Wimbledon Chase Regeneration meeting

Not sure if anyone's posted anything about this on here yet, but I wanted to get across some thoughts I never got to air on the day. It was brilliant to see so many people turn up; the architect Tim Day gave a very interesting presentation with lots of good ideas; very big bravo to the feller who said 'let's come up with five action points we can do in the very near future'; for that matter, the meeting was very well chaired by Marcus Beale. One or two things really concerned me, however: the guy whose main idea was CCTV (which, thankfully, gathered the support of about two other people) - we are the most watched nation in the western world, but it doesn't seem to solve our urban problems - in fact, there's little evidence it does anything but increase people's paranoia about crime. It's too pat a solution, but the effect on our psyches is what I fear most - if I thought this whole thing was about helping Big Brother watch us all the more, I would oppose it all. If CCTV were to be installed on the streets around Wimbledon Chase, I would be inclined to go there less, regardless of how many trees have been planted or seats put in. I was glad to see how few people wanted it put in. The other thing that perturbed me was when the police officer said about putting seats in 'the down side is that we might attract the wrong type of people' - quite apart from being suitably vague, who are we to decide exactly which people should use seats? Sure, we don't want more crime, but what exactly are we saying? Do we want only middle-aged white people with good professions sitting in our seats? I noticed a fair bit of resentment about the local school kids - so keeping them away will turn them into good citizens, won't it? Hands up all those at the meeting who have never dropped litter... hmmm, not many I'd wager. The 'solution' the policeman had appeared to be 'temporary seats put up by businesses during the day'. I see... so we can sit down only if we're buying something. I rather thought this was a question of doing something for the people who live round here. Seats don't create or solve major social problems. Put good seats in, I say, then deal with whatever it brings up. Anyway, my rant over.

I agree completely about both the CCTV and the benches. My other concern about it was that most of the plans required Network Rail to be brought on board, and from dealing with them previously I know how hard it can be to get them to do anything (I was the person who spoke about nagging them until they acted). I was surprised at the suggestion that we could simply suggest they remove advertising hoardings . . . I don't think it's going to be as easy as that.

Since the meeting I noticed this article in The Guardian on community companies http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/mar/21/rural-communities-buyout Seems to me we could do with reopening a Post Office in the Chase in this way. Must be a bit of money floating about in this area!!

As a direct result of the public meeting, Merton have taken forward the matter of new trees in the Chase. They have allocated funds for 11 new trees and associated pavement improvements, to be executed in Autumn 2009. Plans of the proposals will be posted shortly.

That’s good news. I was looking on here to find out if what I’d been to was simply a talking shop, but something is being done. Doesn’t sound like enough, mind, but then the biggest eyesore is that railway bridge and the litter attracting embankments. I await developments with interest.

We had a meeting with Network Rail on Monday 3 August, they have already cleared the embankments of litter and undertook to repaint the bridge (green) ASAP. MP Stephen Hammond presented a petition signed by local residents – for some reason Network Rail are very keen to please Stephen Hammond – could it be because he is shadow transport minister for railways? In any case – something is being done and we will see improvements soon.

Re the above message – Network Rail recently told London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon that at the meeting on 3 August, they had agreed to “look into the possibility of painting the bridge and removing the graffiti at Wimbledon Chase”.

They went on to say “this is not an easy task as it will require a road closure from the LB Merton. Our structures team are looking into the feasibility of these works.”

So they don’t seem entirely convinced that they agreed to repaint the bridge . . .

Attached is the revised plan from LB Merton showing the proposed street scene improvements for Wimbledon Chase, sent by Andrew Edser at LB Merton. The design includes the following:
The removal of all existing street furniture (excluding street lighting and essential signage)
Removal of the existing trees
Planting 24 new plane trees
Installing 4 new benches, 4 litter bins, 12 new bollards and 14 new cycle stands all in accordance with the approved Street Design Guide
Improving the pedestrian lighting
Constructing 3 new low level planters with associated planting
Reconstructing the vehicle crossover entrance to the CO-OP store
Installing infill footway covers
Providing new tactile paving
Relaying and replacing small areas of footway paving
Cleaning the existing footways

Provisional start date is 2nd November and we anticipate that the works will take approximately 4 weeks to complete. Any comments?

• Wimbledon Chase Design-Rev A.pdf 942.67 KB

WIMBLEDON CHASE OUTLINE DESIGN FOR STREET SCENE WORKS

Here are some comments on the LBM draft revision A drawing by Tony Michael 10:9:2009

• The intention to make improvements to the street scene in this local shopping centre is very welcome;
• New and larger trees, widened footways, narrowing the carriageway to lessen the domination by through traffic, providing benches and cycle stands etc are all positive steps, and aimed at making the centre better;
• But there are some points that could be looked at again:
Bus passengers alight too far from the Station, so the interchange is poor; The pedestrian crossing is not in the best position to connect with the Station;
The three local residential road junctions are not integrated into the scheme; In detail, benches parallel to the kerbs are problematical, with the choice of looking into a shop, or at the traffic; cycle stands and planters are not ideally placed, and the latter are not practical if above underground services;

So it is suggested that the basic “improvement” idea is good, but the actual design approach should be taken step by step, and the ultimate layout can then evolve, perhaps along the following lines.

THE SUGGESTED AIMS COULD INCLUDE:

• Enhance the usefulness/attractiveness of the local shopping centre, which now relies heavily on the presence of the Station, the Co-op, and the Pharmacy;
• Optimise the links between the Station & the local bus stops for “best interchange”, and have the shortest possible routes for bus passengers linking to the Station;
• Use a “straight across” pedestrian crossing & place it close to the Station entrance;
• Reduce the dominance of traffic and its speed, and narrow the road;
• Provide better cycle parking close to the Station, and for the shops;
• Provide better short term parking for shoppers (the Co-op car park is only for those using that store). It is assumed that all shop servicing is to be done from the rear;
• Improve the pedestrian areas/footways, in width, in materials (that can be cleaned properly, not just look better), and with significant planting, seating etc;
• Use different “quality” paving materials for bus stops/parking bays/crossovers (eg granite setts), general footways (not “small element” V-jointed paving), carriageways;
• Integrate the inevitable signing and carriageway markings into the design, not add them as an afterthought.

SUGGESTED APPROACH
1. Put the pedestrian crossing in the best possible position to connect straight in to the Station entrance;
2. Widen the footways at each end of the crossing, to give minimum crossing length to pedestrians; keep the “single straight across” crossing, and avoid central islands;
3. Put the west-bound bus stop just “downstream” of this crossing, so that passengers can alight and pass BEHIND the bus when they link to the Station, so not hold it up;
4. Put the east-bound bus stop down stream of the crossing also, so that the bus does not have to wait for the crossing to clear before moving off;
5. Ideally get the (ridiculous?) raised rail line barrier to the Station forecourt removed, to allow easier access to the Station entrance, and split up its parking to create a better approach; (could be done later after discussion with Network Rail of course);
6. Include raised tables at the entrances to each of the three residential roads, for easy pedestrian crossing, and vehicle speed reduction;
7. Increase the kerbside car parking for those using the local shops, from the 10 indicated, to say 12/13; and introduce a short stay regime; ie prevent long term filling up of these spaces, so as to help the viability of the shops;
8. Consider introducing a 20mph speed zone through this vulnerable local centre;
9. Plant trees in the widened sections of footway, ie where there is currently carriageway, as this is sometimes easier than in the current footways;
But the positioning of the statutory U/G services must first be properly ascertained by survey before a planting plan can be finalised;
The use of a larger species, rather than the current specimens, would be appropriate for a street of this scale; also, new trees should be a robust Heavy Nursery Standard, to resist vandalism, and have tree guards/stakes/floor grilles;
10. The crossovers to the rear mews and the Co-op parking should have a contrasting material (normally smooth granite setts) to indicate to pedestrians that they are crossing a vehicular route;
11. Provide full size bus shelters for both stops: prevent end panel adverts, which conceal occupants, and encourage anti social behaviour;
12. Street furniture: seating to face parallel to the traffic; bins, existing phone box, public service advertisements, etc need to be detailed in.

A Sketch showing a basic approach is attached. This needs to be worked up in more detail obviously, particularly when information on underground services is available. TM

• TMplan090910.pdf 270.99 KB

I’m a little confused about what is going to happen and when.

The works noted in the WCF posting on 04/09/2009 appear to be about to start – the pavements have been marked out with white paint for trees, seating, bike stands etc.

However, a number of really good points in the WCF posting on 18/09/2009 (like relocating the road crossing) need to be developed and incorporated – but is it too late?

There seems to be a risk of doing half the job, and then having to undo part of that later on – I fear that public opinion might see precious funds being wasted by this, and that solutions were only half thought-through in the first instance.