Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Rise in number of Lorries and other heavy vehicles ignoring the 7.5t weight limit on Ladder roads
I live in Lausanne Road and have noticed a dramatic increase in the number of lorries, concrete trucks and other large vehicles using our road and the nearby roads- particularly Hampden Road.
This is really making me worry - it's a fact of life that people in cars will use the ladder roads as a cut through, but the heavy vehicles are making quite an impact on my personal quality of life, and I'm sure many other local residents as well.
The specific problems with Heavy vehicles using my and other ladder roads(I'm not sure how many others have weight restrictions as well) are:
1. Weight(obviously)- road humps and heavy vehicles are certainly causing the earth to move in our road! Humour aside the impact from loaded trucks hitting the speed humps is so noticeable that it MUST be causing damage to the nearby houses. We have a 3 storey house and it can be felt strongly on all floors, even though we are not directly opposite the road hump. In our road so far as i'm aware the terraces do not have deep foundations but sit on the good old london clay which I hear anecdotally tends to make them more prone to cracking etc from this sort of impact.
2. Noise - the heavy vehicles are particularly noisy - especially skip trucks with their lovely chain percussion. In our road they start coming through in convoy between 6 am and 6.30am.
3. Speed- The trucks also nearly always break the 20 mph speed limit.
4. Damage- Road surfaces are noticeably breaking down. Hampden road seems to gain a new pothole every day and it hardly seems that long ago that it was repaired. There's damage to nearby houses- see point 1, and also , ironically also damage to the signs at the end of the streets indicating that the trucks should not be entering and bollards knocked over/down at the street entrances....
5. Safety - they're huge, and they speed and they're just downright dangerous. Removing small children from a car with a speeding loaded lorry bearing down on you in a narrow road is not fun.
6. Size of the vehicles-. Ok they're big, sometimes very big. and they get stuck sometimes. It is pretty annoying having to wait around to get into your own street because some truck is trying to illegally enter and has got stuck in/on the specially designed narrow street entrance designed to keep them out...
Anyway, I guess everyone gets the picture here.
So what to do?
I've reported the damaged weight restriction sign at the entrance of Hampden Road to the council- reference C58317 for any Hampden road residents or others interested.
I've spent an entertaining 40 minutes calling around Haringey council , who actually have a 'moving vehicle enforcement' department but apparently don't deal with this issue -enforcing other signs yes, but not weight restrictions. So, actually it is the Police Safer Neighbourhoods or Traffic teams who will (hopefully) deal with this.
I spoke to Kate at the above mentioned Police , and she was very helpful and has logged the issue. I've spoken to a few people in person about this and they have also seemed concerned. Perhaps it is more specific to Lausanne/Hampden roads or is the same thing happening elsewhere on the ladder?
I would really like anyone else who has a problem with this to also report to the police on 0208 808 1212 and quote ref: CAD3030/16 May . The police are also interested in details of registration etc of any vehicles which we notice breaking the law in this manner.
Now- a little word. I am not some sort of control freak who imagines that all trucks with from now onwards will be banished from the ladder roads, but this is a volume problem in part and I really really feel that we are on a slippery slope if these restrictions are not enforced. The ladder is the obvious cut through and with building work at Hornsey station (which is where I've seen the concrete trucks come out and go straight down Hampden rd) and New River Village and endless other trucks going east/west particularly to access the industrial park on tottenham lane it doesn't look like it will go away. Not to get too *woo ooo* about it but isn't there also going to be a concrete factory over the other side of the railway sometime soon?
I am around at many different times of the day and evening and feel I'm pretty well placed to make a judgment about whether there are more trucks using my/Hampden rd. It is serious folks... there really is an increase in volume.
I'd love some feedback from others on this as I really can't believe I'd be the only one to have noticed....
Oh , another point on action- Kate at the police has suggested any I/we contact some of the companies involved directly to alert them to the fact that it has been reported to the police and perhaps they might like to have their drivers use alternative(legal) routes to avoid penalties.
The 3 that spring to mind at the moment are:
O'Donovans, Murphys and I'm not sure who to contact specifically but whomever is in charge of the work going on at Hornsey station on the Mosque side.
I've just spent the morning on this, so will have to update later about possible further calls...
*phew*
I'm off for a cuppa I think....
Tags for Forum Posts: 7.5t, Ladder traffic solutions, Lorries on the Ladder, Wightman Road, concrete factory, hampden road, heavy lorries, heavy lorry, hgv, lausanne road, More…
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Stephen, I don't propose an exact fit to the layout in the photo above. DIY Streets are dealing with similar street designs to the ladder roads in their pilot projects;
As Adam says below, these things take ages to get through to completion (if chosen as a project after their pilots). This was said about the Penn St Project pictured above;
Once the new designs are agreed by residents, Sustrans and Manchester City Council, more funding will be sought so that the street alterations can be made.
It's that phrase, 'more funding will be sought' that can scupper many a community's aspirations!
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Permalink Reply by Adam on
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i can assure you nothing will happen quickly - they are just starting the first pilots...
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i'll find out where they are with regards to the next phase and report back
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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The next phase won't be till 2010 and a particular issue for the ladder streets is that one of their key criteria is whether working on one street will just have a negative effect on neighbouring streets. This would certainly apply to any Ladder road. I think it would be difficult to apply here. We do need a holistic solution.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH OUR HOUSES WOULD BE WORTH IF WE LIVED IN THIS STREET????
They quoted us £100K just for a traffic survey. £300K is nothing if you actually get something for it. I would really like to live here, especially with the sunshine.
That said, when I was a little boy I worked for a panel beater and he laughed all the way to the bank when the council introduced diagonal parking on our local high street. Quite a maniacal laugh it was too.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Harvey on
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Hello Rachael,
I totally agree and share your concerns on all these points. I have been in Warham Road now for three years, and also have noticed an increase in heavy goods vehicles charging up the road. This is obviously a particular problem on Warham as it's the direct route over from St Annes and the east. Our house shakes every time one goes past.
I wasn't aware that there was a supposed restriction in place, but now that I am (thank you for that) am more concerned that something needs to be done.
The obvious issue is 'who' is allowed to break these rules and also 'who' is ever going to police them.
We need to allow the heavy refuse collection trucks up and down the ladder, and there is also a need for delivery vehicles to gain access - so putting in something like width or height restriction barriers isn't practical?
Anyone got any other thoughts? I'm sure there will be a lot of support out there for tackling this. There are of course lots of areas where roads have been blocked off etc to prtoect residential streets from large vehicles, so there is precedence out there.
Cheers,
Paul
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For those who've only joined the site in the last couple of months, we ran a survey in the early spring and tackling traffic came out as number 1 priority. As part of this Government's move towards supporting local democracy and sustainable communities, they have set up a framework for local charters which are part of a move to require local authorities to involve and empower local residents in shaping their local area.
I have been championing a charter for Harringay. My aim is that is hould both act as a catalyst for a vision for the area and a means to empower us to shape Harringay. I've been asked to present to the Green Lanes Strategy Group tomorrow evening on the survey and the charter. If the council will be bold enough to take this on, it presents a fantastic opportunity - but one that will require work and commitment from us as well as the council.
Let's hope they have the mettle they need to take it on with us.
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This post will take you to the guidance - of course theere's no charter yet, just the concept.
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DIY Streets Pocket Guide pdf
The idea is to slow traffic right down, without the need of house rattling road humps, not to redirect traffic elsewhere. All the ladder roads should have this done.
Funding: (from pdf ^)
(1). The Scarman Trust is a national charity
that helps people improve their
communities.
www.thescaramntrust.org
Tel: 0207 6896366
Email: info@thescarmantrust.org
(2). Community Foundations charities
located across the UK dedicated to
strengthening local communities,
creating opportunities and tackling
issues of disadvantaged and exclusion
www.communityfoundations.org.uk
Tel: 020 7713 9326
(3) Council / TfL
The DIY Streets is good enough for advice and pointers but I don't think we need to be one of their projects, particularly as Hugh mentions that nothing new will be taken on till after 2010.
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Agreed - as a minimum. But I don't think we should set aside the goal of cutting traffic dramatically across the Ladder.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Finnegan on
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I agree with Matt that it's all about slowing traffic right down, not displacing it to the obvious rat-runs. And with Hugh on the goal of cutting traffic dramatically across the Ladder. The Charter route is the way to go, so bon chance with tomorrow's Strategy Group mtg.
And now I'll be boring once more: in this and other threads Wightman Road tends to be un/sub/consciously excluded from "the Ladder". We haven't gone away, you know!
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