TfL under fire for shelving Stamford Hill junction improvement plans

Transport for London (TfL) has come in for criticism for abandoning plans to improve Stamford Hill junction, making it safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The majority of respondents to a public consultation were against the plans and TfL also claimed that recent monitoring showed safety at the junction had improved over the last year without any changes being made.

A large number of consultation respondents were concerned that the proposals would increase traffic and congestion, while cycling campaigners had argued plans didn’t go far enough.

Reporting on the results of the consultation, TfL said:

“TfL received 730 responses to the consultation and between 29 and 40 per cent of these said they agreed with the various proposals or some elements of them, whereas between 55 and 65 per cent said they disagreed. 338 of the responses were paper forms submitted on behalf of residents by a local councillor, all of which opposed our proposals.”

The Hackney Gazette reports that the bulk response was handed over by Conservative councillor Simche Steinberger.

Steinberger last year accused Hackney Council of wasting precious resources on a new cycleway scheme in London Fields. Speaking about that project, The Hackney Citizen reported him as saying: “The problem goes back to the fact that the council are always messing round with roads. But if it ain’t broke, why fix it? At a time when there is so little money, what money there is should be better spent. People just don’t want this.”

TfL reported a reduction in collisions at Stamford Hill junction in the 12 months leading up to February 29. It said there were four minor injuries following crashes in that period and 15 in three years, with just one serious accident. However, four days later a man was hit by a bus and killed and there were two more serious crashes in the weeks before the consultation closed.

Jono Kenyon, coordinator of Hackney Cycling Campaign, said: “TfL is effectively saying it is business as usual at a horrendous collision site. For TfL to state safety has improved when we have continued to see several serious collisions including fatal ones is very disappointing.”

Kevin O’Sullivan, the founder of Cycle Legal, suggested that the statistics were the result of cyclists avoiding the junction.

“If TfL are genuine about making the junction safer, they should listen to the advice of the cycling organisations that took the trouble to respond to the consultation.

“If accident rates have declined, this is in my view not anything to do with the junction becoming safer but more down to cyclists like me voting with our wheels and completely avoiding a junction that in rush hour is like something out of Wacky Races.”

The town hall spokesman added: “We would like to work with TfL to develop alternative proposals, as something does need to be done to make Stamford Hill junction safer.”