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Brixton Liveable Neighbourhood and LTN schemes - improvements for pedestrians and cyclists

Gramsci said:
Regent street pavements were wide enough for pedestrians between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly pre pandemic.
The problem area was around Oxford Circus.
At rush hour ( pre pandemic) and during Christmas shopping period it was always at times an over crowded bottleneck. People coming in and out of tube did not help. Not sure what can be done about that.
So no given my experience of Regent street I do not think permanent pavement widening on that stretch is necessary.
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I'm not a regular West End shopper by any means but I've been on Regent Street many times when the pavements were unpleasantly overcrowded. Yes, area around tube entrances even worse (partly because the entrances narrow the pavement but also because they close the barriers frequently when the station is overcrowded. Used to happen almost nightly when I was working there.

But that specifically wasn't the question I asked. It's one of London's 'premier' shopping destinations - a place where huge numbers of people visit on foot. Do you think it is better for pedestrians with 2 lanes of traffic rather than 4?
 
thebackrow said:
I'm not a regular West End shopper by any means but I've been on Regent Street many times when the pavements were unpleasantly overcrowded. Yes, area around tube entrances even worse (partly because the entrances narrow the pavement but also because they close the barriers frequently when the station is overcrowded. Used to happen almost nightly when I was working there.

But that specifically wasn't the question I asked. It's one of London's 'premier' shopping destinations - a place where huge numbers of people visit on foot. Do you think it is better for pedestrians with 2 lanes of traffic rather than 4?
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Ive answered your question.
 
Gramsci said:
My criticism is that pandemic is being used by fast track projects.
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Why's that a problem? If anything, the period of reduced traffic and footfall is the ideal time to get disruptive work done.

I sort-of understand your objection to consultation being fast-tracked but for projects that are already decided, what's the issue with them happening faster than originally planned (if that's even what's happening)?
 
teuchter said:
Why's that a problem? If anything, the period of reduced traffic and footfall is the ideal time to get disruptive work done.

I sort-of understand your objection to consultation being fast-tracked but for projects that are already decided, what's the issue with them happening faster than originally planned (if that's even what's happening)?
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Because they are not already decided.
 
teuchter said:
No. When I worked in central London I walked on it most days though.

But is it that your objection is that it makes things worse for cyclists?
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Im lost here. When did I say it would make things worse for cyclists?

To answer your question impact on cyclists is neutral at this time.
 
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thebackrow said:
You are truly hilarious.


That is in no way relevant to the question that was asked.
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Sorry. I gave you a full answer to your question.

Ive recently left a Whats App group as it became dominated by hard line anti LTN people.

I see you as mirror image of some anti LTN people. Dismissive of anyone who wants a comprimise or proper consultation.
 
Gramsci said:
Sorry. I gave you a full answer to your question.

Ive recently left a Whats App group as it became dominated by hard line anti LTN people.

I see you as mirror image of some anti LTN people. Dismissive of anyone who wants a comprimise or proper consultation.
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I’m quite happy to discuss a compromise but I’m met with deafening silence about what that might be. All I hear is rip them out.
 
The regent street scheme, as currently implemented, is daft. The extra pavement is clogged up with planters so doesn't help pedestrian flow. I'd much rather that space was used for a segregated cycle lane. Good N-S routes through the city are sorely needed
 
Gramsci said:
Im sure Crown Estate have been planning this. There has been a load of work on New Bond Street / Burlington Gardens to widen pavements / make roads more pedestrian friendly.

What appears to have happened is that the pandemic has been used to fast track the Regent street proposals. Intially the temporary barriers were Khans Streets Space blue barriers. ie a temporary widening of pavement last year. In run up to Christmas this made sense as it looked like the economy would be opened up a bit and Christmas shoppers would be encouraged to come to shop.

This did not happen- no ones fault.

Then I saw builders making the temporary widening permanent.

I did not understand this as by then it was obvious that no one would be coming to Regent street to shop for months.

The Crown Estate press release sums up my whole issue with the roll out of these schemes.

Councils / large organisations always have projects in the pipeline. Some make it to fruiton some don't.

My criticism is that pandemic is being used by fast track projects.
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But Regent Street has had things like car free / pedestrian only days for years. These plans aren’t new and if you’re Westminster you’re likely to be opportunistic and tap into Covid budgets to offset some of your planned expenditure.

Here’s an example: 'SUMMER STREETS' BY REGENT STREET

And as part of the cleaner air strategy https://heartoflondonbid.london/wp-...t-summer_streets_road_closure_letter_2018.pdf

Specifically on Regent Street - if they had already been doing it, had plans to do more of it, and were doing more of it, why do you have an issue with them doing it faster during lockdown?
 
Not a Vet said:
I’m quite happy to discuss a compromise but I’m met with deafening silence about what that might be. All I hear is rip them out.
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I agree. That is why I regard both the supporters of "real" LTNs here and some of the rip them out Anti LTN as mirror images of each other.

Take the example of LJ. Not everyone was against traffic calming/ closing rat runs etc. The whole thing got out of hand and only one side could win. Council learnt no lessons from that and same thing is happening now.. This time I think the Council and its supporters are likely to win. The resentment will remain.
 
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snowy_again said:
But Regent Street has had things like car free / pedestrian only days for years. These plans aren’t new and if you’re Westminster you’re likely to be opportunistic and tap into Covid budgets to offset some of your planned expenditure.

Here’s an example: 'SUMMER STREETS' BY REGENT STREET

And as part of the cleaner air strategy https://heartoflondonbid.london/wp-...t-summer_streets_road_closure_letter_2018.pdf

Specifically on Regent Street - if they had already been doing it, had plans to do more of it, and were doing more of it, why do you have an issue with them doing it faster during lockdown?
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The press release that I quoted from and disappeared from here somehow shows why.
 
Gramsci said:
Council learnt no lessons from that and same thing is happening now.. This time I think the Council and its supporters are likely to win.
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I actually think they possibly did learn something from the LJ experience and that might be why they might manage to 'win' this time, at least to some extent.

In LJ they basically crumpled at the first sign of opposition. There was no-one ready to argue back; they weren't prepared for it.
 
There seems to be some confused messaging in the Regent's Street proposals.

Permanently modifying the built environment to support social distancing is nonsensical - as long as we're still doing it, there will not be a significant number of people on the street anyway because the vast majority get there via public transport which is incompatible with social distancing. Have they forgotten that 95% of Londoners live outside Westminster?

Given that, the claim that there exists "limited space" for a segregated cycle route falls apart. The street is plenty wide enough as it is with the exception of a few busy periods around Christmas etc.
 
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