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Walthamstow Village review

The Walthamstow Village review has been taking place over the past year to assess the scheme's impact against its core aims. We are sorry that the review has taken longer than originally expected to analyse all the information we collected and prepare the final reports. 

While this review is not a legal requirement when making road changes, we generally review any major schemes once they are complete to understand how the changes are working and whether the objectives have been met. We are also keen to know what the local community think of the changes made to the Walthamstow Village area. The review of the scheme has been taking place in two parts:

  • Part one: collecting and analysing technical information such as traffic count and collision data.
  • Part two: seeking feedback from the local community and key stakeholders like the emergency services.

We would like to re-iterate our thanks to everyone who took part in the community feedback element of the review last Autumn. We have not carried out a review of this scale in Waltham Forest before, and are not aware of any other Local Authorities who have undertaken a review of this type on a highway/transport project, but we felt it was important to gather and analyse as much technical data and feedback from the local community as possible to ensure the review was as comprehensive as possible and all of the key issues were fully explored.

 Final reports and recommendations

The review shows some great successes:

  • The interest that the local community has shown in the scheme has been remarkable, with over 1,500 people feeding back as part of this review alone.
  • The number of residents walking and cycling has increased with 28% saying their primary mode of transport for regular journeys is done by walking.
  • Traffic counts show that on average the number of vehicles on roads within the Village have decreased by 44% and the majority of residents have noticed that traffic speed and noise has either decreased or stayed the same.
  • All of the visitors surveyed had a positive opinion of the overall scheme with 84% stating it was very good.
  • Only 1.7% of residents would scrap the scheme and revert back to the former layout.

The review also highlighted areas for improvement, in particular:

  • Although traffic speed and noise have decreased in the area, residents are concerned that some roads in the Village, for example Church Lane, Vestry Road, East Avenue and Third Avenue have seen an increase in traffic.
  • Traffic levels have increased on roads surrounding the Village such as Lea Bridge Road and Hoe Street.
  • Businesses are mostly positive about the appearance of the scheme, but they feel there are issues with the location and number of parking spaces available, and loading provisions for suppliers.

These successes, and areas for improvement, are discussed in much more detail in the final review report, alongside many others that are not mentioned above. The final report also includes a list of issues the review has highlighted that could still be refined, to improve the scheme, to help achieve the core objectives and take on board local feedback. Along with a series of recommendations on how we intend to progress further changes, where possible to do so.

What happens next?

 The final chapter of the review sets out a series of recommendations for further improvements and adjustments in the area to make sure the scheme is as good as it can be, along with some outline timescales for taking forward each one. Some of the recommendations are more complex than others and it is likely that some can be delivered in the shorter term while others may take longer. Most will require further investigation and additional funding to be sought, and some will require further engagement with local residents once they have been developed further. At this stage we are unable to say specifically when we will be in contact with local residents and businesses to discuss any further plans for the area but we are aiming to progress as many of the recommendations as possible over the next 6 months. As soon as we are in a position to provide an update on our progress we will write to the affected residents and businesses again. In the meantime, you can find more information on the Walthamstow Village scheme and the review here.

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