Phil Briscoe - on Island gridlock

By John Hill on August 20, 2008 1:00 AM |

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Phil Briscoe is a Conservative councillor for Blackwall and Cubitt Town

Phil Briscoe.jpg

Estate agents may be struggling but one local sector is still booming – roadworks.

A typical morning sees seven sets of lane closures and traffic lights on the sole access route for the Isle of Dogs. This on top of the construction vehicles that use the public highway as an extension of their building sites in continued defiance of their planning permission restrictions.

Drivers sit frustrated in jams, cyclists tackle the speed trial of clearing the contraflow before the lights change and those bus passengers lucky enough to stumble across the location of their ever-moving temporary bus stop crawl along at barely walking speed.

Those who give up and walk are left to negotiate closed pavements and crossings. Pavement and walkway closures at the “traffic-light roundabout�? have made a south-north passage impossible leaving people standing bemused by the roadside.

But why the pain? Simple – over-development. When Labour councillors on the Tower Hamlets planning committee approve yet another excessive development, they get their S106 lump sum to spend, leaving residents to pay the price.

We cannot stop the electricity cabling works but everyone can have a say on the review of planning policies in the Local Development Framework. This document will dictate development in Tower Hamlets up until 2020, and you can contribute by visiting www.towerhamlets.gov.uk or calling the LDF hotline on 020 7364 4754 before September 2.

If you want to influence what happens in 2015, now is the time to have your say.