Our Ward Councillor, Michael Tickner, has provided the following update:

The Council have advised that their contractor, Riney, expect the cycle lane and crossing works to progress as follows:

• Albemarle Road from Downs Bridge Road to Westgate Road is due to be opened as one directional, tomorrow -Tuesday 17th.
• Albemarle Road from Westgate Road (including the bridge section) to St Georges Road will be implemented Wednesday 18th.
• After this, the “wands” will be installed between St Georges Road and Downs Bridge Road.
• The last section between Downs Bridge Road to Bromley Road to be completed (lining and wands) will be confirmed when the contactors are confident that the weather forecast is satisfactory. This stretch of road has more on street car parking (parking on both sides).  Riney do not want to suspend parking until they are sure they can carry out the works as the lining is weather reliant.

Bromley Road Cycle lanes

Riney have confirmed they will start preliminaries on Wednesday with a view to starting woks Thursday or Friday.

Valley school crossing

Tactile paving and dropped kerbs have been completed. The belisha beacons are due to be connected next week. Weather permitting the crossing will also be marked out.

For reference the biggest problem is the lining/marking which is weather dependent. Riney have other schemes in the Borough which are running behind programme because of the line marking which is having a knock on effect with the Shortlands and Beckenham projects.

As an extension of the Albemarle Rd Cycle Scheme the Council has made Westgate Rd bridge one way – it is will be no entry from Albemarle Rd. Disappointingly the Council have not appear to have undertaken any consultation about this as far as we are aware.  Some residents received the email below from the Council. Any feedback about the scheme can be directed to traffic@bromley.gov.uk . You may also wish to copy in our ward councillors and our association: russell.mellor@bromley.gov.uk, michael.tickner@bromley.gov.uk, stephen.wells@bromley.gov.uk, hello@coperscope.org.uk

Dear Resident, 

We have received and are aware of a number of comments and concerns about the proposed changes to Albemarle Road and Bromley Road. We also received comments in support, welcoming the new facilities. All the comments have been noted and we continue to examine feedback as it comes forward, with the scheme being implemented and envisaged to be in situ for the foreseeable future whilst the pandemic continues.

As stated in our letter we have and continue to record and listen to your comments and concerns. As a direct result of this we have made the decision to amend the scheme to include the Westgate Road bridge over the railway line. This particular section has been highlighted and causes conflict between motorists using the bridge. It will be trialled as one directional and traffic will only be able to drive from The Avenue towards Albemarle Road (north to south). It is anticipated that this will help reduce journey times from the Beckenham area towards Shortlands (west to east) we will continue to monitor this throughout the scheme.

It is acknowledged that most schemes that change traffic management in an area, cause some initial disruption during the installation and shortly after they are first introduced. We apologise for any disruption. However, once a scheme has been established, road users, normally, quickly make changes to their journeys and travel patterns and adapt to the arrangements.

Whilst we cannot reply to individual emails regarding this scheme you can keep up to date with any news or developments with this scheme please visit www.bromley.gov.uk/traffic

As a previously stated in correspondence the measures are part of the London wide “Streetspace for London” initiative funded by Transport for London (TfL). TfL announced the initiative during Covid-19 lockdown with the objectives of:

• providing alternative travel options for users of public transport during the period of reduced capacity on buses and trains, other than car/taxi.
• providing temporary cycle routes to extend the strategic cycle network, with space used on London’s main roads for temporary cycle lanes and wider pavements for pedestrians so that people can safely socially distance when out and about.

The rationale of this is that if all prior users of public transport in the area switched to a car, congestion would increase, increasing journey times for all. If the rise in car use can be limited with these proposals the rise in journey times may well be less than would occur without changes. A slightly increased journey time for some needs to also be balanced against the many benefits of increased cycling and walking.

Thank you for your understanding and support at this time and be assured that we will continue to monitor the local situation closely as the scheme progresses and following implementation.

Yours faithfully

The government is currently consulting on proposals to rip up our planning system and replace it with a system based on data, maps and algorithms!

WBRA and CCARA have, over many years, helped members fight against inappropriate developments that would affect their quality of life and the enjoyment of their property. In recent years Beckenham has been blighted by overdevelopment on sites, such as conversion of a house into multiple occupation, backland development in gardens, offices being turned into small pokey flats, and demolition of existing properties to be turned into high density flats without good amenities. We have often been successful. Although we have not always been able to stop them, we have usually been able to mitigate the effects and encourage better design and standards. That would stop under the new proposals. Local people, the Council, our Councillors and MP would be almost powerless to stop bad planning development once the new planning system is in place, with only an option to tweak the design guidelines every 5 years.

What is being proposed?

This video by the Countryside Charity helpfully explains the proposed Planning System. The changes impact people in urban and rural areas in the same manner.

The key changes

• The council would have only 6 months to consult local people about a master plan for their area. Then that would be it – no further opportunities to object to any individual planning application if it complies with this master plan for at least 5 years.

• The master plan would have to allocate every piece of land to one of three zones.

  • Growth Zones (suitable for substantial development) automatic outline planning permission
  • Renewal Zones (for densification) a general presumption in favour of pre-specified building types.
  • Protected Zones (Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or Conservation Areas) would planning applications be required as now.
• There is no indication of how big zones are expected to be – Town? Ward? Local? But they would be decided by using “data” and “maps” and then “algorithms” would be used to decide what type of development should be built there…. What could go wrong?
• Each local authority would have nationally set targets for their contribution to a national target of 300,000 new homes to be built. These indicative targets have already been published and once again have been set by algorithms.
• The master plan would contain the zones and also a design guide for what buildings should look like. Design is highly subjective and must be in keeping with the surrounding buildings. There is a real risk that this proposal will mean developers favoured style of flat faced, square buildings will be built incongruously in any zone, changing the character of towns like ours.
• The people who live here – you and me – would have a say only when this master plan is drawn up and councils would have only six months to consult us. “Engagement” would be via technology. No IT or smart phone? No comment possible.
• And local community groups such as WBRA and CCARA will unlikely have the time resources to engage in any meaningful “consultation” exercise on the master plan, design guide identification of “zones”. Perhaps the government are banking on that!!

Some MPs are revolting against the proposals

There was debate in Parliament on 8 October where not a single MP was in favour and the vast majority who spoke against were members of the Government party, opposing their own Ministers. Teresa May pointed out that there are already planning permissions granted to build 1 million houses that developers simply do not build, so our existing planning system is not the problem.

This is a terrible proposal, what can you do?

• Sign the petition organised by the Countryside Charity here.
• Write to your MP. You don’t need to know all the fine details, just that:
  • You oppose the planning changes as you think they will detrimental to Beckenham and Bromley Borough as they remove proper planning scrutiny from the Council.
  • Planning decision-making powers must remain with communities and local councils and not be handed over to central powers in Westminster nor made by algorithm.
  • The government should improve the current planning system whilst ensuring that communities have a say in shaping the future of where they live.
  • Contact Ellie Reeves here and Bob Stewart here.
• Comment on the consultation here, but frankly the document is long, detailed and complicated – the most powerful thing you can do is write to your MP and sign the petition.

As part of ongoing work to restart services safely, the walk-in phlebotomy (blood taking) service that is run by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at Beckenham Beacon and Orpington Hospital will move to a booked appointments service.
More information here

Bromley Council are undertaking a consultation on the draft Air Quality Action Plan. The plan outlines the actions the Council will take to improve air quality in the London Borough of Bromley between 2020-2025.  We have submitted feedback on the plan which requests increased action on air pollution monitoring, enhancing biodiversity including more tree planting, and improving our trouble road hotspots to promote more cycling and walking.  You can read our letter here.

Today the Council extended the consultation until 10 August 2020.  You can view the draft consultation document here. The council advise that feedback can be provided by completing a short survey. For more detailed responses residents may want to email the Council Pollution Team at ehts.customer@bromley.gov.uk and copy in ward councillors.

We are interested in your views, please let us know by email to hello@coperscope.org.uk

From the NHS South East London Clinical Commissioning Group

Covid-19 has caused changes to the way you access healthcare over the last few months. It will continue to have an impact and we will not return to normal this year.

We are keen to know what your experience of using our services has been like over the last few months.  What you tell us, will help us plan better for the future.

To share your views, please complete this short survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Bromley_Patient_Survey

The survey closes on 17 August 2020.

At this evenings Council meeting of the Development Control Committee the following planning issues will be discussed:

• The governments Upward Development Permitted Development Rights, due to come into force in August 2020, which will allow developers to extend purpose built blocks of flats upwards by up to two storeys to provide new residential units without planning permission.
• Beckenham Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal

We have submitted a letter of support for more Council planning scrutiny in regards to upward development and also for the Beckenham Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal to be adopted by the committee. You can read our letter here.

You can watch the meeting online at tonight at 6.30pm Tuesday 14 July, see details here.  The agenda and supporting documents can be found here.