STOP THIS DEATH TRAP OF A ROAD!
Haringey
Council must drastically reduce traffic and pollution across the residential
area of Wightman Road/Harringay Ladder, London N4
The British Government, Mayor of London, National
environmental agencies, Haringey Council - all these have policies that aim to
reduce car use and NO2 pollution levels.
Parallel
to Green Lanes, Wightman Road is a residential road in Harringay, North London
that runs between Turnpike Lane in the north and Alroy Road (next to Finsbury
Park) in the south. The Harringay Ladder
is a residential
community of approximately 10,000 residents, including two primary schools.
Wightman
Road’s narrow mile-long stretch of road carries over 120,000
motor vehicles each week
(including many illegal
weight HGVs and commercial vehicles) through a residential area – this is
almost as busy as Seven Sisters Road in N17, and is actually busier than Turnpike Lane, both of which are major A roads. As the Ladder's geography works to
siphon traffic off Green Lanes up to Wightman Road (or the reverse) ten of
the narrow residential rung roads on the Ladder also carry more than 10,000
vehicles a week.
Wightman Road/Harringay Ladder has
become a 'Sacrifice Zone' to
commuting through traffic as a consequence of the area being virtually the only
zone in an eight square mile radius without measures to stop or seriously
reduce through traffic.
Pollution
monitoring shows regular exceeding of the legal limit for NO2
air pollution.
Wightman Road only works for such traffic volume
because cars are parked on pavements obstructing
wheelchairs, mobility scooters and parents with pushchairs. This narrow road is dangerous for cyclists, the
traffic islands reduce road width further and those cycle lanes that do exist breach
TfL guidelines and put cyclists’ lives seriously at risk. It is essential
to make Wightman Road a safe cycle route.
Though
Wightman Road is a residential road it has become
a Green Lanes Bypass.
Haringey Council planning has prioritised traffic expediency over residents
and pedestrians and there
are only three traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings along Wightman
Road’s mile length. The road is blighted by traffic,
pollution, dirt and litter -these all
combine to mitigate against quality of life for residents and the community. It
is unacceptable that windows can’t be opened due to pollution, dirt and noise.
This is why Living Wightman was founded, to campaign for drastic reduction and rationalisation of traffic.
