By Sally Berriman, Beverley Way, West Wimbledon

I appreciate that Mr Davies finds it difficult to understand the objections of residents in Beverley Way to having a bus run along their slip road, since he will not be affected.

If he were, he might feel differently. He finds us ‘rather selfish’ to want to protect our neighbourhood, our health and safety, our well-being and our properties.

Yes, indeed, we do have the traffic on the A3 passing very close to our houses, but we don’t want it any closer. In any case, traffic noise on the A3 creates a constant hum, and is not an intrusion. Large vehicles in a narrow slip road, which was not designed for such traffic, is another matter.

The road is too narrow for a bus and a dustcart to pass. We know this, because we have measured the road and investigated the widths of the vehicles involved.

The new green waste carts are wider and are already having difficulty making collections. Mr Davies points out that buses travel along the other, western side of the road.

On that side, the bus does not have to pass by the fronts of as many houses, as many of the houses back on to the bus route. That side of the road is also wider than our side, but despite this, there has already been a collision between a bus and a green-waste cart, ending up with the two being wedged together and having to be carefully extricated by police. The bus driver was subsequently taken to hospital. This occurred on 8/8/11.

Mr Davies mentions unrest in Cannon Hill Road, when it was first suggested that a bus should travel along there. This is not a good comparison, as this is a much wider road, not a narrow service road, which was not built for heavy traffic.

The proposed new layout for the junction where the bus will enter Beverley Way, if implemented, will only result in accidents. Traffic, including buses will exit the A3 at the same place where traffic will enter the A3, while at the same time residents will be attempting to enter and exit to get to their homes.

A bus stop is proposed on this junction, limiting visibility while traffic is coming from several directions. This traffic can be very heavy at certain times of the day. This proposed layout is very dangerous.

We have many elderly residents in the road, who have lived here for a very long time and drive cars and we also have a number of people with disabilities, who rely on their vehicles and they have expressed extreme concern about how they will be able to get out of the road. Many of them feel they would be frightened to use this junction.

A number of elderly and disabled residents have also expressed concern about where they would park when the necessary red lines are painted outside their houses. Not everyone has their drives paved. A number of residents still take pride in their front gardens.

On a green issue, it is important that we do not pave our front garden, particularly since we live on a flood plain. We have no side roads to park in, so where do visitors park, since there will be nowhere.

Again, elderly residents in particular are concerned about what happens when their families visit and cannot park.

We are not ‘selfish’, we are a neighbourhood and a strong community and we protect those in our community who are more vulnerable and we are aware that this scheme will have a detrimental impact on our elderly residents and those with disabilities.

We have sought expert advice and have been told there are alternatives to these proposals that will satisfy all.

We have put these to Transport for London. Since there are alternatives, there is no reason to implement a scheme that adversely affects the lives of 150 households.

This constitutes a considerable number of people whose lives are being seriously compromised by these proposals, compared with perhaps one or two who might (or might not) benefit.

We have the full backing of Mr Stephen Hammond, the Member of Parliament for Wimbledon, Mr Zac Goldsmith, the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park & North Kingston, Mr Richard Tracey, our Greater London Authority Member, who serves on the GLA Transport Committee, the local Merton councillors and the local Kingston councillors.

All have studied the details of the plans, know the local area well, have had discussion directly with Transport for London, and all agree that this is a dangerous and unnecessary scheme.

It will also cost the taxpayer an exceptionally large amount of money.

I suggest that if this was happening on Mr Davies’ doorstep and it was his house that was being devalued, he might end up being ‘rather selfish’ about it.

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