Hayes & Coney Hall Conservative Councillors

Last week saw the publication of the latest meeting attendance figures for Bromley councillors, and we’re pleased to report that in 2012/13 Graham, Anne and Neil achieved an attendance rate of at least 90%. In the last year, they made over 150 meetings between them, in addition to being at many other unofficial, informal or non-council meetings both in the ward and across the borough.

They were present at numerous planning application hearings, discussions regarding the future of public health services in the borough, the shape of our library services, the facilities at Norman Park, parking and traffic issues throughout the ward, and many other issues affecting Hayes and Coney Hall.

The long-running saga of the building of the two extensions to Fair Acres on Hayesford Park Estate continues.

The initial works – started to keep the planning permission ‘alive’ – began in late 2009, but despite pressure from your councillors, residents and the Council to get on with the development, all promises to continue the works were broken.

We have now managed to get the displaced parking bays returned, and, following the serving of an Untidy Site Notice in April this year, some levelling of one part of the site has been carried out. Now we say “come on Parkgate Aspen, remove the continuing eyesore and get cracking!”

A planning application at 41 Croydon Road to open from 7am was refused this week. The cafe/restaurant gained permission last year for an 8am start (midday on Sundays) and was bidding, for a second time, to open earlier. The application was turned down on the grounds that it was “detrimental to the amenities of nearby residents by reason of increased noise and disturbance during the early hours of the morning”.

The works programme for planned maintenance of roads and pavements has been finalised for the coming financial year as follows:

Road resurfacing is scheduled for:

• Baston Road from Five Elms Road to Fox Hill
• Hartfield Road (complete length)
• Hartfield Crescent (from no. 9 up to Croydon Road)

Work on pavements is planned for:

• East Way
• Southbourne
• Abbotsbury Road

Other roads feature in the programme for later years; so if your road doesn’t feature here, but is looking in need of attention, please let us know – it may be ‘in the pipeline’ already or could just benefit from some less drastic repairs.

Following the refusal of their first proposals for the site of the former sheltered housing at Hayes Place, Bourne Vale, Affinity Sutton are putting the finishing touches to a revised scheme for re-submission to the council.

We have been informed that the social landlord is planning to hold a public consultation event in March.

UPDATE: The event is being held on 20th March from 4 ’til 8 pm at Hayes Village Hall.

The ‘new’ pedestrian crossing on Pickhurst Lane, between Station Approach and Bourne Vale, has been in for a while now. Although welcomed, some ‘tweaks’ may be in order as some drivers are still being caught by surprise by the crossing. This may be, in part, because of the down hill approach particularly from the ‘Old Hayes’ direction, and the left hand bend on the Bourne Vale side.

Further safety enhancements are being considered

Your local councillors are talking to council engineers about improved and/or additional signage to ensure that drivers are aware of the crossing’s presence, and so improving further pedestrian safety at this point.

A meeting was held this morning between your local councillors, representatives from the Wickham Common Residents’ Association, Transport for London, Bromley Council and the Corporation of London. This was a follow-up to a previous meeting a few weeks ago, but which hadn’t witnessed people crossing at the peak of the rush hour.

The promising news is that TfL have agreed to move forward with fresh traffic and pedestrian usage surveys; these will be the precursor to producing new engineering solutions to the problems of crossing this busy stretch of road.

The A232 near Hartfield Crescent

The stretch of the A232 across Hayes and West Wickham Commons has been the focus of road safety concerns for many years. Following an accident last Spring near Hartfield Crescent, your ward councillors, together with the Wickham Common Residents’  Association, are looking again at what measures can be taken here.

With so many interested parties – including Transport for London and the Corporation of London – an answer that satisfies all will not be easy. However we hope to bring together the various bodies responsible in order to find a solution, which may involve new signage, revised speed limits or road surface changes.

(Unfortunately modern highway design regulations prevent a crossing being installed directly adjacent to the top of Hartfield Crescent, so other measures must be considered.)

After many months of negotiation with Transport for London (TfL), the sad decision has been taken to fell a tree near the northern end of Hayes Street, just before the telephone exchange, because bus operators felt it was a hazard to the larger modern double decker buses that now ply the routes through the village. The action has been reluctantly taken in response to an ultimatum from the bus companies that services would be withdrawn from the village unless the tree was removed. Alternatives, including a kerb build-out, were considered but would have led to a dangerous traffic ‘pinch-point’. We have insisted that the tree is replaced with a mature sapling at TfL’s cost.

On a more positive note, new funding from TfL is being allocated to Bromley to enable a number of schemes including improvements to footpaths in Well Wood – mainly to enable better access for less mobile residents. Also proposed are improvements to cycle routes in and around Norman Park, as well as installation of anti-skid surfaces and de-cluttering of the street scene across the ward and borough. Outside the ward but of interest to Hayes and Coney Hall residents will be plans to improve congestion at the notorious junction of Heathfield and Westerham Roads in Keston.

This is the first of what (we hope) will be fairly regular updates on our work around the ward, compiled on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

Fortnight to 20.7.12

Travellers on Coney Hall Recreation Ground, near the pre-school

The travellers who occupied part of Coney Hall Recreation Ground have been moved on, thanks to the swift efforts of the Council’s parks officers and the police. However, with the very wet ground conditions the damage even from the few days they were there is evident.

The Council has erected new and additional wooden posts at the point along Layhams Road where the unwelcome visitors gained access.

We understand the travellers attempted to pull on in the road approaching St John’s Church, of Layhams Road, but were deterred by the new temporary barriers which have been erected there following requests for action by us.

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The problems of HGVs other unsuitable vehicles using the country lanes around the ward are being addressed with the publication of a new map updating the routes within the borugh that are unsuitable for HGVs. The map will be circulated and ti is intended will eventually lead to ‘sat-nav’ data being revised. In the meantime, we are pushing to improve the signage around the most vulnerable lanes.

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Old Station Yard – the area beside Hayes station, behind the shops at the top end of Station Approach – is looking in a poor state again, with some traders’ rubbish not helping matters. We have alerted the council contractors.