Make Church Road/Uxbridge Road junction Hanwell safer; remove roundabout and install green man crossings

In Spring 2014, Ealing Council implemented what they claimed would be an improved junction on the Uxbridge Road at its junction with Church Road in Hanwell W7. For over fifty years, local residents have been campaigning for safe pedestrian crossings at this point to improve pedestrian safety at this busy and dangerous junction.

There are four primary schools (Oaklands PS, St Joseph’s RC PS, Hobbayne PS, St Mark’s PS), two high schools (Drayton Manor HS and Elthorne Park HS), eight pre-school nurseries (Oaklands PSN, Hanwell Bunnies, Bunny Park Nursery, Sticky Fingers Nursery, Buttons Day Nursery, Hanwell Montessori Nursery and Pre-School, St Joseph’s RC PSN, St Marks PSN, Hobbayne PSN), and three Churches ( Hanwell Methodist Church, St Mellitus Church and Our Lady and St Joseph’s Church) whose parents, students and congregations cross at this junction on a daily or weekly basis.

It is a busy junction for both pedestrians and vehicles, the Uxbridge Road being a main route into London, parallel to and equidistant from the A40 and the A4. And Church Road/Greenford Avenue being one of the few major north-south crossings of the Uxbridge Road in the Borough, joining the A40 in the north to the A4 and M4 in the south.

Six bus routes use this junction (207, 427, 83, 607, E8, E3); if they are held at the signalised pedestrian crossings on the Uxbridge Road AFTER the roundabout, they frequently block the roundabout.

Firstly, we believe that the junction design implemented by Ealing Council and Transport for London is unsafe for the following reasons:
• The signalised pedestrian crossings across the Uxbridge Road are far enough away from the junction itself to cause vehicles, whose drivers have thought that their exit from the roundabout was clear, to back up across the roundabout to block it. This regularly prevents the traffic from flowing freely, often eliciting road rage and the use of horns
• The zebra crossing over Church Road is too close to the roundabout; drivers turning left into Church Road from Uxbridge Road, and looking to see when it is clear from the right to join the roundabout, find themselves immediately at the zebra. If there are pedestrians on the crossing, or waiting to cross, drivers stop sharply. There have been many incidents of minor shunts of two/three vehicles back onto the Uxbridge Road
• Pedestrians do not feel safe walking onto the Church Road zebra if the traffic is busy as drivers coming from the roundabout often do not see them until the last minute
• The signalised lights hold up traffic leaving the roundabout, and so frequently the roundabout is choked with traffic trying to cross from all four directions and held up by traffic waiting for the signalised pedestrian lights
• The signalised lights on the Uxbridge Road are a significant distance from the junction causing pedestrians to walk an additional distance out of their way to cross the junction.

Secondly, drivers heading south down Greenford Avenue/Church Road towards Brentford and the A4/M4, reaching this roundabout from Church Road, may be inclined, via satnav or map reading, to continue south into St George’s Road, Hopefield, Deans Road and Cambridge Road. This results in a rat run through this residential area to re-join Boston Road heading south to the A4 and Brentford.

Prior to the roundabout being implemented, the Council’s own traffic surveys indicated that around 500 vehicles per hour (ie 8 cars per minute) drive down these residential roads at peak times. Many residents believe that this is a conservative estimate as at peak times the vehicles are continuous.

Since the roundabout was implemented at the Church Road junction, residents in these roads believe that more traffic is coming down their roads as it is a direct route south to Brentford, and avoids the three sets of traffic lights along the Uxbridge Road/Boston Road.

Many residents believe that this situation can only be made worse if the reversal of Cherington Road were to go ahead to facilitate the implementation of the roundabout at the Clock Tower.