The three Turnham Green councillors – Joanna Biddolph, Ranjit Gill and Ron Mushiso – have applied for funding, from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), for zebra crossings over Fishers Lane.
Residents have long been asking for safe crossings to be installed on Fishers Lane so they can cross over Fishers Lane as well as reach Dolman Road safely. Sixty-eight residents signed a petition in September 2016 and, in March 2017, all nine Chiswick councillors backed the residents’ strong call for safe crossings, saying that, with no transport funding available, their installation should be put on the wish list for community infrastructure funding. Another request was made at the most recent Chiswick Area Forum on 4th September 2018 when Joanna stressed that the three of us would make an application in the funding round that ended in September.
There is no crossing over Fishers Lane in Turnham Green ward. There have been several accidents here. Traffic travels at high speed along Fishers Lane and Dolman Road regardless of the 20mph zone.
In their application, Councillors Joanna Biddolph, Ranjit Gill and Ron Mushiso said, “Many local residents live in sheltered accommodation nearby and have to reach GPs and pharmacists on Dolman Road and Holly Road. They, their visitors – carers, doctors, nurses, chiropodists, dentists, hairdressers, friends, family members and others – and staff working there deserve safe crossings. Frail or ill residents of all ages visiting the Chiswick Health Centre on the north side of Dolman Road, the Holly Road medical centre on the south side of Dolman Road (corner of Holly Road) and the Chiswick Pharmacy on Holly Road off Dolman Road must be able to do so safely. Residents living in houses and flats along and off Fishers Lane, Dolman Road, Belmont Road, Belmont Terrace, Chiswick Common Road, Chiswick High Road and all roads off it plus South Parade and other roads in Ealing Southfield ward also deserve to have safe places to cross.
“It will also help families, teachers, other school support staff and children walking to/from Belmont School; parents or carers and children walking to/from the Fishers Lane playground; and adults and children using the Rocks Lane sports centre on Chiswick Common Road.
“It will also benefit people who work in Spaces Chiswick, and others who work nearby, who want to walk to the shops to buy lunch or shop for food and goods to take home.
“In these uncertain economic times, it’s important to make it easy for residents, workers and visitors to reach our shops safely. Zebra crossings over Fishers Lane and between Fishers Lane and Dolman Road will increase the attractiveness of shopping and doing business in Chiswick which, in turn, will benefit the local economy.
“The council has already invested in dropped kerbs on pavements on Fishers Lane over to the island in the middle of the junction with Dolman Road so we hope the cost of installing the zebra crossings will now be lower as this work has already been done.”
Joanna added that she has crossed Dolman Road and been halted by a white van being driven along it the wrong way – it turned into Fishers Lane at the bottom where it is No Entry – by a driver whose excuse was that he was late for work. She explained that locals know this road well and, given that it is one way, they would never expect to see a car travelling in the wrong direction. They might not look both ways when crossing and the driver was putting locals at risk. Erratic drivers, and those who drive well above the 20mph limit, make these two roads even more dangerous to cross. Funding for these crossings is urgently needed.
