Dear Resident – below is a copy of the meeting notes which Anna and Max took down while at the Peabody Community Hall public meeting held at the end of March to discuss proposals to introduce a bus service to Peabody Hill. These notes were sent to TfL last week as a way to provide TfL with an insight into Peabody estate and Birkbeck triangle residents’ thoughts, suggestions and questions ahead of the consultation in June 2015.

Dear Peter, 

As you’re aware, we recently hosted a public meeting to discuss proposals to introduce a bus service to Peabody Hill. The meeting came about due to increasing community awareness of the proposals and Peabody Estate’s ongoing maintenance work which included the drawing of double yellow lines and prompted a discussion about parking and the potential impact of a bus service locally.

With the suggested consultation taking place in June, we thought it would be valuable to engage residents early, update them on the proposal as best we could and gauge their views in order to feed into your work. We were really pleased that over 100 local residents from Peabody and the Birkbeck Triangle attended the meeting. We have compiled their questions and suggestions, below, and hope that this will help to shape both the proposal and the consultation.

We think it very important that any proposals consider these points of view as it is an emotive issue for some residents, and hope that the questions can be answered fully before or during the consultation so that residents can make an informed decision.

Bus route:
– Which bus route is being proposed? Where will it come from/ go to?
– Will residents be given a choice of bus route? If not, why is that route being suggested?
– What frequency will the bus visit the estate?
– What time will it start in the morning and finish in the evening?
– Exactly what route through Birkbeck Triangle will the bus take?

Bus stops:
– Where will bus stop(s) be situated? Will residents be offered a choice?

Parking:
– What will the impact on parking be in terms of exact number of spaces? Can you be specific about where the parking spaces will be lost?
– How will you work with Lambeth and Peabody to mitigate any effects on parking?
– Will you conduct a parking survey?
– How will this align with the council’s review of controlled parking zones in the area?

Impact on residents:
– Do you have examples of buses traveling through other estates like Peabody Hill that you can share?
– Can TfL suggest a low carbon bus to reduce impact on air quality and noise?
– Will noise be measured in an ongoing way?

Children
– How will TfL work with Lambeth to ensure the play street in the Birkbeck Triangle goes ahead?
– What can TfL do to ensure that children playing on the estate or outside their homes are safe?

Logistics:
– How will the narrowness of streets be overcome, eg bus needing to pass oncoming traffic, delivery vans stopped in the street?
– Is it possible for the bus to turn outside the community hall instead of going round the estate? If not why not?
– How will emergency services and bin trucks be affected? How can this be managed?
– What will happen in the winter, as the estate is not normally gritted? Will TfL grit the estate?

Crime:
– Will you get any advice from the police regarding the impact new bus services have on local criminal activity?

Maintenance:
– Will TfL contribute to maintenance of roads on the estate?

Implementation:
– What is the suggested date for implementation?
– What alternatives have been considered?
– How would the bus be financed?
– If a bus goes ahead, will it be permanent? Is there scope for a pilot?

Residents also had some questions about the consultation process:

– How many people must ask for/ use the service to create enough demand for the bus to go ahead?
– How long will residents have to contribute?
– Will residents elsewhere on the bus route, not on Peabody Hill and the Birkbeck Triangle, also be able to have their say, and how will you engage them?
– How will TfL engage residents thoroughly in the consultation to ensure everyone feels included?

We also received feedback regarding the process of consultation and have some suggestions to make this more productive in June.

– Host drop in sessions rather than meetings, as some residents felt intimidated by the atmosphere at the public meeting and weren’t therefore comfortable contributing.
– Events held over a longer period of time will give more residents an opportunity to have their say
– Holding sessions at different times of day would mean people can come during the day or after work
– There should be the option to respond to written information and engage online
– It would be good if residents were presented with more than one option – being asked for “yes or no” for one bus proposal was seen as too black and white. Would it be possible for residents to choose from 3-5 options?

We apologise for the long letter, but many views were expressed and we are keen that everyone can have an input. We hope that considering the above questions and suggestions will improve the proposals and the process.

For your information, a copy of this letter will be forwarded to residents who attended the event so that they are aware of what is happening. We would like to be able to share your response to any of the questions above.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if this raises any questions or if you would like to meet to discuss further.

Best wishes,

Anna and Max