parked in the area and by vehicles that are legally permitted to load and unload but observation shows that congestion problems arise almost entirely from vehicles parked illegally due to a total lack of enforcement of the double yellow lines. Permitted times and places for loading and unloading can always be adjusted if necessary. In order to maintain the schedules, bus stands are needed at termini (otherwise buses will 'bunch up' on the routes) and crews need comfort breaks. TfL built the rest room and toilets for them near the two existing stands. What the consultation document does not state, but emerged from a telephone conversation with Transportation is that the council intend to abolish the bus stands in Station Terrace and buses would no longer travel around Dagmar Gardens and Linden Avenue. While residents there have our full sympathy for having to put up with buses in such narrow streets, this simply causes bigger problems elsewhere. Currently there are spaces for at least six buses in the two bus stands and they are often full. If buses are forced to stand in the area in front of Tesco's there will be massive congestion. The fact that the through running buses would no longer stop there would do nothing to alleviate that. 5. Proposed location of additional bus stop The proposed location goes completely against good practice and is potentially hazardous because it is located right on the junction with Chevening Road, adjacent to the exit from Station Terrace and too close to the blind crest of a hill with a pedestrian crossing. The width of the lay-by as shown on the plans is not wide enough to entirely contain a bus, so traffic will either pile up behind or try to overtake, unseen by oncoming vehicles until it is too late. Worse, there is a bus stop opposite on Chamberlayne and southbound traffic will also try to overtake or pile up behind. 6. Changes to box junctions The proposal is to reduce the two yellow box junctions (Chevening Road and Station Terrace with Chamberlayne Road) from full to half carriageway width. That will make it much more difficult for buses leaving Station Terrace to turn right, particularly in the rush hour. They will be contending with buses pulling into the proposed lay-by, traffic turning out of Chevening, buses pulling away from the stop opposite the proposed lay-by, and impatient cars trying to overtake in both directions. 7. Conclusion This has to be the most ill thought-out scheme that the council have come up with. It fails to take into account the practical reality of scheduling and running bus services, the effect on the environment and the nearby retailers' businesses, the potential for increased pollution in an already heavily polluted area, caused by buses pulling away from a standstill up a hill right outside a terrace where people are eating and drinking, as well as on the terrace outside the Chamberlayne opposite, and the existence of a periodic market on the affected area. New schemes are supposed to enhance and improve: the damage to the Kensal Rise environment and potential to worsen traffic congestion and cause accidents as a result of this proposal is immense. Aylestone Park Residents' and Tenants' Association 26 January 2010

Please send your views to Phil Rankmore, Head of Special Projects, Transportation Service Unit. Phil's e-mail address is: Phil.Rankmore@brent.gov.uk. Please be sure to Bcc: info@minkiesdeli.co.uk as we will then have evidence that residents have made a complaint. Please ask your friends to do so too! PLEASE also come into Minkies and sign our petition. The consultation documents can be viewed at: http://www.bmgresearch.co.uk/brent/KMS/dmart.aspx?NoIP=1&strTab=PublicDMart&filter_Status=1 Click on Chamberlayne Road Lay-by and then on the two links to the consultation document and questionnaire. You can also read more about the proposal by clicking HERE We REALLY APPRECIATE your support in keeping a welcoming and aestheic environment on our high street.

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Station, on Chamberlayne Road

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