Many in K&C will be familiar already with the controversy surrounding the latest planning fad for creating so-called shared space (vehicular & pedestrian) roads, where kerbs and pavements are non-existent, and pedestrians play chicken with the traffic. The grotesquely expensive Exhibition Road is the most controversial of these recent little experiments with pedestrian safety, but it is by no means the only one.
The ‘much improved’ Lancaster Green, which is one of the features of the KALC development, will not only be much reduced in size, it will also have one of these new experimental roads right through the middle of it.
Here’s what the Planning Application Design and Access Statement says about it;
“The north-south link is a shared surface, accommodating both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. While vehicles can enter and move through this space, they are not the dominant users, this is not a road in the conventional sense, it is treated as a common space with a unified floorscape, devoid of kerbs and standard roadside markings”
One thing is certain, the kids of Lancaster West, who play in this area, will need to smarten up and get street-wise pretty fast if they hope to survive. Either that or find somewhere else to play.
What do you think Mums?
Grenfell Action Group 