Why have crossings at Greenford Flyover?
Greenford Green Labour has raised safety at Greenford Flyover as a local priority. It says that they will work with TfL to introduce surface level crossings. Not a new idea, a local Conservative councillor has been promoting this for some time. Why indulge those who are too lazy to use the subways? Their excuse for crossing the slip roads is that they fear being mugged or even murdered in the space under the Flyover but that could happen to them anywhere. On schooldays you will see more than one parent dodging traffic with their children, often with a phone clamped to one ear, because they are late. Apart from being a real menace to responsible drivers this provides a very poor example to the next generation of pedestrians. Other parents make the effort to turn up on time and at certain times of day there are quite a few people with pushchairs using the subways. They aren't perfect, they are quite steep and the dogleg layout makes CCTV coverage awkward, but I still see them being used by people on mobility scooters and cyclists. The opening of William Perkin High School near these subways was a major concern for me and I commented on it during the planning application stage. Whoever is responsible for the area under the flyover has cut back the bushes and undergrowth since the school was launched, and the steps have been improved.A more intelligent option would be to make it much harder to cross the slip roads (higher, more substantial barriers) while using that space for an air-conditioned community building in use 24 hours a day. A walk-in medical centre, a police station, a cybercafe and even a local radio station could make that space useful. It is not suitable for a skate park - it is below street level, out of sight of the road, and and I could feel the effects of the noise and emissions when I was down there for two hours with Henry Shaftoe, a lecturer in Planning and Architecture along with Chris Vallance of BBC Radio 4 on a hot day. Henry Shaftoe has been active in improving a similar space in Bristol (read about it here: https://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/news.aspx?id=1895).One of my neighbours, who admits he has never used the subways since it was built in 1979, wants the space filled with concrete, which shows a profound lack of understanding as to how such structures work. If the crossings are put in place the area under the flyover could be used as a nature reserve, with access limited in the same way that it is at Perivale Wood. It could soak up all the run off caused by the loss of front gardens. It would be interesting to see what local members of the Selborne Society and Friends of the Earth think of this idea. Here is a short video for all those who, like my neighbour, have never been under Greenford Flyover, recorded before the growth was cut back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BPcfRRaKbs&feature=youtu.be
Albertina McNeill ● 4589d6 Comments ● 4588d