Driving us all crazy

Recently I had reason to call-in a decision (with Alexis and Chris) made by the Executive Environment sub-Committee, chaired by Cllr Mike Greene. The decision they had taken was over a one way system in College Crescent between Finchley Rd and Fitzjohns Avenue. I was unhappy that the decision to instigate a one way "up" the hill towards Belsize was the wrong decision for two very closely linked reasons. School safety and traffic chaos.

We are all adversely affected each and every day by the school run. Whether it be by the clogging up of our local streets, the increased pollution, the dangerous parking, or whatever. This is an avoidable annoyance and the decision on College Crescent could've sent a clear message. Had the sub-Committee followed the advice given by the subsequent scrutiny committee it is very possible we would already be seeing a lessening of this road chaos.

The scrutiny committee rightly realised that over 80% of the traffic on the section of College Crescent every morning was delivering school children ( not to mention the rat-running builders vans who regularly cut through Belsize). By recommending a one way system down the road (to the Finchley Road), traffic would've been dramatically cut and by incorporating a cycling contra-flow system the sub-Committee would've sent a clear and concise message that it was at once acting decisively against excessive car use and also that it was rightly committed to implementing viable and essential Safer Routes to School schemes.

The one reason most often cited by parents when asked why they drive their children to school, is road safety. We have to consistently push for the Safer Routes to School scheme to be incorporated. Only when we do this will parents see we are serious about the school run issue, and be encouraged to use other methods to get their children to school. If by incorporating these safer routes we residents have to make an additional 2 or 3 minute detour then so be it. Our roads will be both safer and clearer.

Unfortunately the sub-committee decided in favour of the traffic so we are stuck with the situation we had before. I will however keep pushing for this issue to be addressed as it is a serious concern for the residents of Belsize and I believe it is only a matter of time before a child gets hurt or worse in the morning traffic mêlée.

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Driving Slowly Towards Emissions-Based Parking

Whilst I strongly support the introduction of an emissions-based parking policy in Camden, I believe that the one that is being proposed has not been discussed widely enough and is not comprehensive enough. The Camden Sustainability Task Force, which I chair, has suggested three significant changes:

1) We believe the charges proposed for vehicles with the largest engines are far too low to change behaviour and should be increased. Any money raised should be invested in green transport measures like safety measures for pedestrians or more cycle lanes. It is important to remember that is legally possible to raise money from increased parking charges so long as the justification is not simply raising funds for the general Council budget, which is what many residents believe the previous Labour administration did.
2) We believe that for an emissions-based parking policy to make sense it should be one car per permit rather than the current system of up to three cars per permit which benefits large houses with off road parking.
3) We believe that business users should also move to an emissions-based parking system.

Not one of these suggestions was seriously considered by the Executive Sub-Group (Environment) that made the decision to bring in an emissions-based parking policy. Why not? What’s the rush? Let’s have a proper discussion and then let’s take a decision when everyone has had their say. Surely it would be better to get this extremely important policy right rather than rush it and get it wrong?

Another Good Meeting with Tesco

These are the minutes of my latest meeting with Tesco about their England's Lane store.

1) Early Morning Deliveries
About 90% of early morning deliveries are now arriving and leaving between 07:15 and 08:00, but the truck is sometimes not out by 08:00.

2) Turnaround Times
The aim is to achieve 30 min turnarounds. We're not there yet, but this is a medium term goal.

3) Evening Deliveries
The evening truck is supposed to arrive at 20:00. It has sometimes arrived late (circa 23:00) and been refused the right to unload by the store manager. Turnaround times are quicker in the evening because there is less unloaded from the truck and nothing loaded on to it.

4) Third Party Deliveries
Milk is now on the morning Tesco truck. Bread still comes daily at 6am but turnaround is only 5 mins. The same goes for the newspapers van. The main bread truck comes at 09:30. Three other trucks arrive during the week to deliver tobacco and frozen food and take on average 10 mins to unload.

5) Weekend Deliveries
Tesco has been delivering Saturday at 08:00 and Sunday at 09:00. Residents of England’s Lane have clearly stated a preference for a later delivery on Saturday. Tesco staff agreed to look at moving the Saturday delivery to 09:00. However they later said this would be difficult and I now need to go in one Saturday morning to see for myself.

6) Delivery Truck Size
The maximum size is now 10.3m.

7) Quieter Backlift
Tesco staff report that approximately 60% of the fleet has now been equipped with quieter backlifts (rubber edging, quieter tail lift motor) and more improvements are in the pipeline.

8) New Storage Facilities
Work has been done to create more space in the basement. This was originally discussed in the context of keeping rubbish/recycling off the pavement as much as possible.

9) Facade
The facade will be renewed this quarter but there are no dates yet. It should look like the Tesco in Hampstead.

10) Sustainability Measures
- Tesco staff will check progress on moving to Liquid Petroleum Gas for trucks and whether any research is going on into the possibility of using electric trucks.
- Tesco will look into putting a box at the exit of the England’s Lane store with a sign on saying “Are we giving you too much packaging? Leave it here and we’ll recycle it. We’ll also try to produce less packaging in the future.”

11) Community

Tesco would like to get more involved in the community and are thinking of installing a community noticeboard in the shop. I suggested they might like to sponsor the Belsize Fun Run this summer or Xmas Lights in England’s lane. To be discussed.