Ealing Council Aims To Put the FUN Back into LTNs
New approach to active travel with Free-range Urban Neighbourhoods
The Culmington Road FUN aims to improve safety between Walpole and Lammas Parks
April 11, 2024
Ealing Council has announced a new range of projects as part of its transport policy which aim to boost active travel in the borough.
These include seven Free-range Urban Neighbourhoods (FUNs) which are projects of different types which will see an investment of £1.2million this year. Proposed changes include wider pavements, additional trees, parklets, and ‘play on the way’ in locations such as Culmington Road, Elthorne Park Road and Leighton Road areas where previously Low Traffic Neighbourhood Schemes (LTNs) were scrapped.
Unlike the LTNs, these new projects will not be initially implemented on a trial basis, but the council says that there will be effective consultation with residents and other stakeholders before the project designs are finalised which will also be informed by significant data collection in advance. Although existing traffic filters are to be upgraded, the plans don’t contain any new significant access restrictions.
The council report states, “The Free-range Urban Neighbourhood (FUN) programme embodies a new approach to delivering a range of different types of public realm, active travel, urban greening and other measures, adapted to the specific neighbourhood context in which they will be located.
“The FUN programme has a focus on reclaiming space currently used for the storage or movement of cars and repurposing it for people. This approach, a key element of the overall Transport Strategy, embraces a variety of approaches and interventions
which recognise neighbourhood-specific characteristics, local conditions and the challenges and opportunities identified with residents. The aim is to change the use of the kerbside, and streets generally, to allocate more space for active travel, for
feature to mitigate the effects of climate change, for social and play activities, and to support economic activities.”
The council will use the Travel in Ealing Charter, which it says residents helped to create, to ensure there is detailed engagement and consultation with residents and businesses before any changes are made to local roads.
The Culmington Road FUN aims to improve crossing safety and priority between Walpole and Lammas Parks at the Elers Road/Lammas Park Gardens junction. Consideration will be given to narrowing the Churchfield Road junction to reduce traffic turning speeds,
make it easier to cross and create space for planting. Other junction improvements at Mattock Lane and Beaconsfield Road will be looked at.
The Elthorne Park Road-Leighton Road FUN envisages work at the Boston Road junction for a better connection with Elthorne Park including raised entry treatment, planted build-outs to ‘bookend’ parking. There would also be a width restriction to enable planting and the replacement of two ‘gates’ with one. One arm of the Northfield Avenue ‘triangle’ would be closed to extend the pocket park.
Work will take place at Green Man Passage to address issues concerning personal safety, drainage and lighting raised during the Live West Ealing engagement.
Ealing Council's schedule for 'FUN' implementation
East Acton Golf Links FUN will be a response to residents’ concerns about through traffic and an attempt to enhance local public spaces. There will be a review of traffic management measures/signal timings at main A40 junction. Street-long treatments will be added to increase walking/wheeling priority across side streets.
The Occupation Lane FUN will see the replacement of the concrete planters which act as traffic filters replaced with permanent features. The council is also consulting with the Ealing Cycling Campaign about improving the cycling connection from Kew to Boston Manor.
At Kelvin Gardens the council is considering how to reclaim and repurpose the large areas of tarmac that could be more productively used including for off-carriageway parking and sustainable drainage systems.
At Adrienne Avenue/Woodstock Avenue the wooden planters which act as traffic filters are to be replaced and the opportunity will be taken to address any access/parking issues related to the Business Centre.
The development of Project Plans for all seven FUN pilot projects has begun with Draft Engagement and Data Collection Plans are also being prepared. Initial activity for Green Man Passage (North) has already been undertaken (in parallel with the wider Live West Ealing engagement programme) and initial activity for the three other smaller schemes (Occupation Lane, Kelvin Gardens and Addrienne Ave/Woodstock Ave) programme is to begin in April.
For three of the larger projects the council says that discussions have already taken place with residents’ groups in relation to the Culmington Road and Elthorne Park Road/Leighton Road projects, with the Engagement and Data Collection Plans for these two and the East Acton Golf Links project being worked up before more in depth work begins in late April/early May.
The report to be presented to the council on the proposals states, “It is now clear that there is not just a pressing need to enable people and goods to travel in ways that minimise a range of harms (including greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, road danger, traffic congestion, public health and social isolation), but also a need to enable our residents, businesses and other stakeholders to participate more effectively in shaping the strategies and actions that will deliver the necessary change.”
The council says this is part of a £28 million investment programme in the borough’s streets this financial year. A large proportion of this will be on road maintenance, footway upgrades and bus priority schemes. However, the council says that the new plan for the borough is part of a repurposing of transport policy to encourage a more rapid shift to walking and cycling. Plans include the next section of the Uxbridge Road cycle lane from Hanwell to Iron Bridge, along with more bike hangars, bike stands and free cycle training for residents. 8 more school streets are also planned for this year. Schemes to introduce rain gardens to improve natural drainage are also being proposed.
£19million of the programme has already been announced and the ‘new’ money is mainly anticipated funding from TfL, Section 106 money from developers and Community Infrastructure Levy payments some of which has not yet been received.
Councillor Deirdre Costigan, deputy leader and cabinet member for climate action, said, “We said we would invest £35m in improving roads and pavements over four years, but we’ve gone way beyond that with a whopping £28m investment planned in just this year alone.
“In London we spend so much of our time on streets that are grey, unattractive and don’t feel safe for people who want to walk or cycle. That’s why in Ealing we are doing things differently. Our new approach is not just about resurfacing roads and pavements, it’s also about changing our streets to provide more green areas, more shade from trees, more natural flood defences, and more space for people to walk, cycle and even play.
“We want to create streets that are beautiful and balance the needs of all road users, while helping us to tackle the climate emergency and reduce air pollution – and, if approved, £28m will go a long way towards achieving this goal.”
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