Guardrail is going: Work underway on notorious Greenwich roundabout

Work is underway this morning to remove guardrail in the first stage of work to alter a notorious roundabout in Greenwich.

I was contacted about this work by a council staff member and wrote up some of what was planned yesterday. The full details are not in the public domain as Greenwich persists with a secrecy-first policy. Thankfully some of their staff appear fed up with it and keen to let the public know what is coming.

Courtesy Google. How it looked

In place of railings are silver bollards. They look pretty attractive – which is a sign this is TfL taking the design lead I expect. It will hopefully present a safer and more attractive first impression of the town upon leaving the A2 compared to the visual and dangerous mess it’s been for so long.

Roundabout under flyover

Maybe in time some new lighting, greenery or even a lick or paint can brighten up the off-putting pedestrian routes in the area including below the flyover.

Courtesy Google. This is Dundee. Greenery, art and little clutter improves the feel of the area

It’s not as if they lack money to do so with vast amounts of developer income unspent.

And they can always find money to hinder cyclists and other pedestrians:

Recently installed nearby

Figures for the last financial year show income from previous agreements paid to the council in 2018/19 was £4,767,723. Spending over the year was £2,592,864 leaving £2.2 million unspent. That’s just S106.

Flyover

For the Community Infrastructure Levy a total of £4.3 million in unspent funds from previous years was brought forward. In 2018/19 they received another £3,143,365.39. Throughout the year they spent £2,496,945.96 leaving almost £5 million unspent.

Pedestrian path

That’s a total of £7.2 million available. Of course not all is allocated or available for street upgrades – and nor should it be – but some of that certainly is. Even after £500k is factored into the work announced, more could be used for improvements in the area to discourage car use if large areas appear to miss out on improvement work.

 

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J Smith

I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

3 thoughts on “Guardrail is going: Work underway on notorious Greenwich roundabout

  • As a pedestrian daily almost knocked over by cyclists on the pavements near this roundabout I hope the improvements will increase my safety and lessen the fear of collision caused by these cyclists. Doubt it as there is no enforcement and do not believe that traffic engineers have studied where these cyclists actually want to go. Too much assumption that they are commuters speeding up to London when there are just as many deliveroo cyclists and others taking shortcuts to go to local addresses. Until there is complete separation of cycle route from cars lorries and buses my families bikes are staying in the shed.

    Reply
  • It is good to see works starting on this notorious and dangerous roundabout. The lighting on the pedestrians route under the flyover have not been working for years.

    Although I have to say new lighting as been installed on Pear Tree Way between Bugsby Way and the Angerstein Roundabout. So again another little improvement.

    To be honest talking to Council Staff a lot more staff appear to be fed up with Greenwich Council Leadership persisting with a secrecy-first policy.

    Remember many of the staff are also Council Tax payers in the Borough and have a right to know our public money is being spent just like all other Borough residents.

    Reply
  • I too am pleased to see works finally starting on this notorious roundabout.

    We live in a great Borough (Greenwich) and we all want the best for it as residents.

    This does mean the Council Leadership needing to be open transparent and honest with the public they represent. So we can all work together to get the best outcomes for our Borough.

    I

    Reply

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