WALLINGTON GETS £2 MILLION FACELIFT

Wallington town centre will get a £2 million facelift as a result of work that I have been doing with Transport for London (TfL), who will pay for the scheme.

Improvements will begin in the summer 2010 and a major consultation with local residents will start this summer to find out exactly what you would like to see happen to the town centre.

I have been working with TfL for more than eighteen months to pull this project off and I’m delighted that we are now sure of the money. But we haven’t finalised exactly what the work will include and Jayne, Richard and I want to know what you want us to do to make Wallington a nicer place.

Work will start in Woodcote Road and link to the station access improvements that the council has already promised to pay for. But we can do a lot more too. So of the ideas that we have already include widening the footpaths and installing new paving, new cycle parking, getting rid of a lot of the clutter in the street and providing new street furniture and better bus stops… but we really want to know what you think.

If you have any ideas, please leave me a message here or drop me an email to: abetterwallington@yahoo.co.uk

Traffic Lights Woodcote Road

Work has finally started to link traffic lights at the junction of Woodcote Road / Stafford Road and at Beddington Gardens. As a result traffic will move through Wallington more smoothly, reducing pollution and helping to keep the street quieter.

The work, which is being carried out by Transport for London (TfL), has been delayed for three years! According to TfL this was because they had to reorganise their staff and then priority was given to Central and East London. There was then a further delay when TfL suggested that we added the lights south of Woodcote Road by the Public Hall car park and in Stanley Park Road to the scheme - something that we had requested in the first place!

Cabling ducts were completed in April and traffic detector equipment is now being installed in the roads and TfL expect to have the signals linked together and working by October.

But the pedestrian phase that we have asked for on the lights at Woodcote Road / Stafford Road / Stanley Park Road will not be completed yet. In fact it may be necessary to look at the lights at the Public Hall car park, outside the Sainsbury car park in Stafford Road and in Stanley Park Road as an alternative to avoid large queues of cars forming at rush hour.