Greenwich Council respond to bus driver petition on traffic & parking problems

Greenwich Council have issued a response to a bus driver petition calling for action on endemic parking issues in Plumstead and particularly those focused near the station.

Bus drivers claim around 130 signatures were submitted though Greenwich have recognised 84. Reasons for the discrepancy is unknown – but even 84 shows the strength of feeling.

The council claim to have significantly stepped up enforcement – though levels of fines still suggest few issued with less than one a day on average since early December.

Sixty have been issued since the start of December equating to around 20 a month or five a week. You’d find that number at any one time on some days. They also claim to have “moved on” 160 cars.

The old line of “we can’t be everywhere all the time” is again seen. Yet being some places some of the time would have been good in areas where the issue is chronic. It’s a spectrum and they have been very much at one end in many, many parts of the borough with very few staff employed to act. Finally 10 agency workers have been brought in. This happened quickly – yet before we were told they had tried and failed to hire more staff!

The response to the petition repeats they are now applying to use CCTV cameras to prevent people parking on zig-zag lines outside schools and those blocking buses. It doesn’t explain why they never have since 2003 when the relevant act was passed and why they were just one of three councils in London not to have done so by 2017 when the issue was discussed at a meeting – and presumably not pursued until now:

Since then a number of accidents have occurred in the area.

The response also states they are looking at changing the road layout just two years after spending £1.2 million on altering the street. That followed a bodged scheme a decade before on the very same road.

Continual mistakes with street design are evident – yet still they fail to engage again and again with the public. Recent Abbey Wood changes saw two serious accidents within weeks of completion. Again, that scheme replaced one installed a few years before.

Work is also planned imminently at east Greenwich near the infamous Woolwich Road flyover but no consultation is in the public domain. Questions to councillors on social media are not answered and there’s scant evidence many are pushing for engagement and transparency from departments.

Any in-depth detail and design drawings forthcoming on this before it starts? The public and local people could offer guidance before more mistakes are made:

What is maddening is not only are millions wasted on schemes which ignore the public and repeat mistakes – but that years of poor enforcement on parking to the detriment of the most vulnerable were simply ignored. Everyone knows how bad the area has been – it’s been covered on here for years. Many have told me they’ve notified the authority to no avail.

Accidents have happened, elderly people and parents have suffered particularly  and revenue lost. So whilst it’s good that changes are now finally happening why did it take so long and why have some elected local politicians been so ineffective for so long at enacting change? Departments – even those deeply failing – can bumble along for years. It doesn’t bode well for other services.