Forum Topic

Adrian - Thank you for your balanced summary of the Hogarth Roundabout section of last night's well attended Chiswick Area Forum.The Lead TfL representative started well basically saying "I come to bury Caesar not to praise him". Unfortunately he quickly reverting to arrogant apparatchik mode. He knows that he and his scheme are "fire-proof" and that he can safely ignore anything that local residents (with or without pitch forks) say. By attending the Area Forum he and his colleague can tick a box and say that they have fully consulted local residents blah blah blah. Cllr Todd read what the Hounslow Council Head of Traffic had  said on the record about the scheme. It was pretty damning. But the TfL representative said that "we get this all the time from local council officers" and making in quite clear that as far as he was concerned it was water off a Duck's back.He refused to comment on TfL's public statement of apology for the duff traffic incident data that they had originally published in support of the scheme. He claimed that the incident data that he quoted in the meeting was accurate. But how do we know. There was no written report for us to peruse. He also refused to comment on the additional errors that were highlighted in an article in the Daily Telegraph. He smugly said that he made a point of never reading reports in the Daily Telegraph. Quite stunningly stupid - effectively saying I will not look at any evidence that might undermine my opinion/view.  He did admit that the data they had used was a bit flaky (I forget the exact adjective) because the incident reports often failed to mention where on the roundabout a collision had occurred. This is surely at the heart of any decision on what needs modifying? However he said that many hours of traffic behaviour had been filmed and reviewed and that this supported their proposal to add an additional lane to the exit onto the A316. But we only have his verbal assurance on this. When confronted with the dangerous nature of the proposed 180 degree turn at the beginning of the A316 neither TfL representative had anything to say in its defence other than they are looking at it. To most people in the room it was clear that this new turning (and the shutting of of Church Street) would create additional serious traffic incidents/collisions.I am hopeful that TfL will produce a revised version of the scheme but know from past experience that any further public consultation will only be on those aspects that have been changed and not on the scheme as a whole. To me as a lay person any change to a roundabout layout can have implications for how all the other parts of the roundabout are used. The re-consultation on any revised scheme should logically look at the whole of the proposal. This is a costly scheme. The implementation will cause countless hours of traffic chaos and the scheme really deserves a far more rigorous approach to its design. We are being asked to buy a £5m pig-in-a-poke because a couple of guys from TfL say that it will make the traffic flow more smoothly.

Sam Hearn ● 24d

I want to respond to many of the views which have been expressed on this thread. I live close to Hogarth Roundabout but not in the Church Street/Chiswick Mall area. I am a regular vehicle user of the roundabout. I abhor irresponsible drivers. I abhor irresponsible cyclists. I abhor irresponsible pedestrians.The thread started with John Todd advising about the drop-in sessions for the proposals. Two sessions had been arranged by TfL on 10th and 20th August right in the middle of school holidays. Two further dates were arranged "following local intervention". It appears reasonable to me to add more dates during the holiday period. Yes, there will be added costs but surely they are acceptable. I do not regard the number of sessions as "umpteen".The addition of a new inside lane on the A4 approaching the roundabout is in itself not a major issue. However, from the point where the petrol station used to be on the left just before Church Street, there is very little (insufficient even?) room to provide that fourth lane with the pavement being so close.The stretch of road on the roundabout immediately next to the steps down to the pedestrian underpass by the George & Devonshire is currently three lanes. I will have to be convinced that there is a safe way to convert that from three to four lanes.The closure of Church Street will cause problems, not just for residents/businesses down there. The solution that all vehicles requiring access, including delivery vehicles and funeral vehicles (often stretch limos)  make a hairpin turn by Chiswick Square, is on the verge of laughable. Many of the vehicles will only be able to negotiate that turn by means of a three point turn. That means they will be reversing into the oncoming traffic coming into Burlington Lane. Safe? Convince me.With regard to the beer delivery lorry for the pub, which is normally a huge vehicle, they will not bother with the hairpin turn. They will just drive level with Chiswick Square then reverse back down Burlington Lane against oncoming traffic to the front of the pub. Safe? Convince me.Vehicles exiting Church Street will be directed to go up Burlington Lane past the end of the flyover then do a U-turn against oncoming traffic to get back to the roundabout. That stretch of Burlington Lane to the Hogarth Roundabout is congested most of the day due to the LTN arrangements for Staveley and Hartington Roads. Safe? Convince me.I applaud any measures which increase safety for road users. However, the proposals to (a) squeeze four lanes into the same space that currently needs three lanes; (b) require vehicles, many of them large, to negotiate a very tight hairpin bend; and (c) direct traffic to U-turn against busy on-coming traffic, will worsen road safety.

Jim Currie ● 73d

Please stop Mr Brooks. The way you are expressing yourself is shameful and embarrassing. Whatever Michael may have said to you, there is simply no excuse for using racist language of this nature.Your unpleasantness detracts from what is the most interesting aspect of this discussion. If you'd asked me what Michael's attitude to these plans just after they were revealed, I would have assured you that he would have been passionately against them.While I disagree with him on a lot of things, his consistency and inflexibility have to be respected and he often raises important points for consideration. While he may ignore nuance and complexity in many of the issues we face, he has always had a number of rigid principles that he follows without fail.Normally he will engage in civilised discussion until someone makes a point that he can't answer, at which point the anger will boil over and the name-calling begins. The baffling thing about this issue is that he seems to have gone straight to abuse without any preamble.I'm really intrigued why he is so intensely in favour of a road widening project which seems to go against the foundation of everything he has argued for over the years. It offers zero benefit to cyclists apart from ASLs which even he will admit will never be used. He is generally in favour of blocking roads but as the Church Street exit is by definition local access only even by the loosest definition, this can't be described as an LTN.The only explanation I can think of for his passion for this expansion of road space is that he has been told that part of the reason for it being required is pressure on the northbound carriageway of the A316 created by the access restrictions in Grove Park. He may therefore fear these measures would be removed if the extra lane isn't added to the A4.This is pure speculation on my part and the only evidence I have for it is the passion with an unbending anti-car campaigner is defending a measure which is indisputably pro-car. If someone can give a better explanation, I'd be very grateful.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 73d

I am not ignoring the seriousness of the collisions at Hogarth Roundabout any more than you are ignoring those that have occurred at Cycleway 9.It is very difficult to put the three collisions resulting in serious injury that occurred at the Hogarth Roundabout in context without more information. However, looking at the FoI response to the OCPS request it would appear that the one serious collision to a motorcyclist occurred at the Dorchester Grove junction which is the other side of the roundabout to Church Street. As motorcyclist safety is explicitly given as the main reason for these changes - are you willing to argue that they are making a strong case?I'm not posing as an expert or casting aspersions on the engineers who designed these changes. I have confidence that the designs have been drawn up to the highest standards but their aim is self-evidently to increase capacity at this junction. My criticism is of the way these changes are being justified which is likely to have been a decision taken not by engineers but press and PR people. They have completely failed to make a case for widening the A4 on safety grounds. We have been given vague numbers which are meaningless without further detail. At the very least a report into the collision history of the last five years should have been provided as part of the consultation process. Although you say you are not an advocated of this scheme you seem to be rolling out your usual tactic of vague use of data, juvenile insults and moral condemnation of anyone who disagrees with you. I think it is fair to conclude you are a major fan of what TfL wants to do.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 76d