Plans to change traffic routes at sides of Greenwich Park

Greenwich Council revealed plans to change traffic routes on either side of Greenwich Park.

The proposals include plans to potentially prevent all traffic going through specified roads in East Greenwich aside from public transport and essential vehicles.

This would include adding cameras, bus lanes and bollards to streets such as Maze Hill and Vanbrugh Hill.

Vanbrugh Hill

Tracy Chalkley, 48, and her partner Gary Morton, 47, have lived in East Greenwich for 20 years.

The couple said they try to only drive their car early in the morning or late at night due to the “gridlock” in the area.

Ms Chalkley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) “Trying to get out of Greenwich is a nightmare. It’s a great place to live but to get out of it or to get into it, it’s just terrible… The junction at the bottom of the road has always been like an accident waiting to happen.”

The couple said that cyclists and drivers often ignore road markings and signs at the junction between Trafalgar Road and Vanbrugh Hill.

They feel that the traffic issue becomes worse with each change to the road, such as Transport for London (TfL) adding a new cycle lane to Trafalgar Road.

Mr Morton told the LDRS: “[The council] don’t listen to the feedback that they receive from people who submit it. At every company that I’ve ever worked in, if things don’t work you change it. If things don’t work here, you’re stuck with it.”

He added: “It’s a difficult problem to solve to be fair to them. But they need to respond and say this doesn’t work. Ambulances are getting stuck down there because they can’t get through traffic. It’s not great.”

The junction between Vanbrugh Hill and Trafalgar Road was previously discussed at a highways committee meeting for Greenwich Council on January 11.

Local resident Kate Middleton said the two roads were “inundated” with rat runners and motorists directed to the area by sat navs could be “extremely abusive” to residents.

Ms Middleton said at the meeting: “[It’s] absolutely heinous abuse. I’ve been threatened with acid, it’s horrendous. [For] people trying to walk around the area, it’s a nightmare.”

She added: “I heard a driver not that long ago referring to two 12-year-old girls as, ‘Get out of my way, you fat wh***s.’”

Locals in the area are also worried closing the roads to traffic will just push the problem in another direction.

The council has also proposed one-way traffic restrictions on Vanbrugh Hill and St Johns Park instead of totally banning passing traffic.

Michael, who did not wish to give his second name, lives on Vanbrugh Hill and said he has nearly been hit while riding his motorcycle at the Trafalgar Road junction due to cars driving on the wrong side of the road.

He said initiatives from the council to close local roads such as Rodmere Street and Walnut Tree Road have just added to the congestion issue on Vanbrugh Hill.

The local told the LDRS: “It’s all a load of rubbish, because they’re talking about zero pollution and net zero and everything else, but ultimately it’s been made worse with what they’ve changed here in terms of construction of cycle lanes, which are rarely used in all honesty.”

He added: “It’s just a load of nonsense. The people who are making all these decisions don’t actually live here. They don’t live and breathe it and experience it.”

Peter Sabine-Bacon, 58, has lived in East Greenwich for nine years. He agreed that there was too much traffic on Vanbrugh Hill, with pollution and noise being the two key issues in his eyes.

Mr Sabine-Bacon told the LDRS: “I’m generally in favour of low traffic neighbourhoods. I say generally because anything should be evidence based. One would expect, indeed demand, one’s local authority that proper studies are done – to the extent that they can given they have very little money.”

A TfL spokesperson told the LDRS that the authority was determined to ensure people can travel safely, easily and sustainably, with work being done on Trafalgar Road with Greenwich Council in recent years.

Changes to the area in 2020 included two way cycle lanes and dedicated traffic signals for cyclists, as well as new signal controlled crossings to make it easier for people walking and using public transport.

They added: “Since the introduction of the scheme, we have been regularly monitoring the changes and have made improvements, including by providing new parking bays and widening traffic lanes to help emergency vehicles to pass traffic more easily. We’ll continue to monitor the scheme to ensure it is working as intended for everyone, including people driving in the area.”

Greenwich Council was approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.