What do your Peckham Rye Councillors do? 2

A while ago I posted a short case study giving an example of the kind of work we do in Peckham Rye as your local councillors. Well, I thought it was time for another example...

Residents from the lower part of Friern Road recently approached me about consistent traffic and parking problems outside their homes, partly as a result of the opening of the Harris Boys Academy nearby. Among other things they were finding parking spaces outside their homes were being taken up and that some pupils crossing Friern Road were not seeing cars turning right from Peckham Rye, raising the possibility of an accident. They were also worried about the general level of traffic on their road.

Since hearing of their concerns I set up a joint meeting between the relevant traffic and parking officers from the council, representatives from the school and the Friern Road residents themselves. Last Thursday night we held the meeting at the school and started to get to the bottom of some of these problems.

Officers are now going to do another traffic count on the road to gather evidence of the problems with "rat-running" on Friern Road. A survey done back in May showed there was higher than usual levels of traffic, even before the school opened. They are also going to look at introducing a weight restriction on the road.

One measure that Friern Road residents have suggested is introducing a physical barrier to traffic entering and exiting Friern Road from Peckham Rye. Officers have said that before considering this they will need to look closely at the results of the new traffic survey and modelling on the potential impact of introducing the barrier. However, they are not ruling it out. Officers from Parking also gave a commitment to step up enforcement action in the area.

Also attending the meeting was the Police Liasion Officer for both Harris Boys and Girls school who was very helpful in explaining the various issues which arise at school opening and closing times.

We agreed to meet again in January/early February to get an update on the actions taken and the result of the survey. These problems are by no means solved, but I think we are starting to make some progress. Obviously this is a very small example of helping people in Peckham Rye but, to the people living on lower Friern Road, these are important issues which need to get sorted out.

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Peckham Rye Labour

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