London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

CABINET MEMBER’s DECISION

15 JANUARY 2014

GOLDHAWK ROAD / STAMFORD BROOK ROAD ROUNDABOUT ACCESSIBILITY IMPROVEMENTS Report of the Cabinet Member for Transport and Technical Services Open Report Classification: For Decision Key Decision: No Wards Affected: Ravenscourt Park Accountable Executive Director: Nigel Pallace Report Author: Matthew Veale,

Project Engineer

Contact Details: Tel: 020 8753 3084 E-mail: matthew.veale@lbhf.gov.uk

AUTHORISED BY: ...................................... The Cabinet member has signed this report. DATE: 15 January 2014

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1. The improvements include repaving the footway, crossovers, and part of the private forecourt on Goldhawk Road and Stamford Brook Road outside the Duchess of Cambridge Public House. A small part of the private forecourt will also be dedicated and adopted as public highway.

1.2. It is funded by Transport for London (TfL) through the 2013/14 corridor programme.

1.3. The proposals been initiated by local residents and designed on the basis of maximising value for money, reducing the costs to the council of maintenance and repairs, improving pedestrian safety and accessibility, and de-cluttering the street environment.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1. That approval is given to carry out implementation of the highway

improvements as proposed in section 5 of this report and adoption of the small section of land indicated in Appendix 1, at a total cost of £9,000.

Cabinet approved expenditure on this scheme within the annual TfL funded programme on 4 March 2013, subject to approval of the detailed proposals at TTCM.

3. REASONS FOR DECISION 3.1. A number of consultation responses mentioned the need for accessibility

improvements at the roundabout at the junction of Goldhawk Road and Stamford Brook Road, specifically outside the Duchess of Cambridge Public House. These included Hammersmith and Fulham Action on Disability (HAFAD), a representative from Pocklington Lodge (residential accommodation for visually impaired people) and a mobility impaired person who lives nearby.

3.2. It is considered that the relatively small cost of the works to the private

forecourt area of the Public House will achieve a significant public benefit. A further public benefit will be the section of private land, which will become public highway as part of the proposal.

4. BACKGROUND 4.1 This report outlines an additional proposal within the Goldhawk Road

Corridor for which TfL have allocated £200,000 in 2013/14.

4.2 The area that the proposal relates to is outside the Duchess of Cambridge Public House on the roundabout at the junction of Goldhawk Road and Stamford Brook Road.

4.3 Mobility and visually impaired residents in the locality have requested that improvements to the accessibility of this area are made. The owners of the Duchess of Cambridge are supportive of the proposal.

5. PROPOSALS 5.1 It is proposed to repave the footway in artificial stone paviours (ASP) to

bring it up to the Council’s latest design standards (Streetsmart) as shown shaded yellow on the plan in Appendix 1. This will improve accessibility and appearance. Currently these footway areas are constructed with tarmac and concrete as shown in the photo 1 below.

Photo 1

5.2 Tactile paving will be upgraded to meet current guidelines and the Belisha beacon relocated to a more appropriate location on the southern side of the zebra crossing on Stamford Brook Road. Upgraded tactile paving will enable visually impaired to cross safely and relocating the Belisha beacon will reduce the obstruction (particularly for mobility impaired people) on the footway.

5.3 The two crossovers on Goldhawk Road and Stamford Brook Road, which serve the private forecourt outside the public house will be repaved in granite setts and raised to the same level as the footway. This will improve the accessibility (particularly for mobility impaired people) and appearance. It will also bring them up to our latest design standards (Streetsmart). This is shown shaded pink on the plan in Appendix 1. Currently the crossovers are constructed in tarmac and the kerbs are not dropped correctly, which significantly affects accessibility. The crossover on Stamford Brook Road is shown in photo 2 below.

Photo 2

5.4 A small section of private forecourt is proposed to be dedicated and

adopted as public highway (hatched area on the plan in Appendix 1). Currently the public footway is only 0.8m wide at the narrowest point at this location and this would see it increase to 1.8m. The owners of the Duchess of Cambridge are supportive of this and have agreed to dedicate this land as public highway. The legal procedure will be initiated by the Council’s legal team following Cabinet Member approval to proceed.

5.5 The private forecourt area (shown in photo 1 above) of the public

house is proposed to be raised to the same level as the adjoining footway. This area is currently used sporadically for loading and unloading from the adjacent cellar doors of the public house. The owners of the public house have stated that most deliveries and servicing takes place from Stamford Brook Road. During summer, tables and chairs are often located in this area. By raising this area to the same level as the footway it will improve the accessibility of the area by removing the kerb faces which are a significant impediment for mobility impaired people. This will be constructed in tarmac, which is cost effective (estimated at £2,000) and will cause minimal disruption.

6. CONSULTATION 6.1 A neighbourhood wide consultation was carried out on the whole

Goldhawk Road corridor in 2012 and a targeted consultation on improvements to the roundabout at the junction of Goldhawk Road and Stamford Brook Road in October 2013. Both went to local residents, businesses and ward councillors.

6.2 A number of responses mentioned the need for accessibility

improvements at the roundabout at the junction of Goldhawk Road and Stamford Brook Road, specifically outside the Duchess of Cambridge Public House. These included Hammersmith and Fulham Action on Disability (HAFAD), a representative from Pocklington Lodge (residential accommodation for visually impaired people) and a mobility impaired person who lives nearby.

7. COSTS AND PROGRAMME 7.1 The estimated cost of implementing the works detailed in Section 5 is

£9,000. 7.2 This will be funded from the TfL allocation for the Goldhawk Road

Corridor. It is not anticipated that any additional funding will be required.

7.3 The works are programmed to commence and be completed in March 2014.

8. FINANCIAL AND RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS 8.1 TfL has approved funding of £200,000 for Goldhawk Road from the

Corridors Programme in 2013-14; this project uses part of that funding. 8.2 At present the costs are based on an estimate. This is subject to

change once the detail of the scheme has been costed. The funding however is limited to the amount approved by the TfL board plus a contingency. Any variation in costs in excess of the contingency cannot be assumed to be funded by TfL unless this is approved in advance. Alternatively, officers may need to manage the workload to ensure that expenditure is contained within the approved provision.

9. RISK MANAGEMENT 9.1 A designer’s risk assessment has been undertaken and kept on record

to be passed onto the contractor before implementation.

9.2 Implications verified/completed by: Matthew Veale, Project Engineer, ext. 3084.

10. EQUALITY IMPLICATIONS 10.1 There are positive equality implications for visually and mobility

impaired people through improved accessibility and making a more coherent and navigable public realm.

10.2 Implications verified/completed by: Matthew Veale, Project Engineer,

ext. 3084. 11. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS 11.1 Council has a general power under section 62 of the Highways Act

1980 (‘the Act’) in respect of highways maintainable at the public expense to carry out any work for the improvement of the highway. This general power of improvement extends to include improvements to footways such as the paving works proposed in section 3.2 and 3.3 of this report.

11.2 Council also has a power under section 77 of the Act to raise or lower

or otherwise alter, as it sees fit, the level of a highway maintainable at the public expense. It therefore has the power to raise the level of the two crossovers on Goldhawk Road and Stamford Brook Road.

11.3 Section 37 of the Act authorises a person to dedicate as highway a

way which is intended to become maintainable at the public expense. There is a statutory process for such a transfer set out in the Act. Council can then adopt the highway by agreement under section 38 of the Act from which point on the highway will become maintainable at the public expense. A legal agreement must be entered for this purpose.

11.4 The works proposed in section 3.8 of this report relate to a privately

owned forecourt. Council has the power to carry out these works either by virtue of the forecourt being deemed a highway under section 31 of the Act or by authorisation from the owner of the private forecourt for Council to carry out the works. It is proposed that this can be addressed when the adoption agreement referred to above is entered with the owners of the public house and forecourt area.

11.5 Implications verified/completed by: Alice Balme, Foreign qualified

solicitor (NZ) (Planning, Highways and Licensing), 02087536918.

12. PROCUREMENT AND IT STRATEGY IMPLICATIONS 12.1 There are no procurement related issues as any works will be carried

out under the Council’s Highways Term Contracts. 12.2 Implications verified/completed by: Matthew Veale, Project Engineer,

ext. 3084.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2000 LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS

No. Description of

Background Papers Name/Ext. of Holder of File/Copy

Department/ Location

1.

Project File containing accidents, consultation, correspondence, maps, proposals etc

Matthew Veale Transportation and Highways Department, 5th Floor Ext

CONTACT OFFICER:

NAME: MATTHEW VEALE EXT: 3084

[Note: Please list only those documents that are not already in the public domain, i.e. you do not need to include Government publications, previous public reports etc.] Do not list exempt documents. Background Papers must be retained for public inspection for four years after the date of the meeting. LIST OF APPENDICES: Appendix 1 – Proposal drawing

APPENDIX 1