Tuesday 27 October 2015

Why is Our Council Downgrading the Uxbridge Road?

Bush residents are no doubt aware of the improvements to the Uxbridge Road which have been going on all year - the pavements have been blocked off for months and the disruption has been considerable.

That said, we put up with this because we know things will get better, right?

So why is the Council pulling up the nice York stone paving and replacing it with crappy poured concrete? Surely the whole point is to upgrade the street surface, not make it worse?

The photo above shows the old York stone, on the left, which is being removed. On the right is the new concrete pavers which are being laid.

On the right hand side you can see the same thing. Old York stone is out (top), new concrete is in (bottom).

So the end result will be to make the street look worse, not better.

LBH&F move in mysterious ways. No doubt they are trying to save money.  But, if money is to be saved, then why not just leave the street alone, rather than spending public money on making it worse?

---Alex




2 comments:

  1. Despite the slab style, the wider pavements will no doubt improve the 'walking experience' down the crowded pavements on Uxbridge road and help with the gentrification. My concern is that this has come at the cost of narrowing the road to single file and removing a bus lane completely, and any local would be blind not to see there's already a massive traffic problem, with consistent tailbacks from the green up to and beyond loftus. This will look nice, but create a car park and even more gridlock. Any one else concerned?

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  2. LBH&F have narrowed the road but to be fair this was part of a long and much-discussed public consultation. Wider pavements inevitably mean narrower roads - the Council can't create more space. So the question really is - what should the balance be between pedestrians and cars?

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