Proposed Traffic Management Scheme around Trinity High and St Anthony's Primary Schools; Speed is not the problem says Seeff.

4.38.00pm GMT Wed 25th Mar 2009

During the past 12 months Redbridge Council has been implementing a number of traffic management schemes in the Woodford area as part of the Schools Safety programme. Not all are considered successful by residents and road users. It has recently been told it can access further funds for these purposes from Transport for London ("TfL") and has devised a scheme for the area surrounding Trinity High and St Anthony's Primary Schools on which it is presently consulting residents of Monkhams ward in the roads immediately affected. The principal features of the proposed scheme are:-

* A series of "twenty's plenty" signs and flashing school alert signs

* 22 road humps for Woodside Road, Mornington Road, Sydney Road and Oak Lane

* Drop kerbs and tactile paving at crossing points

* No waiting and parking restrictions at various points outside the schools and in Sunset Avenue to act as passing points.

Clearly the safety of school children and indeed all road users is paramount but local residents believe that these proposals represent a sledgehammer to crack a nut and, apart from inconveniencing them, are likely to make matters worse rather than better by causing hold ups and traffic displacement . Geoff Seeff, the Liberal Democrats prospective parliamentary candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green, goes further and says that they fail to address the real traffic problems of Woodford as a whole, congestion and lack of parking space. Speed is hardly an issue in these narrow and constantly busy roads.

Says Geoff "This scheme is totally misconceived. The Council has been allocated funds which, I assume, it has been told to commit before the end of this financial year or they will be forfeit. That factor alone has determined the haste in which the scheme has been designed, the over specification of features to match the available funds and the rush to get it through some sort of a consultation process. 22 speed humps, some just a few metres from each other is excessive by any standards; parking restrictions will exacerbate the difficulties experienced by residents caused by the displacement of vehicles due to the Council's business and residents' parking scheme at the Village and the plethora of signs, adding to dozens of existing signs of various sorts, detracts from the image and character of what is supposed to be a conservation area".

Aside from opposing the proposals themselves Liberal Democrats will be calling on the Council to give two undertakings. (a) To ensure that proper consultations with local residents and other interested parties take place on this and any future traffic management plans and (b) to ensure that before any new measures are introduced it conducts a review of all traffic management in the Woodford area and to devise measures that address the issues on a strategic rather than piecemeal basis.

If you are a resident of Redbridge you can add your name to the protests against the proposals by navigating to "Sign our Petition" page