Contents: (click on a topic to jump to it)

UPDATED! Campaign for Traffic Reduction in Crowborough Road

PC Melanie Box takes over Furzedown "Homebeat"

Street Patrollers in Tooting Town Centre

Clear Advice on Terrorism

News from the Watch Co-ordinator

 

Campaign for Traffic Reduction in Crowborough Road + UPDATE 16th May 03

Back in the autumn, many of you completed our survey/petition forms about the amount and speed of traffic using our section of Crowborough Road. Before I reveal the results I have an update on what’s happened since then:

Our survey results and a covering letter were sent to Wandsworth Council’s Technical Services Department’s Group Engineer who is arranging for an investigation into traffic levels using our street to be carried out.

On Saturday (22nd March) a traffic counting device was placed across the road between numbers 53 and 48. Each time a vehicle passes over the rubber tubes a counter records this. Please make sure you don’t avoid driving over these tubes!! The higher the count, the more likely we are to be granted the measures we are campaigning for.

The survey results and covering letter were also sent to Rt Hon Tom Cox (MP for Tooting) who has sent a card acknowledging its receipt—and to Furzedown’s three councillors; Colin Dawe, John Farebrother & Andrew
Halford—who have so far not responded.

In his response, Wandsworth Council’s Engineer has stated the criteria for introducing traffic calming measures which they use to identify the streets which need it most. They are: 85% of traffic at 36mph or more and two way flow of traffic in excess of 300 vehicles per hour OR where there is an injury accident problem.

In my covering letter, I had already explained that the problems we suffer (damage to cars caused by the road being too narrow for vehicles to safely pass parked cars and traffic using our road to avoid humps on Rectory Lane and the traffic lights at Amen Corner) would not satisfy the Council’s criteria for introducing measures. The engineer has noted this and has said he will include our concerns in his findings. He will send a copy of his findings to me which I will copy and let you have.

So to the results of our survey which I sent to the Council, our councillors and our MP.

There are 36 houses in our Watch. Only 7 addresses did not return a form—many addresses (where there’s more than one occupant) returned more than one form so we had a total of 41 responses. 81% of Watch households returned at least one form.

The form gave four suggestions of measures we would want to see introduced and asked which ones you would support.

Of the 41 forms returned 24 (58.5%) supported making this section of the road a “no through road” to eliminate through traffic completely.

Similarly 24 forms (58.5%) supported the introduction of humps to slow down through traffic.

But there were two measures which really attracted wide support—and these are the two we have put forward and are campaigning for:

31 forms, that’s a huge 76%, supported making this section of Crowborough Road one-way. This would mean the end of cars squeezing past each other and between our parked cars causing damage, and reduce through-traffic.

33 forms, a whopping 80%, supported reducing the speed limit to 20mph for this section of Crowborough Road. This (provided it’s enforced) would see an end to drivers tearing down (or up) the hill when avoiding the junction at Rectory Lane & Southcroft Road.

I’ll keep you posted….

UPDATE 16th May 2003:

I received a letter dated 7th May, from Dave Cochrane, Group Engineer at the Council's Technical Services Department, explaining that they had installed and automatic traffic counter which had revealed that traffic volumes were low - too low for consideration for traffic calming. However the results also showed that "the 85th Percentile traffic speeds" (that's the speed below which 85% of traffic travels - a design criteria) were above the 30mph speed limit, so Mr Cochrane has recommended that Police take action to enforce the speed limit. He has also said that although he cannot justify calming measures based on initial findings, as the speeds are higher than he would like, he has asked for more detailed traffic investigations encompassing a wider area to determine what can be done to improve the situation for residents and wishes to assure us that our concerns have not been discounted and that further work is being done.

You can read his letter by clicking on the logo (299KB)

 

 

 

PC Melanie Box takes over Furzedown "Homebeat"

Furzedown Ward Homebeat (or Sector) officer, PC Bob Davies, decided to return to shift beat duties at Tooting Police Station from January so we have a new officer who has taken on responsibility for our ward—PC Melanie Box.

Just as Bob was, she’s based at Trinity Road Police Station and can be contacted on 020 8247 8383 for any local Policing concerns (but not for emergencies—dial 999!). We wish her well and hope to meet her soon.

 

 

Street Patrollers in Tooting Town Centre

Wandsworth Council's hugely successful street patrollers' scheme has been extended to Tooting town centre. Council patrollers are on the streets of Tooting as part of Wandsworth's long running efforts to cut crime and improve safety for local people.

Based on the successful model that has dramatically cut crime and the fear of crime in Clapham Junction, Tooting's team of 12 street patrollers aim to cut street crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour in the town centre by 15 per cent over the next three years

The patrollers, who wear distinctive high-visibility uniforms and be equipped with radios linked to the council's new state-of-the-art CCTV control centre and the police, will cover the main shopping areas in Tooting town centre six days a week from 9am to 10pm.

As well as providing a deterrent to criminals, they will also deal with instances of anti-social behaviour like littering and bike riding on pavements and ensure a swift response to graffiti problems. In addition they will take action against untaxed and abandoned cars.

The new patrollers have undergone five weeks intensive training and have been assisted and advised by officers from the Metropolitan Police and officials at the Home Office.

Cabinet member for environment and public services Cllr Guy Senior said: "Tooting has been chosen as the next area for patrols because it has been hit by the recent rises in street crime that have spread across London. Residents know that our patrollers are no substitute for real police officers, but they know the patrollers can play an important role in supporting the police. They can act as the eyes and ears of the police, detaining suspects, providing assistance to the public and also tackling street defects, graffiti and abandoned cars. We all want to see more bobbies on the beat but the evidence of Clapham Junction is that council patrols working alongside the police can have a real impact on crime levels."

Since the council's uniformed patrollers were introduced in Clapham Junction in May last year, street crime there has fallen by almost a third. Over the same period total criminal activity in the area fell by 13 per cent.

 

 

Clear Advice on Terrorism

The Home Secretary has made a commitment to provide further clear, accessible public information on terrorism, with the announcement of a new website.

A new dedicated site, www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism will be launched shortly within the Home Office site. It will present easily understandable advice for the general public, and provide a range of information - from details of terrorist organisations to guidance on personal protection.

The new site will complement existing resources, but its focus will be firmly on simple, clear advice for the public.

The Home Secretary said “I understand the public thirst for information and advice on terrorism and related issues. We are not always able to give the public and the media answers to all of their questions, simply because some of that information would be useful to terrorists.

But the public have a right to have their concerns addressed, and .... I am committed to putting as much information as I can in the public domain, without compromising security.”

 

 

 

News From The Watch Co-Ordinator

Well the trees are blossoming and the clocks go forward next weekend so Spring is here!

It’s been a quiet Winter for our watch—thankfully aside from a damage to cars we haven’t had much to report recently but we mustn’t forget to stay vigilant and look after each other to keep this an unattractive street for
burglars and muggers.

Adjacent streets are suffering street robberies and burglaries so let’s not be complacent. By the way our website carries full weekly incident reports.

So a warm welcome to new neighbours who have moved in since January—do get in touch if you need anything or have any questions, and to everyone, enjoy the lighter evenings and please keep driving over that traffic counter device!!

Best Wishes
Andy
Watch Coordinator.