WCRA's Response to the School Streets Consultation

Dear School Streets Team,

TM8(26) Sherington/Our Lady of Grace School Streets Consultation

West Charlton Residents Association (WCRA) would like to submit comments for the statutory consultation on School Streets for Sherington and Our Lady of Grace Primary School.

Firstly, we would like to raise concerns about the opportunity for local residents to find out about and participate in the consultation: many local residents living close to the proposed closure areas did not receive any letter from the council about this consultation and many will not have had a chance to respond during the school holidays.
Secondly, we believe that this consultation should be extended and held together with the consultation on mitigations for Charlton: mitigations were recommended following the West & East Greenwich Management Scheme call-in in November 2025 and a consultation this year on mitigations was promised during the election campaign.

Consideration of wider impact & LTN mitigations

We are concerned that the current school streets consultation for Sherington and Our Lady of Grace primary schools simply looks at those schools in isolation, without considering the wider impacts on the West Charlton area. The school streets proposals will displace further traffic onto Eastcombe Avenue and Victoria Way, which were identified as suffering from additional traffic and pollution as a result of the West & East Greenwich Management Scheme, just as we predicted in December 2023. Whilst we support the idea of improving safety around schools, it is unjust that nothing is being done about safety outside Fossdene Primary School, which is arguably on the most dangerous busy junction in West Charlton and has no pedestrian crossing or school crossing patrol.

As locals, we know that children walk to and from school across a much wider area, including crossing Eastcombe Avenue by the Bramshot Avenue - Siebert Road pedestrian subway to get to and from Invicta Primary School and other primary schools. Monitoring showed traffic regularly exceeding 20mph on the upper part of Eastcombe Avenue, alongside the increase in traffic, and we would like a pedestrian crossing to be considered here. One measure, which could surely be undertaken quickly using the PCN income, would be repainting the faded 20 mph and slow markings on Eastcombe Avenue approaching this crossing point to the subway and the blind bend on Eastcombe Avenue close to Sandtoft Road: we have witnessed worrying near misses between vehicles and pedestrians in both locations. We have previously requested repainting and were disappointed to find that priority was recently given to repainting parking bays and double yellow lines on Bramshot Avenue towards the police car pound rather than these speed safety measures.

Signage for the School Streets

In terms of signs for this scheme, we believe that type “3” closure signs should be included at the entrance to Sherrington Road from Charlton Road and that there should be warning signs on Bramshot Avenue before the type “3” closure signs at the junction with Hopedale Road, giving warning in advance of the closure ahead. Without the opportunity to see a warning sign and a closure sign, drivers could struggle to take in the quantity of information on the signs and in their confusion drive through the ANPR cameras or perform last-minute dangerous manoeuvres just outside the closures. Please can those putting up the signs be briefed on the importance of not placing them behind tree foliage / other signs / posts to avoid the perception of unfair attempts to maximise PCN revenue which persists for the West & East Greenwich Management Scheme: for example the sign which is still obscured by a speed limit sign at the junction of Old Dover Road / Langton Way.

Exemptions

Some residents have expressed concerns that exemptions are only for those living within the school streets, which could deter tradespeople and those making deliveries from serving the area. This could be an issue for residents needing urgent services to deal with water and gas leaks or being locked out of their houses for example. Would the council consider introducing a system such as that used in Hammersmith for residents to enter the registration number of those legitimately providing services to them so that they are exempt from fines?

Deterring anti-social behaviour

We request that when any measures are introduced, police or traffic wardens need to be in attendance and at regular intervals afterwards, so that anti-social or dangerous behaviour is not shifted to just outside the School Street zones. We are aware of ongoing issues around the Invicta Blackheath School Street for example: near the junction of Invicta Road/Charlton Road there is repeated irresponsible parking by parents on double yellow lines by the busy “BC” bus stop on Charlton Road used by high numbers of secondary school children, simply putting a different group of children in danger.

Community Engagement

Please take the views of residents and residents associations with local knowledge fully into account for these school streets proposals.

West Charlton Residents Association Committee