Restoring our streets to the people

Our principle is that streets should be places where people can live as well as travel. That they should be places where community happens and that means that we prioritise residents and pedestrians. We are residents most of the time and pedestrians some of the time. Some people - children, the elderly - only have autonomy when they walk.

This is a matter of maintaining rights, improving health and minimising our carbon footprint.
It leads us to four principles:

• The places where people live should be quiet streets fit for use by residents, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. We therefore support the Council's Quieter Neighbourhoods programme, though we would reduce the default speed limit from 30 to 20 mph.
• There are urban and suburban centres where people shop, visit public facilities, etc. For these we favour the Shared Space approach promoted by leading streets designer Ben Hamilton-Baillie.
• There are through routes that separate the quieter neighbourhoods and link the urban centres. Some of these have cycle lanes and some need to have them - the decisions must depend on the precise circumstances.
• Finally, Enfield has two major through routes - the A10 and the A406. On these routes motor vehicles need to be kept away from pedestrians and cyclists.

Specifically:

• We welcome the Councils intention to consult widely on Quieter Neighbourhoods.
• We'd like to see shared space (SS) designs for Enfield Town, Edmonton Green and Palmers Green.
• SS should also be considered for Southgate, Winchmore Hill Green, the Carterhatch/Hertford Road and Hertford Road/Nags Head Road intersections.

[This is Enfield Green Party's official streets policy.]