A new trial access to Forest Hill station will implements from 30th July 2022 which is designed to make the station more pedestrian friendly.
The car park will remain open except the side closest to WH Smith. This side of the car park will be converted into a pedestrian friendly space with additional plants and flowers. We hope that this will improve the welcome to Forest Hill and encourage events to take place in the town centre.
Drop-off and parking at the station will still be possible through the existing vehicle entrance, but this will also function as the exit from the car park. During the trial period the impact of the scheme will be monitored to see if the scheme works for all the community, and consider whether any changes are necessary to turn this into a permanent change.
Once the changes are in place we would welcome your feedback (positive or negative) to understand the views of the community.
30 June 2022
Station Forecourt Changes
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9 comments:
I'm not sure what problem this is solving, as in over 20 years of living here I have never witnessed any problems or accidents on the station forecourt. Blocking off the previous exit does, however, significantly increase the chance of problems and accidents.
While I try to minimise car use, there will be times I have to drop off or pick up at the station - for example if elderly relatives with mobility issues are visiting. What I will now have to do is turn in to a single lane forecourt, hope that no one comes in behind me, then reverse into the car park, turn and come out the same entrance I came in - while hoping no one else is trying to turn in. Any waiting or dropping off is going to be significantly more pressurised if anyone else is trying to do the same.
I'm also exiting closer to the bend on the South Circular, which increases the risk of an accident if someone comes around the bend quickly.
This set up will also encourage people to reverse back onto the South Circular, increase congestion on a single lane that has now been made two-way, and prove significantly more dangerous for pedestrians and drivers. It's also not going to do business at the cafe much good as the number of arguments and blockages increase just outside it.
This really is one of the dafter changes that has been introduced, so I hope some common sense can be applied and the set-up as it previously existed can be restored.
Whoever dreamt this up cannot have ever used this car park. It’s a crazy decision; a single entrance for both in and out is just totally impractical, there simply isn’t room for two cars to enter and leave at the same time.
Trying to enter doing a left from Waldron Park Road is impossible if someone is already waiting to exit. Holding up traffic in the left-hand lane causes cars to wait, or more likely try and go around you by going into the right-hand lane, which in itself causes problems. Even if no-one is waiting to leave, the chances are high of encountering someone on their way out and with no room for both cars to pass each other, it means someone has to reverse to allow the other through. And it can’t be the car entering as that would mean reversing back out onto the main road.
Turning right into the station was tricky at the best of times as it meant holding up the traffic behind you while a gap in the traffic opened up, but has been now made doubly so if a car is waiting to exit.
And on days when the car park is busy, anyone dropping off now has to try and turnaround in the tight space between the parking bays, all the while cars are still manoeuvring trying to enter and leave the car park. Madness.
It’s an workable situation which will do nothing more than cause traffic chaos for what is an already busy and congested road.
The area outside WH Smith has always been a good place to congregate so can see no logical reason whatsoever to add an extra pedestrianised area, especially given the problems it will cause for those trying to drop off or park at what is an increasingly busy transport hub.
Having lived in Forest Hill since 1985, I am naturally committed to encouraging sensible, workable solutions to problem areas which help enhance the local environment. Unfortunately, this is not one of them.
Creating a small, pedestrianised area at the expense of restricting the car park and dropping-off area to a single exit/entrance – on the bend of what is an extremely busy main road at that – is both impractical and unworkable. From experiencing it first-hand it feels as though it is only a matter of time before an accident occurs, and can only imagine what chaos will then ensue if and when emergency services have to try and gain access.
I would be very interested to know what the consultation process was for this, who gave it the green light, and on what basis the trial will either be approved for long-term use or (hopefully) declined.
I also cannot see any information as to how to register a more formal opinion on the trial. Will this be made public any time soon?
I repeat a request I made in the Forum Twitter feed :
I'd be interested in what form of consultation took place before this was implemented?
This proposal needs to be linked to your thread on Facebook where there has been 191 comments and feedback on this trial
https://www.facebook.com/675560855869108/posts/pfbid0RrgJjTjd94xWMqcmNQAyxAfRWRgQP5t3kuf61BABAZ8M8yKqQqgMtQQJ68P4F32Kl/?d=n
Please confirm that these comments and feedback will be taken into consideration and made known to the wider community affected by these changes.
Hi all,
thanks for the comments. We've had a large number of positive comments via email and social media. Yes there is a Facebook thread with a vocal minority of motorists and some out of town wannabe locals - this makes it difficult to identify what's real. Having said that, all the comments you've made are entirely relevant and point towards improvements we intend to make in Phase2 (albeit all dependent on conversations with TfL about the future of the car park tender) i.e removing the parking by the island at the entrance to widen the entry/exit, hopefully the council will remove the toilet block soon, and then we can put in a proper drop off bay and a turning circle. There will be more space to turn as we'll hopefully only have blue badge and bike parking by the platform. Obviously we can't do everything all in one go, hence this is only a trial and not the final outcome. It's dependent on a number of factors.
To the point about consultation, we worked with station management on this as well as the local councillors who selected it as a workable scheme for NCIL funding. As I said elsewhere, we will publish plans for Phase2 after we've spoken to TfL, hopefully in September when everyone is back from hols and then publish some plans for a permanent solution. If not then we'll put the planters onto the station platform and everyone can go back to driving after the trial is over.
Thanks for all the feedback, keep it coming.
Thank you for this development at Forest Hill station!
It's welcoming to finally see some attention paid the to the dilapidated forecourt area - and with plans that are not completely car-centric!
I visit Forest Hill weekly, and I love that the town is full of character. But the charmless box station and asphalt forecourt have always stuck out as an eyesore. Of all the stations along this line of the overground, Forest Hill is one of the ugliest. And although this can also be said for Brockley station, at least they have a people-friendly focused forecourt. This makes a difference to visitors and their impressions of a town centre.
Although the traffic in Forest Hill forecourt is not presenting a danger to the pedestrians, the entire focus is currently wrong.
The fraction of people using the station and vehicles to get to and from the station must only be a few percent. So why must the vast majority need to step out onto a road and walk across parking for the benefit of a very few. It is a train station after all. Other stations - Honor Oak, Brockley etc. exist perfectly fine without station parking. Why can’t Forest Hill?
It's about time this featureless station gets an overhaul, and that passengers, pedestrians and cyclists get priority ahead of car drivers.
Why can there not simply be a station drop-off lane at the front of the forecourt on Devonshire Road, and then the entire forecourt could be developed for the majority?
Ideally the entire space (including removing the WHSmith building and all the parking) would be redeveloped into a grand station with shops and cafes. This would give all visitors an instant experience of pleasure and character rather than the current swathe of cracked asphalt and the need to immediately look out for cars.
Most visitors to Forest Hill will be arriving by public transport. They come from great distances to experience such places as the Horniman and Forest Hill's excellent shops and restaurants. We should start their visit with a welcoming modern station and shops rather than signalling to them that they should have come by car.
This is creating more problems than it solves. On many occasions, I drop off and collect my visitors at the station in my car. I drive in through the one way entrance street, pick up my waiting guest and their luggage, and drive out through the one way exit. All very straightforward. Recently, however, I’ve had to negotiate with cars trying to come out of the narrow now two-way entrance/exit. It means there are cars trying to turn round in what’s left of the parking spaces. During all these manoeuvres, I’m holding up the traffic in the main road. There is only enough room in the entrance street for a single car to pass, so drivers have no alternative than to engage in awkward three-point turns and the like. Unnecessarily irritating and very frustrating when all you want to do is save your guest the hassle of walking with their bags to your home (a 20 minute walk). Please reconsider this scheme.
Thank you for this development at Forest Hill station!
It's welcoming to finally see some attention paid the to the dilapidated forecourt area - and with plans that are not completely car-centric!
I visit Forest Hill weekly, and I love that the town is full of character. But the charmless box station and asphalt forecourt have always stuck out as an eyesore. Of all the stations along this line of the overground, Forest Hill is one of the ugliest. And although this can also be said for Brockley station, at least they have a people-friendly focused forecourt. This makes a difference to visitors and their impressions of a town centre.
Although the traffic in Forest Hill forecourt is not presenting a danger to the pedestrians, the entire focus is currently wrong.
The fraction of people using the station and vehicles to get to and from the station must only be a few percent. So why must the vast majority need to step out onto a road and walk across parking for the benefit of a very few. It is a train station after all. Other stations - Honor Oak, Brockley etc. exist perfectly fine without station parking. Why can’t Forest Hill?
It's about time this featureless station gets an overhaul, and that passengers, pedestrians and cyclists get priority ahead of car drivers.
Why can there not simply be a station drop-off lane at the front of the forecourt on Devonshire Road, and then the entire forecourt could be developed for the majority?
Ideally the entire space (including removing the WHSmith building and all the parking) would be redeveloped into a grand station with shops and cafes. This would give all visitors an instant experience of pleasure and character rather than the current swathe of cracked asphalt and the need to immediately look out for cars.
Most visitors to Forest Hill will be arriving by public transport. They come from great distances to experience such places as the Horniman and Forest Hill's excellent shops and restaurants. We should start their visit with a welcoming modern station and shops rather than signalling to them that they should have come by car.
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