Impact of the West London Tram on West Ealing

A submission to Transport for London from West Ealing Neighbours

Introduction

West Ealing Neighbours is a newly formed residents group for the West Ealing area. Its draws its membership from people who live and work in West Ealing along with some who make regular use of the shops and other facilities in the area.

We had our inaugural public meeting in April that was attended by over 70 members of the public. At this meeting our primary topic was the impact of the tram in West Ealing. Our aim was to provide a forum for local people to hear at first hand the arguments for and against the proposed tram. Many concerns about the effect of the tram on West Ealing were raised at this meeting. At the end of the meeting we asked for a show of hands about taking the step of talking to TfL about these concerns. The show of hands was overwhelmingly in favour of West Ealing Neighbours raising these concerns with TfL. With this mandate in mind, we have produced this short paper outlining the concerns of West Ealing Neighbours and other members of the public who attended our meeting.

Summary of concerns

Our concerns are grouped under the following headings:

• Deterioration in north south access for road and bus traffic and greater congestion at the Lido Junction

• Damage to an already declining shopping environment on West Ealing Broadway

• Why is it necessary to divert road traffic in West Ealing and not at the equally narrow parts of the Uxbridge Road at Southall, Hanwell, Ealing Broadway and Acton High Street?

• Re-routing of road traffic along unsuitable side roads

• Access to local roads and Sainsbury’s

• Inadequate consideration given to the impact on West Ealing’s elderly population

• A reduced public transport service to the important transport hub of Ealing Broadway station

Brief analysis of concerns

In this section we list in more detail what our concerns are and why.

1. Deterioration in north south traffic access for road and bus traffic and greater congestion at the Lido Junction

Our primary concern is at the Lido Junction where the north to south traffic, from Northfield Avenue and Drayton Green Road, crosses the east to west traffic along Uxbridge Road.

• With the tram the Lido Junction will need 5 signal phases rather than the current 2. The current 2 phases are: ❑ North and south bound traffic on Northfield Avenue and Drayton Green Road ❑ East and west bound traffic along the Uxbridge Road

• TfL’s proposal for the tram at the Lido Junction will require the following 5 phases: ❑ Trams only ❑ All other Uxbridge Road traffic ❑ Drayton Green Road traffic ❑ Northfield Avenue traffic ❑ Pedestrians

• This will inevitably mean a significantly lengthier delay for north and south bound traffic at a time when this traffic has already increased with the new and much larger Waitrose superstore just off Drayton Green Road. This will cause greater congestion than is currently the case, particularly in the stretch of Drayton Green Road leading up from the Lido Junction to Waitrose.

• It will also mean a significantly lengthier delay for all buses crossing this junction as they will not only have the longer wait at these traffic lights but they will also have lost their bus lanes because of the tram. This is not a better public transport service for the many thousands of users of these buses – E7, E8, E2 and E3.

Damage to an already declining shopping environment on West Ealing Broadway

• The very clear message to WEN from both local residents and local shopkeepers is that West Ealing is struggling badly as a shopping centre.

• West Ealing has already suffered a series of major economic blows with the shutting of shops such as Marks and Spencer, WH Smith, Mothercare as well as QS and McDonald’s. The economic viability of the West Ealing shopping centre will be further damaged by the demolition of the shops and business planned by TfL at the Lido Junction. The damage comes from both the loss of jobs and services to an area that has seen the steady loss of jobs in the retail sector and an ever-narrowing choice of available shops. This narrowing of choice in shops is likely to mean more and more residents are forced to travel out of West Ealing to do their shopping. This cannot be seen as anything other than an undesirable consequence of the proposed tram.

• Re-routing traffic will eliminate any ‘stop and shop’ business for shops in West Ealing Broadway.

• With trams running each way every 3 minutes along with the various buses, the Uxbridge Road will still be busy. There is no evidence that the tram will create a more friendly shopping environment. In fact, the overall impact of the tram and re-routing of traffic will be to slice up West Ealing and, in effect, isolate West Ealing Broadway from its hinterland by introducing three major roads (Uxbridge Road, Leeland Terrace and Singapore Road) where there is now only the Uxbridge Road.

• Where is the evidence that putting a tram through West Ealing will address the decline in the number of shoppers using the area? The decline needs to be addressed by a fully thought through plan to regenerate the variety and quality of shops. This is quite outside the scope of TfL’s plans.

3. Why is it necessary to divert road traffic at West Ealing? • The Uxbridge Road through West Ealing is no narrower than through the other major shopping centres Southall, Hanwell, Ealing Broadway and Acton High Street. So why does TfL take the view that only at West Ealing is a re-routing of road traffic essential to its plans?

• One argument put forward by the previous Labour Council for Ealing was that this re-routing would ‘hopefully’ create a better retail environment for regenerating West Ealing. Not only was there no plan for any such regeneration, despite WEN asking the Council for this plan, but also there is now a newly elected Conservative Council which actively opposes the tram and will not therefore plan any regeneration of West Ealing on the supposed impact of the tram.

• Leeland Terrace was built for a previous plan in the early 1980s whereby West Ealing Broadway would be pedestrianised. This plan never happened. We are left with the suspicion that the re-routing in the TfL plan is simply because it can be done as there happens, by chance, to be two roads available for this re-routing regardless of the economic or other benefits.

4. Re-routing of road traffic along unsuitable side roads

• All the roads earmarked to carry the re-routed traffic - Leeland Terrace, Coldershaw Road, Eccleston Road Singapore Road and Green Man Lane – are all ordinary two lane roads suitable for local road traffic. None are suitable to take the heavy traffic that is proposed.

• All these roads will take heavy traffic directly past residential housing which will mean the lives of these residents and those in nearby streets will be affected. They will experience far greater levels of noise and environmental pollution. It will become far less safe for children to play on these streets and far more difficult for residents to make the once simple walk to local shops, particularly to Sainsbury’s which will become isolated on an island surrounded by traffic and trams.

• The re-routing will take road traffic directly in front of two large buildings housing with well over 100 flats housing elderly people – O’Grady Court on the corner of Leeland Terrace and Melbourne Avenue and Hugh Clark House on the corner of Singapore Road and Green Man Lane. There are large number of buildings on the Green Man Estate housing some hundreds of people and the brand new Pershore and Hyde Houses also housing well over 100 residents.

• Many of the residents of Hugh Clark House and O’Grady Court are already frail and vulnerable they will have their lives permanently disrupted by the effects of this re-routing. Crossing roads will become a difficult and dangerous activity and it will greatly increase the chances of further social isolation, especially for the residents o fHugh Clark House.

• The re-routed traffic along Singapore Road and Green Man Lane will take traffic significantly closer to the Green Man Estate where many hundreds live. They will all be affected by the greatly increased levels of noise and environmental pollution. This estate is already a highly problematic one with some serious drug and social problems. Re-routing traffic closer to it will only make a difficult situation significantly worse and bring no benefits to its residents.

• Any re-routing will almost inevitably increase rat-running along side roads. All these side roads have parking on both sides which means they are only wide enough for one lane of traffic at a time. This re-routing will make rat-running even worse and increase the already high level of frustration amongst local residents at the difficulties they face in using their local roads.

• If Leeland Terrace is one-way westbound then there will have to be some form of traffic regulation, probably lights, where traffic returne to the Uxbridge Road. This will mean traffic queuing in Coldershaw Road and probably tailing back in to Leeland Terrace and result in far greater levels of noise and environmental pollution for residents on and nearby these roads.

5. Access to local roads and Sainsbury’s • In response to an enquiry by WEN Ealing Council said no decision had been made about how eastbound traffic along the Uxbridge Road will be able to access local roads south of the Uxbridge Road or how delivery lorries and shoppers will be able to access Sainsbury’s. The same question was asked of TfL in an email on the 4th April but no reply has ever been received. This is a major question for all of West Ealing and yet TfL has not addressed it.

• If Leeland Terrace is designated as one-way only for west bound traffic and there is no right turn into Coldershaw Road for eastbound traffic along the Uxbridge Road then cars and lorries wanting to access local roads in West Ealing south of the Uxbridge Road as well as accessing Sainsbury’s will be forced to go along Singapore Road, Green Man Lane and then cross both tram lines to reach Leeland Terrace at the Dean Gardens end. This will be a major source of frustration to residents and shoppers and simply increase the volume of traffic going past the Green Man Estate and Hugh Clark House which houses elderly people.

• The proposed re-routing of east and west bound traffic will have the effect of turning West Ealing in to one large roundabout.

6. Inadequate consideration given to the impact on West Ealing’s elderly population • A point raised very clearly by a number of people at our public meeting was the impact of the tram on older people who represent an important element of West Ealing’s population.

• There will be fewer tram stops than bus stops which will mean further to walk for people, many of whom already find it difficult to walk far.

• The trams will have only around 30% of seats and the rest will be standing space. This is the complete reverse of the current situation with buses. This lack of seats is a major worry for many elderly people in West Ealing and could mean they will be put off using the tram and, consequently, they are hindered from travelling and their sense of isolation will increase.

7. A reduced public transport service to the important transport hub of Ealing Broadway station and for travellers making short journeys

• The tram will result in a reduced public transport service for West Ealing residents along the Uxbridge Road. Currently West Ealing residents have five buses that link them to Ealing Broadway, Hanwell, Ealing Hospital and other very local destinations. We understand that the tram will substitute the 427, 207 and 607 buses and leave only the 83 and E8 for these very local journeys. As a result short-haul commuters have less choice of bus to catch whilst older people, disabled people and people with young children who depend on this range of buses will have their choice severely reduced.

• The tram will effectively replace only the 607 express bus route as it will have fewer stops.