Greenwich Council’s School Streets scheme to close roads across Eltham

in brief:

• Five primary schools in north Eltham will have camera enforced road closures around them with fines issued to unauthorised vehicles.
• At Deansfield and Haimo, the schemes will replace physical barriers with cameras making the roads less safe than they currently are.
• At the Gordon the proposals are for a massive expansion from the small section of Grangehill Road which was closed previously.

Greenwich Council has published plans to introduce 20 ‘School Streets’ schemes across the whole Borough including four proposals for five schools in north Eltham.  Residents have until 19^th August to respond to the statutory consultation and I would encourage them to do so as each individual scheme has different strengths and weaknesses.

For the five schools affected in the north of Eltham, we can summarise the proposals as:

• At Deansfield and Haimo schools, the schemes will replace physical barriers with cameras making the roads less safe than they currently are.  However, this may be better for residents who will be able to access their homes during the start and end of school.
• At the Gordon School the proposals are for a massive expansion from the small section of Grangehill Road which was closed previously. The Council does not seem to be aware that the old scheme was abandoned some time ago and has increased the number of roads covered substantially, seemingly including the whole of Elibank and Earlshall roads in error.
• At Henwick and St Thomas More schools one scheme will cover nearby roads.  Given the Council’s objectives, this appears to be a balanced proposal, but it is not obvious at this stage what the positives and negatives of this scheme will be.

It is genuinely not obvious whether each scheme will be beneficial and a review after a year seems a sensible policy to adjust each scheme reflecting the experience of parents, school staff and local residents (inside and outside the scheme).  As an initial way of collecting opinions, we have set up a survey for anyone interested to complete so we know if there are errors we have missed.  You can complete the survey here.

What is a ‘School Street’ scheme?

To clarify what a ‘School Streets’ scheme means, each one includes the following features:

• To prohibit any motorised vehicle entering certain streets or lengths of streets near the schools listed below during Monday – Friday 8 – 9.30am and 3 – 4pm, during term time.
• The measures on all the streets and lengths of streets listed above will be enforced by the installation of ANPR cameras as well as traffic signs. For some areas with existing schemes which have physical barriers we believe these will be removed and replaced with cameras.
• Access will be permitted for permit holders, blue badge holders, emergency vehicles, and any other vehicle exempted under the terms of the Traffic Order. At this moment it is not quite clear who will be allowed a permit but we believe that residents on a School Street will be allowed one for free (although we are trying to find out if this will be for each car).

Responding to the consultation

Some obvious points which I think a response to the consultation might make are:

• Given most school opening times are pre 9am, surely the morning times could just be 8am to 9am.
• Can the Council clarify whether residents inside the restricted area will be allowed one permit per car or one per residence?
• Will there be a review of the ‘School Streets’ schemes at the end of the first year to make changes as required?

Please do let me know if we have missed anything here in terms of obvious responses.

Ealdham School was also included in the consultation to introduce a ‘School Street’ scheme but does not feature in the recently published proposals – we have no information about why the school was not included.