The full truth about the Pike Road Closure and A41 Roadworks - Freedom of Information request reveals no concern for residents at all and no proper consultation

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Many residents in Mill Hill and Edgware have been massively inconvenienced by the roadworks on the A41/A1 and the closure of Pike Road. I sent an email to Barnet Council requesting all of the documents that relate to the closure. There are nearly two hundred pages worth of emails etc. Barnet Council have redacted most of the names, so it is difficult to see who was informed, however it is clear that local councillors raised no written objections prior to the fiasco and only Councillor Shuey Gordon contacted them before I submitted the request. Here is the email fromthe Council informing me that they had information. Some has been withheld, so clearly we can only guess what that said. They have claimed this was to protect the identity of junior staff.

Barnet Council Response to ... by Roger Tichborne

When we actually look at the information, for me the key exchange is on page 49, where Barnet Council raise no objections to the closure of Pike Road on the 17th March (see screen shot at top of page and in document). The previous council administration tried very hard to pin the blame on TFL, but as you can see from the documents, the evidence is there in black and white that Barnet Council were consulted and raised no objections. 

It is worth having a read through these documents. It is clear to me that the impact on local people was totally ignored. It also seems pretty clear, that unless Barnet Council have inexplicably withheld emails from the former Hale and Edgware Councillors, they did not say a peep. I am happy to give them a right to reply. The bottom line is that the former administration let the people of Edgware and Mill Hill down and the evidence is here in Black and White. This is not a political point, it is a criticism of the bureaucracy and culture in Barnet Council and local people should know that the claims of working on their behalf are not supported by the evidence. Should anyone be prepared to supply any further ( ( (redacted if necessary) emails, I'll happily update this blog accordingly.  

Pike Road Closure Documents by Roger Tichborne on Scribd

I started writing this blog not to score political points, but to make sure local people were properly informed as to what is happening in our local community. I have to laugh at how Barnet say they have redacted names of junior staff, when the title below their namer says "Senior".  I understand that no one wants to be associated with a complete cock up like this, but some of these people have large salaries and should be held to account.

Pike Road has reopened - but Mount Grove access is closed

We are pleased to report that Pike Road has opened, meaning that there is access for residents in the Fairway area of Mill Hill to Apex Corner, without having to drive to Stirling Corner. It has taken over a week for Barnet Council and TFL to sort out the reopening, despite local councillors promising residents that it would be open a week ago. There is still equipment stored on Pike Lane in one lane, so it is unclear why this wasn't simply done from day 1.

If you want to discuss the Mount Grove situation, email your GLA Representative anne.clarke@london.gov.uk - The GLA oversee TFL

There are still however long queues on the A1 from Stirling Corner

The bad news is TFL have closed access to Mount Grove on the west bound carriageway of the A41. It seems they are determined to punish local residents. Mount Grove residents now have to drive to Broadfields and do a U turn to access their road. Once again the question is, who was consulted? We have submitted a freedom of information request to Barnet Council to access all of the paperwork and will be writing a full report. This is necessary as we need to ensure that councillors are aware that they cannot neglect their duties and if they've not been briefed, they should ensure there are consequences for slapdash officials. 

The question every local resident wants to know is how are these cock ups allowed to happen. Did councillors wave this through? Did Council officials agree it without consulting councillors? Did TFL simply do it without proper consultation? 

We've contacted Anne Clarke at the GLA for a comment about Mount Grove. We will report back. 

Update at 15.00

Apparently Mount Grove has no reopened as reported by Anne Clarke

Local MP Matthew Offord lays into the Council about A41/Pike Road disruption

 I was quite surprised to see our local MP Matthew Offord launch a stinging criticism of his former colleagues at Barnet Council. Mr Offords website posted yesterday  

"When Matthew was the Cabinet Member for Environment on Barnet Council, he regularly worked with the GLA member, the local authority and Transport for London (TfL) to ensure that disruption was kept to a minimum."

Mr Offord is quite right to criticise the council over this appalling failure. What should happen when works are planned that impact residents, is that local ward councillors would be briefed by Council officers. The closure of Pike Road is an issue for Barnet Council. The former Hale Councillors Laithe Jajah, Elliot Simberg and Lachhya Gurung should have been informed. They would have given feedback and arranged consultation with residents. If they had concerns, this should have been escalated to the head of the Environment Committee, Councillor Dean Cohen. He would, as Mr Offord correctly states, contacted GLA rep Anne Clarke. I have contacted Ms Clarke and she has stated that, as Mr Offord has suggested, this did not happen. For clarity, as Ms Clarke would not be aware of the impact of ward level road closures, such as Pike Road, that are issues for Barnet Council, she would be unaware until asked to intervene. It is in the interests of both Council and TFL to make this run smoothly, which sadly does not appear to have happened.

So the question is, who didn't do their job? Was it the officers, the ward councillors or the chair of the Environment committee. A source close to Mr Offord has told me that he has made his displeasure quite clear to his former council collleagues, as he feels it is a complete embarrassment. 

Some residents have asked me whether the fact Barnet Council elected a Labour administration would have any bearing on the problems. The answer is no. Labour do not officially take control of Barnet Council until the Council AGM on the 24th May. The planning for this has been going on for many months.  Conservative Councillor Dan Thomas is still in charge until this date. He is the man in charge and if you have any questions his email is cllr.d.thomas@barnet.gov.uk

It is woirth noting that this is clearly not an issue of politics. It is just a good, old fashioned cock up. The fact that the Local Conservative MP Mr Offord has piled into his friends on the Council is an illustration of this. 

I want to get to the bottom of this and have sent a Freedom of Information request to Barnet Council, to see exactly who knew what and when. Once I have the information I will publish the facts. 

We hope that his intervention has the desired effect. I have been told, off the record, by TFL that they are not happy with Barnet Council for trying to blame them for the Pike Road closure, when no objections were raised during the planning process and that having set their operation up, they have not been given proper notice to relocate it. My sympathy for this position is limited, given that an organisation charged with keeping roads running, should ot wash their hands of the secondary impacts of their partners. Lets just hope they get their act together and get the road open.

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TFL and Barnet Council conspire to cause traffic chaos in Mill Hill

 My studio manager was 45 minutes late for work yesterday. He lives on the Fairway which is a side road off the A1 north of Apex Corner. He was fuming. Due to TFL bridge works on the A41, Barnet council agreed to the closure of Pike Road, the slip road onto the A41 by APEX corner, for 'storage of plant', the only way to get to Mill Hill is to drive an mile north to Stirling corner, then return south. Temporary traffic lights on Hale Lane have meant this route is also jammed, it is an alternative route from the A41 to Mill Hill from Broadfields, so drivers are left  with little option. This picture from the Apex traffic cam shows the queues at 10.21, normally when the road is quiet.

I asked a Conservative Councillor about the A41 works, they said this was 'down to TFL'. I contacted our GLA rep Anne Clarke yesterday. Anne is a very good rep on casework and got straight back to me. This was the response she received.

While we are sorry for the inconvenience these closures are causing to residents, they are required as we need to complete essential maintenance work on the A41 Edgware Way bridge (over the M1 and National Rail tracks). The full details of the works can be found at 

https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/major-works-and-events/a41-edgware-way-bridge?cid=edgware-way

The closure of Pike Road and diversion route were agreed with the London Borough of Barnet following extensive discussion - including a site visit - as the best location to site welfare, storage and recovery facilities. These facilities are vital for ensuring the works are carried out as safely and quickly as possible. Marshals are on site to provide assistance. Any changes to the welfare, storage or recovery facilities location would require a change to our programme and method of working, which could extend the period when we are on site.  

Several alternative sites were considered for locating the welfare, storage and recovery facilities, and the impact on residents as well as agreement regarding the site location was considered through discussions with Barnet. Oakmead Gardens was considered as an alternative, but as a Traffic Order would have been needed to reopen it for access and it is on the wrong side of the road, this was deemed impractical. The footway in front of the nearby KFC restaurant was also considered, but it was deemed that there would not be enough space. The carriageway was discarded as an option as it would have required us to move the welfare and storage facilities and recovery vehicles when we switched approaches and it was deemed that there would not be sufficient space. 

Although we would not generally carry out a formal public consultation for operationally essential works such as these, the closures for the Edgware Way works, including the closure of Pike Road, were advertised in the normal way. This included a letter-drop to properties and a customer email to registered users, and Public Liaison Officers canvassed the area from 21 March, advising local businesses and residents of the works. 

We will consistently monitor the traffic and bus impacts of the closure and respond appropriately to minimise the impacts of the closure. This will include monitoring congestion on routes impacted by the closure and making optimisations to traffic signals to support traffic flows. Extra buses have also been added to the most impacted routes through the area.         

I appreciate this is not the answer that Anne’s constituents were hoping for, but I hope that it helps to clarify the need for the closures as part of these essential maintenance works. 

Please let me know if you have further questions.

As you can see, Barnet Council did agree to the closure. The reason for using Pike Road was that TFL would need to move the site welfare, storage and recovery vehicles across the road when they started on the other side. In plain English, this means that they are quite happy to cause massive inconvenience to residents for months on end, if it spares them a bit of hassle. It is quite outrageous. 

Add in the works on Hale Lane, the closure of Hendon Wood Lane etc, Mill Hill is in gridlock and it is fairly and squarely down to lack of planning by Barnet Council.

One can only wonder why local councillors for the former Hale Ward did not kick up a stink when this was mooted. 

I have written to the local councillors who approved this, a Mill Hill Councillor and the CEO of Barnet to try and get some answers. IF you are affected, I suggest you do the same. Their emails are below

------ Original Message ------
From: "ROGER Tichborne"
To: Cllr.l.Jajeh@barnet.gov.uk; cllr.e.simberg@barnet.gov.uk; cllr.l.gurung@barnet.gov.uk; cllr.v.duschinsky@barnet.gov.uk; John.Hooton@barnet.gov.uk
Sent: Wednesday, 11 May, 22 At 10:21
Subject: Pike Road Closure

Dear Former Hale Ward Councillors, CLlr Duschinsky and Mr Hooton,

Please can you advise why you agreed to the closure of Pike Road for TFL works. I have queried this with TFL who confirmed that this was done, purely because it was more convenient for their works "The carriageway was discarded as an option as it would have required us to move the welfare and storage facilities and recovery vehicles when we switched approaches"

These works are causing massive disruption, making residents late for work and having a hugely detrimental impact on people's lives. With the roadworks on Hale Lane and the temporary traffic lights, Mill Hill was in gridlock yesterday. This has had an impact on my business with both customers and staff arriving very late for sessions/work/music lessons.

Barnet council needs to have a strategic plan for such roadworks and take into account the impact of such works on residents. The closure of Pike Road means residents of the Fairway now have a detour of nearly 2 miles just to get across the A1. WIth the closure of Barnet Gate Lane, there is even more pressure on Apex Corner than ever. This is no way to run a council

Regards

Roger Tichborne

**** Update ****

I have received this email via Councillor Gurung

Dear Roger,

Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. I am sorry for the disruption it has caused to the residents and local businesses. We have received many emails and phone calls about this road closure and road works. I have raised this issue with the TFL and the council several times in last couple of weeks. Finally, we are meeting with TFL tomorrow. Please see below email from the Liaison Officer Re. Let's see what we can do to improve the traffic situation around apex corner. 

As far as I know TFL & Council officers didn’t consult with local councillors before they made the decision. I will raise this issue during the meeting. Will keep you posted the outcome of the meeting. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

Kind regards 

Lachhya

Thank you for your email and I am really sorry to hear about the traffic delays experienced

Your concerns and the request to re-open one lane on Pike Road will be discussed with TFL colleagues tomorrow and I will provide you with an update before the end of business Thursday 12 May

Regards

Cris

Cris Tavares
Member Liaison Re 
2 Bristol Avenue | Colindale | NW9 4EW 
Email:      cris.tavares@barnet.gov.uk  

#### Update 12/5/2022

Barnet Council and TFL have confirmed that, following pressure from the Barnet Eye and local residents, One lane of Pike Road will open today. Thanks to everyone who emailed local councillors 

#### Update 13/5/2022

From: "Hooton, John" <John.Hooton@Barnet.gov.uk>
To: "ROGER Tichborne" <roger.tichborne@btinternet.com>; "Duschinsky, Cllr Val" <Cllr.V.Duschinsky@Barnet.gov.uk>; "Gurung, Cllr Lachhya" <Cllr.L.Gurung@Barnet.gov.uk>; "Jajeh, Cllr Laithe" <Cllr.L.Jajeh@Barnet.gov.uk>; "Simberg, Cllr Elliot" <Cllr.E.Simberg@Barnet.gov.uk>
Cc: "Clarke, Cllr Anne" <Cllr.A.Clarke@Barnet.gov.uk>; "Rawlings, Cllr Barry" <Cllr.B.Rawlings@barnet.gov.uk>
Sent: Friday, 13 May, 22 At 09:22
Subject: RE: Pike Road Closure - Update please

I received this update from John Hooton, CEO of Barnet Council this morning:

Roger – we had a solution to this yesterday but unfortunately a number of issues were raised by TfL which mean that we are still trying to get them to resolve. I am very sorry for the inconvenience  and we are pushing hard to get TfL to sort this out today.

 

John