Worcester Park Town Centre

Its just been announced that over £1.18 million has been awarded to the London Borough of Sutton as part of the Mayor’s Outer London fund. The money will be spent in North Cheam and Worcester Park to help rejuvenate the local economy, improve the public realm and to also build on the existing public transport improvements made in Worcester Park.

Over the next few weeks I am going to be posting regularly about how the public realm in Worcester Park can be improved with a focus on pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users. I am particularly interested in what local residents and local businesses think so please write your comments below.

Guard Railing

Throughout Worcester Park there is a large amount of unnecessary guard railing which prevents people from crossing the road where they want to.

These areas include along the Malden Road, on the approach to Worcester Park Station and throughout Central Road.

Guard railing along Malden Road

People walk outside guard railing at Station Approach

February 2012 People walking outside guard railing

May 2011 6pm People walking outside of guard railing and not bothering to wait for green man.

Guard railing next to crossing outside Pizza Express

Guard railing around planting and seating in Central Road

Whats wrong with excessive use of guard railing?

• Guard railing has a negative effect on streets and creates visual clutter
• It stops people from being able to cross the road where they want to
• Cyclists can get squashed between motor vehicles and guard railing on collisions
• Sometimes pedestrians walk outside of guard railing
• Young children can not be seen easily when guard railing is present
• Vehicles tend to drive faster where guard railing exists (according to a study completed for Transport for London.)
• Although guard railing can reduce pedestrian accidents at crossings and junctions, road safety is contextual and depends on a holistic set of measures used such as 20mph zones, narrowing the road and other traffic calming measures which help to increase road safety.

Case Study:  Kensington High Street

Kensington High Street

In Kensington High Street a holistic set of street improvements  such as pavement widening, new white lighting, junction and crossing improvements, installation of a central reservation area and the removal of 600m of guard railing meant that the borough experienced a significant reduction in pedestrian casualties along this stretch of road. (RBKC)

Crossings

There are some crossings where the time given to cross the road is insufficient for people with mobility difficulties. These crossings include:

• Crossings outside Worcester Park Station: average allocated crossing time is 7 seconds. As a result it is very difficult for people with mobility difficulties or for children to cross in time.

• Sheep pen crossing outside the Midas Touch public house opposite Green Lane: The sheep pen is inconvenient for pedestrians as phases of the crossing are not currently in sync causing an unnecessary waiting time. While visiting this crossing at 6pm on a weekday, most pedestrians walk outside of the sheep pen and do not bother waiting for the green man.

First Phase allocated crossing time: 6 seconds

Second phase allocated crossing time: 15 seconds

• Crossing outside Costa Coffee: The crossing time outside Costa Coffee is slightly more generous in providing 8 seconds to cross the road and 14 seconds waiting time

• Crossing outside Pizza Express: Allocated crossing time 7 seconds, waiting time 23 seconds.

Seating at Bus Stops

Many of the seats at the bus stops in Worcester Park town centre are perch style seats. Although these bus stops are standard and can be seen throughout London, the perch style seating is not very easy to sit on for very young children or people with mobility difficulties to sit on.

Pinch Points

The approach to Worcester Park Station currently does not provide adequate access for people in wheelchairs or for prams. Given that this area gets very busy in rush hour, the pavement needs to be widened here to allow for large flows of people.

Narrow pavement for prams and wheelchair users at Station Approach

Seating

There is a large amount of seating available in Central Road but seating locations need to be looked at in closer detail. Lots of the benches available do not have backs or arms making it difficult for people with mobility difficulties or for young children to sit here.

Seating with no back is not easy to sit on for people with mobility difficulties or for young children. Its also made from metal and is cold to sit on in winter.

Wood is generally a comfortable material to sit on but again no arms or backs means that only some people can sit on it.

This seating has backs and arms but because the bench is made from metal it is cold to sit on in winter and potentially hot in summer.

This bench has arms and a backs and is made from wood. However the back is not very generous and the metal bars at the end of the seat could make this bench uncomfortable.

This round bench is a good example of a seat that is in a good location and is comfortable because it has defensible space and potential shade in the summer months. However because it is made from metal it could be uncomfortable to sit on in winter and summer.

After a recent walkabout in Sutton Town Centre, it occurred to me that grit bins are a necessary but often ugly piece of street furniture. The grit bins in Sutton are bright yellow in order to be easily visible, but add clutter to the street and sometimes act as a barrier to pedestrians. The design below attempts to consolidate a grit bin into a bench, in order to achieve the objective of removing street clutter and to also combine the features of a well designed bench and the features of a well designed grit bin.

In my opinion a well designed street bench should be:

• Durable
• Comfortable to sit on throughout the year
• Drainable
• Easy to clean
• Comfortable
• Sleepable
• Beautiful

A well designed grit bin should be:

• Easy to shovel grit out
• Capacious
• Protected by weather/waterproof
• Easy to open and close
• Accessible for deliveries of grit
• Beautiful

Problems with the design:

• The design is not accessible for everyone and needs arm rests
• Without building a prototype it is difficult to know how comfortable the bench actually is
• The design is conceptual and not detailed, for example there is nothing holding the slats of wood in place and the wood in some areas is paper thin.

Good things about the design

• The bench is made from wood, so should be comfortable to sit on in winter (unlike stone!)
• Its durable
• It is minimalist
• It has a curved back to increase comfort
• The grit is easy to access from the front. It has a lid which opens and the slats of wood can be lowered to increase accessibility.
• Grit can be poured in from the back of the bench as well

Once councillors for our local area had agreed to allocate funding for the hanging baskets, the London Borough of Sutton then had to ask permission to do this from TfL. Unfortunately this was a lengthy process and TfL took three years to finally agree to it.

Although construction is not completely finished, Woodcote Road (the high street) is now a much more pleasant place. It’s a more attractive place to shop and there’s an increase in outdoor cafe culture. Waiting for the bus is now a positive experience and Wallington has become more of a “place” than a traffic corridor.

Improvements include:

• New paving, which lightens up the whole area.
• New puffin crossings which can detect pedestrians as they wait and as they cross the road.
• Removed guard railing making it easier for people to cross the road where they like. Hopefully it’ll also slow down the traffic.
• A removed splayed junction at Beddington Gardens and a new crossing means that now pedestrians can walk straight across without having to stop half way.
• New, large minimalist, bus stops have been put in place to meet the demand for high bus usage.
• There have been changes in parking provision, in some cases parking has been removed on Woodcote road and where loading bays are available, there is a shared space approach, using different tactile paving to delineate the loading bay.
• Out of date planters have been removed, making the high street easier to navigate
• In some areas paving has been widened to make pedestrian access easier
• New street lights which shine downwards, are in keeping with the local architecture and have a pedestrian arm.

A new bus stop

Problems

It was disappointing to see that some stand alone advertising plinths have been kept. Unfortunately they damage important legibility and sight lines, restricting views to the rest of the high street for pedestrians and at the same time take up valuable pavement space.

There is an opportunity cost, what would the high street be like without these advertising plinths? There would be more pavement space, the area would be clutter free and pedestrians would have improved legibility of the area.

The new bench put in place opposite Wallington Town Hall, whilst being a user friendly,  and durably designed bench, is not well positioned. Sitting with my back to traffic, I felt uncomfortable. Having watched where people sit, I find that people like to sit facing activity or a vista, so they can watch the world go by, in areas that are away from traffic and are protected from the elements wherever possible.

Missed Opportunities

While construction is not complete, it appears that the project does not include brightening up the railway bridge. This is unfortunate and would have been an easy win for the council. At the moment there is Andrews estate agents advertising displayed. Walking underneath the bridge is also extremely unpleasant, it is dark and feels unsafe. A fresh coat of paint and some creative lighting could have made this gateway into the high street seem magical.

The cycle stands are also badly designed. They have a letter P and a symbol for a bicycle which is completely unnecessary. Surely it is obvious they are bicycle stands? This level of detail adds too much visual weight to the area and makes the bike stand less user-friendly.

The alleyway between Barclays Bank and Wallington Library while improved with new paving, is still an area for car parking and a loading and unloading area for vans and cars. It would be great to not have parked cars here, but I am aware that perhaps Barclays Bank owns some of the land. This issue needs to be addressed and perhaps part of the project could have included the compulsory purchase of the land by the council.

Possible Future Projects

The constraint of having Wallington station and the railway bridge unfortunately means that improving permeability on Woodcote road is limited. Sutton Living Streets consultation feedback suggested that an entrance to Wallington station could be made on both sides of Woodcote Road, therefore improving permeability.

Click here to see more photographs with descriptions of the improvements to Wallington High Street.

Yesterday I met up with the Streets for People Working Group to assess the physical improvements that have been made near Worcester Park Station and Green Lane.

Some of the improvements included:

• Removal of guard railing around Worcester Park Station- much needed
• Improved street lighting – removal of orange lighting to white lighting – it now feels safer and there are less shadows
• Improved paving – the area near Worcester Park station now has a lovely sandstone coloured paving, making the area feel brighter
• Improved paving along desire line access to the station
• Improved crossing access for pedestrians
• New seating – increasing capacity and providing comfortable seating
• Installation of trees – in years to come will provide shade, improve air quality and provide a relaxing element to the space

Overall the physical improvements have been a success, but some future improvements (subject to funding) such as a holistic town centre urban design treatment could include:

• Removal of guard railing and consolidate signage- there is a lot!
• Improved seating with backs and arm rests
• Pedestrian level white street lighting where appropriate
• A greening of the area, perhaps to include more trees, small planters with sustainable, maintenance free planting
• Sandstone coloured paving – durable and easy to clean
• More informal clutter free crossing points like the crossings in Kings road
• Grants/loans made available to improve shop fronts

Please see my flickr page for further improvements which could be made in the local area.

The urban renaissance of local shops has already started in some areas

This morning I was really happy to hear that Mary Portas has been assigned the task to carry out a government review to look at the problem of empty shops and what can be done to prevent the growth of  ’clone towns’.

The death of small independent shops and the rise of multiple chain stores is an issue close to my heart, I live above a small parade of shops and in the years I have lived in Sutton, Surrey,  I have seen my local post office, butchers, two florists, a bakers and a greengrocers all close down. But why is this happening?

Context

The Car: In recent years, according to Moseley (2000) (who has written substantially about the decline of local shops in rural areas in the UK) identified how the car has changed patterns of supply and demand, this means people are moving around differently and are no longer wedded to their local shops. This in turn has meant that people have more choice and so have the freedom to shop not just in their local area but also perhaps near where they work which could be miles away from where they live.

Peoples Quality of Life: Moseley (2000) and Gallent (2008) also identified as peoples quality of life have improved, so have peoples demand for better quality goods and more choice.

The Rise of the Supermarket: The supermarket can often soak up the money spent in the local economy (leaky bucket theory NEF) and has the advantage of economies of scale (they can order in massive quantities at a cheaper price). As a result they can sell goods more cheaply and local shops struggle to compete on price and by the range of goods sold in one place. The other aspect is that supermarkets are wonderfully convenient, – I am also guilty – I do most of my shopping at Sainsburies and Tescos (but I wish I didn’t).  The reason for this is that its convenient – I can get everything under one roof, they sell at a price I can afford, it has a level of quality that I trust, its open during hours that are convenient for me and I enjoy the food that I buy there.

The Internet: has changed patterns of supply and demand, people no longer have to shop locally, they can also shop on ebay, Amazon or search on Google for the lowest price goods – across the entire globe, so its not surprising that some local shops have suffered as people have so much more choice and are arguably more price sensitive.

Solutions

Moseley (2000) states that the the decline of shops in rural areas can be tackled either through government support, business initiative or through community action. I feel the same can be said for local shops in urban areas:

Government Support: Local authorities could provide support either through cross subsidy (where possible and appropriate) such as business rate discounts for local shops or funding to improve shop fronts (through shop development schemes), subsidised business training, or an easing of regulation. In one case, Moseley (2000) found a local authority eased planning regulation to enable a council flat to be turned into a post office for example.

Business Initiative: Some shops in rural areas are diversifying so that in some cases pubs take on the role of a post office and petrol stations are also selling fruit and vegetables in rural areas. The same can be done in urban areas.

Other shops in rural areas are expanding/changing what they sell to fit changes in demographics in local areas (such as processes of gentrification). Some convenience stores in rural areas are now renting out dvds, selling lottery tickets etc. Mary Portas’s TV programme tackled this problem by helping local shopkeepers to identify what local residents actually want to buy, creating a visual identity that embraces a business model and the businesses values and by providing excellent customer service.

Partnership Working: Moseley’s research (2000) found that some local shops bought produce together in order to be able to bulk buy and compete on price with supermarkets.

Voluntary Action: It is not uncommon for some local shops in rural areas to be staffed by volunteers. Shops have a social value and help to create community cohesion by encouraging interaction between people. There is no reason why this could not (if it is not already happening) take place in urban areas.

Creating Social Capital: According to Falk and Kilpatrick social capital can be encouraged by creating more interactions between people, street parties, cafes, good quality public space, car boot sales, jumble sales, summer fetes all help, in my opinion to create social capital.

Bottom Up Decision Making – Neighbourhood Planning: The new Localism Bill may be able to help local residents to have more of a say on where houses, shops and businesses get built in their local area. The main barriers to enable people to do this, according to Farnsworth are: obscure planning methodology, a culture of ‘we know best’ attitude amongst planners in local authorities, too much paper work, not enough results from communities involvement and not enough resources at local authorities disposal to engage effectively with communities.

Differentiate: In order for local shops to survive they need to provide a product/service that supermarkets cannot compete with; for example supermarkets do not provide great customer service (in my experience) and they do not have a great deal of flexibility to sell small quantities of things, which tends to leave out local produce for example.  Mary Portas has identified this flaw in supermarkets, one example is Clealls – a local shop in Corfe Castle  where the owners were losing £6000 a month because they were not selling what local residents wanted and the shop keepers hid away from people in the local community. Mary Portas turned this around by finding out what residents wanted – which was local produce (in plentiful supply in and around Corfe Castle) and shopekeepers who took part in the local community.

Go Mary!

References:

Farnsworth, D, 2011. A Network Route to Localism in Planning. Town and Country Planning Journal, (March 2011 p128-132)

Gallent, N, Juntti, M, Kidd, S, Shaw, D, 2008. Introduction to Rural Planning. Oxon: Routledge.

Moseley, M. 2000. England’s village services in the late 1990’s: entrpreneuralism, community involvement and the state. [Online pdf] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/pss/40112435 [17/05/11]

The cattle fountain is durable as it is made from marble and is probably as sturdy as the day it was installed. Maybe it has become forgotten about as London moved into the age of the car and Sloane Square gradually became more and more inaccessible and an unpleasant place to sit. It could be that even though it no longer has a use it is still appreciated for its beauty…

The cattle fountain is part of what makes me fascinated about cities. It is the historical layering of the built environment which intrigues me and what helps to make the built environment unique.

We also found cctv cameras pretty much everywhere, but one particularly interesting one is a panopticon style cctv camera outside the Central St Martins Innovation Centre. Other things included sensors on the road which register traffic movements, (the only way you can tell this is the case is by noticing lines in the road left over by construction and a very small box attached to a lampost.) We also noticed antennas on top of traffic signals and buildings, parking meters with overly beaurocratic rules and a Boris bike station which has sensors built in to register bikes leaving the station as well as docking into the station.

Key Lessons and Questions

• The importance of design in maps ie. Legible London maps on Boris bike plinths provide a service for pedestrians as well as cyclists – people intuitively understand what a physical maps purpose is in the built environment but do not necessarily understand a digital screen where its purpose may be ambiguous. I have to say that many of the digital screens I have seen in London, do not seem to work, or you are slightly scared of touching them because of getting dirt on your hands. Maybe digital screens are not as durable as a physical map?

• The whole experience helped me to become more conscious of the city and particularly understand the sensing and digital infrastructure that overlays it.

• Questions were raised by Greenfield about the necessity of cctv cameras – do we need them everywhere or do we just need them in locations where there is a real threat like Trafalgar Square, and the Houses of Parliament? Statistics show that in London cctv cameras do not significantly help to reduce crime.

• The whole debate on democratic process and accountability in the creation of Business Improvement Districts and how these ‘place branding’ concepts are often commercially driven.

• Ideas around social equity which justifies available infrastructure such as telephone boxes. Also what was interesting about telephone boxes is that their purpose and importance changes over time, sometimes they become advertising spaces, urinals or they facilitate the ability to make anonymous phone calls (only if you cannot be seen by cctv!) something which is becoming more difficult to achieve and perhaps more valued as time goes on.

• Should digital physical infrastructure be more clearly identifiable?

• Issues around peoples personal open data – why don’t we have access to it?

Books recommended

The Work Anatomy of the City

Ground Control