Telford Homes's Traffic Access Plan for Mile End

The Traffic Access Plan submitted to Tower Hamlets Council
by Telford Homes (right click for bigger picture)

This is the Traffic Access Plan which has been submitted to Tower Hamlets planning Officers as part of PA/10/00704 - Construction management plan.

This shows you how the traffic will access and move through the site. It also indicates that the major site compound is to be to the north of Ennerdale House on the area which will become the ball court. The Office compound will be on the St Clements site.

• Access to Eric and Treby Street: entrance from the East ONLY via Southern Grove, exit ONLY via HamleTs way and a right turn into Burdett Road
  
• Site 10 Traffic will access the Broksley Street site from the east only via St Clements Hospital. Construction traffic MUST come along Mile End Road from the east, enter the site via the gates at the western edge of the St Clements site and MUST exit to the west
  

However it's not of the standard we would expect to see for a plan of this sort.

There are some limited references to the management of site traffic within the Project Management Plan but these, as yet, do NOT provide adequate safeguards for local residents. In particular, significant risks have not been identified and remedied to our satisfaction.

We are currently studying one of the key standards that all site traffic will need to observe.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION: The safe use of vehicles on construction sites (HSG 144) - A guide for clients, designers, contractors, managers and workers involved with construction transport. This provides the standards we can expect all site traffic will adhere to within and around the construction site.

No reference to local residents, children or cars

It makes NO REFERENCE to:

• pedestrians & children: how pavements and pedestrian traffic - in particular children - will be protected
• parking suspension (temporary): what the requirements are for temporary suspension of parking as construction machinery is delivered to site; when this will happen and what sort of notice local residents will get (ie how many days/hours).
  
• parking elimination (permanent): what arrangements are to be made for the long term suspension / removal of parking facilities which are currently enjoyed by residents of the estate and when this will happen
• traffic management arrangements around Site 14 (corner of Eric Street and Treby Street): not identified in the plans
  

Details of the Project Execution Plan have not been supplied. This relates to deliveries to the site and the hours when this is possible. Indications of how this will work in relation to each site within the overall development area are minimal and more details are required Nothing is as yet documented.

We are all very familiar with the antics of the utility companies in this area - which turn up insisting there is an emergency (when the matter is actually ordinary repairs), post a notice and then have residents' cars removed in less than 24 hours. This then costs the car owner a very great deal of money to retrieve. This must NOT happen during the course of this development as there is every opportunity to plan well in advance.

Fortunately, unlike other East End Homes estates, the roads affected by the development are adopted by the Council and hence are not Estate Roads, Consequently permission must be sought from the Council for the suspension of or revision to all current on street parking arrangements.

There is nothing about this development which is "an emergency" and consequently we expect all revisions to on street parking to be properly notified in the normal way.

No reference to how emergencies and disabled access will be managed

Importantly the Traffic Access Plan neglects to make any reference, in relation to the security hoarding currently being erected on site, to the following legal requirements:

• how emergency access to ALL addresses by all emergency services - and fire engines and ambulances in particular - is going to be protected 24/7 for all residents of the estate and neighbouring streets
  
• how disabled access is going to work and how disabled access for all residents/tenants requiring this will be protected

Proper access will not be possible or protected if the security hoarding is fixed to the corner of Derwent House - which we have been told is the current plan.

No reference to conservation requirements

A view of the entrance for construction traffic for Site 10
via the side gate to the St Clements Hospital Site

This is a picture from Google Streetview of the entrance to St Clements Hospital which it is proposed should be used for a compound and access to Site 10 in Brokesley Street (via the side wall of the hospital - which will be temporarily removed)

Mile End Road is a Red Route and no stopping is allowed between 7am and 10am and between 4pm and 7pm.

Both the wall and the gates at the front of St Clements Hospital are Grade 2 listed and hence must be protected throughout the course of the construction contract.

We speculate that construction traffic will have a very great deal of difficulty lining up straight to get through the pillars and gates on the western edge of the site without damaging them - and we don't think Telford Homes recognise this - or the fact that this is a Grade 2 Listed structure.

In the Construction Management Plan, there is:

• no identification of risk management issues or how these will be managed
• no identification and reference to the listed status of the frontage (which prompts the thought that maybe Telford Homes are not aware of its Grade 2 listed status)
  
• no identification of the risks to the pillars and gates from construction traffic unfamiliar with the site turning from a very busy road
• no provision for how the risks to pillars and gate will be handled
• no recognition that the access is on a red route where stopping is prohibited at certain hours (and that includes longwinded attempts to access a site without knocking a wall down)
  

What we want to see happen

Last week, we visited the relevant Planning Officer at the Town Hall and shared our concerns as to the management of traffic which are documented in this blog post.

Currently, the Construction Management Plan fails to provide adequate recognition of:

• the health & safety issues that relate to local residents and their children - including people with disabilities.
  
• access required for emergency vehicles without delay 24/7
  
• the conservation issues in relation to the St Clements site
  

The Construction Management Plan MUST make much clearer reference to how the health and safety of local residents (as pedestrians/children) and our heritage will be risk managed and protected.

This is what we want to see:

• Protection of Pavements and Pedestrian Traffic: Documentation to clearly show how/where pedestrian traffic will be relocated during construction and how this will work. We want to see a plan of where these areas will be.
  
• Protection of Children: Big signs along the route within the Eric & Treby Estate raising awareness of the presence of lots of small children and reminding that this is a 20mph area
  
• Protection of streets not identified on the Traffic Access Plan: Signs at the entrance to ALL these streets indicating "No Access for Construction Traffic"
• Deliveries: ALL site deliveries to be made between 10am and 3pm only so as to avoid obstructing vehicles when parents need to make school runs and to mimise risk to children. Any deliveries to site during school holidays to require additional site staff supervising the delivery to protect against potential risks to the very many children living on the estate.
  
• Disabled Access: Checks with every disabled resident within the area that the site security hoarding will not impede their disabled access requirements as required by law.
• Emergency Access: Checks made with emergency services that the location and configuration of all site security hoarding will permit prompt and easy access of emergency vehicles to all parts of the Eric & treby estate 24/7 as required by law.
  
• St Clements Site: a risk management plan for access via the frontage of St Clements and adequate and sufficient protection for the listed frontage.
• Red route: No large construction traffic to attempt access to the St Clements site prior to 10am
  

We raised a number of other issues with the Planning Officer on Friday and will be writing more about these during this next week.