Nearly 2,000 residents had signed a petition against the Regents Park Road scheme, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter
A controversial bus lane in Finchley will be scrapped, Barnet Council has confirmed.
The council confirmed today (Friday 14th) that it had called a halt to the £1million project in Regents Park Road, which was being funded by Transport for London (TfL).
The plan originally was to improve journey times for several routes but, after work on the new bus lane began this summer, concerns over safety issues led to a review of the scheme.
Cabinet member for environment and climate change, Alan Schneiderman, says the scheme will now be scrapped altogether.
Cllr Schneiderman said: “Although the independent engineers have given us assurances that this scheme is safe, we made a commitment to engage closely with residents and to listen to their concerns – and that is what we have done. These proposals won’t now go ahead.
“One of the long-term plans in our transport strategy is to create new bus lanes to encourage more people to use public transport and to speed up journey times.
“We will be taking stock from this scheme and using the learning to inform any new bus lane schemes that are put forward elsewhere in the borough.”
To date 1,772 residents had signed a petition, which was launched two months ago, calling for the scheme to be removed, describing it as “dangerous” and “not physically wide enough for two lanes of traffic, bus lanes and parking”.
On Tuesday, 21st October, Cllr Schneiderman told a council meeting the scheme was being reviewed after a “full independent safety audit” was carried out and “a range of amendments” were being put together, ready to be “presented shortly”.
Although residents are celebrating the U-turn, some have raised questions around what will become of the money allocated to the scheme. Josh Baron, who has consistently campaigned against the plans since the beginning of the year, raised doubts the turnaround was based on resident feedback, believing it went “deeper”.
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