The New Improved Crossings in Wimbledon Town Centre

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In the last year there have been several new urban design improvements made in Wimbledon town centre. These include wider pavements, clutter reduction, improved crossings, new public space in front of Wimbledon station and new seating.

This blog post will look at the new crossings that have been put in place. Before many were cluttered, over crowded and not located on key desire lines. The pictures below shows before and after pictures to hopefully convey the scale of improvements made.

Before: The crossing in Hartfield Road was visually cluttered with street signage, traffic signals, planted areas and guard railing. As a result of this clutter there was not enough space for pedestrians to cross the road quickly and easily.

Old crossing at Wimbledon town centre

Before: Crossing in Hartfield Road

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Urban activism pays off on a small parade of shops

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Traffic warden on Stonecot Hill

Traffic warden on Stonecot Hill

Photograph taken by Adrian Short: http://bit.ly/wHUl7e

Five years ago Adrian Short started a campaign against agressive parking measures on a small parade of shops called Stonecot Hill. At the time CCTV cameras were giving parking tickets, side roads as well as main roads were also designated as red routes, TfL tow away trucks were empounding peoples cars and traffic wardens were a regular feature. All this traffic enforcement resulted in Stonecot Hill  suffering from a reported significant loss of local trade. Most of the shops depended on people being able to park their cars, due to the fact that the shops supplied local traders in plumbing, electrical and carpets among many other goods.

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New benches in Sutton

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Me sitting on a well placed bench

I was really happy yesterday to see the new benches where I live. They are made from wood, have backs and arms and a local resident successfully persuaded one of the construction engineers to place one of them facing pedestrians and not traffic.

Only one downside is that one of the benches was placed on the wrong side of a bus stop. To have a bench near a stop is in itself a huge luxury these days, as most people have to perch while they wait for a bus. But unfortunately the bench was placed behind Clear Channel advertising and so while sitting there you are unable to see a bus coming from very far away. Frustrating!

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