The article told a one-sided story from the perspective of group of Havenfield residents
However, many Arbury Road residents are pleased to support the idea of trialling a road closure and a recent Residents Group questionnaire showed that those who live on the road are ready and willing to try pilot schemes to develop proposals that would stop the rat-running, reduce pollution and bring our community together once again. Link: https://arera.org.uk/2020-01-22-survery-results/
The modal filter would be a temporary measure which could be reversed but we think that the effect would positively transformative for everyone
It doesn’t make sense to have “no change” to avoid a 5 min detour. We need to prioritise quality of life for the whole community
Those of us that live on the road see at first hand the problems of congestion, pollution and dangerous conditions for cyclists and pedestrians. Havenfield is set well back from Arbury Road so it is not in the front line
Secondly, many of the assertions of the article are incorrect:
Havenfield will not be cut off. They can have the closure either side of the Havenfield entrance. Worst case is a 5-minute detour if they go by car which is about how long it takes to queue at the traffic lights now!
On the question of emergency services access, Cllr Manning is arranging for a test. To state now that there may be a delay is jumping to conclusions and the test results need to be assessed against all the health benefits due to the scheme.
The proposal is for a modal filter and people can still access Arbury Road by car, no change there
The difference will be that Arbury Road will no longer be used by through traffic and this is what causes most of the pollution and the danger to pedestrians and cyclists because of the narrowness of the road and pavement
This danger has got worse under the pandemic due to speeding cars which has made it more difficult for pedestrians to pass each other
The block will help us maintain safe local distancing and contrary to Ms Purrs assertion this will be of benefit to elderly and infirm pedestrians who are particularly impacted by the current problem
Arbury Road residents have been talking about a scheme like this for some years and are really pleased that there is now some funding to try out the ideas
Survey and headline figures – 87% supported (from 63 households) filtering and with COVID-19 this figure has probably increased.
It was the most popular of proposed solutions:
