Forum topic: Council publishes concept design for PG to New Southgate walking and cycling route

Enfield Council has published its concept design for a new walking and cycling route linking Palmers Green town centre to New Southgate station via relatively quiet roads. There will be drop-in events at PG library on 20th November and at Our Lady of Lourdes school on 22nd November. An online survey will be available until 7th December

The complete concept design for the proposed new walking and cycling route (adapted version of this map on the council website)

The concept design takes on board feedback from an earlier engagement exercise carried out in 2023, which has prompted some changes to the proposals.

The council's Journeys & Places team have recorded a YouTube presentation in which the project manager, Ryan Hicks, walks viewers through all the elements of the concept design.

The scheme is designed to provide a safe route between Palmers Green town centre and New Southgate Station, via Arnos Grove Station. It uses mainly relatively quiet streets, with traffic calming measures where needed, interspersed with short sections of segregated cycle lane along busy roads: along Aldermans Hill between Palmers Green Station and the end of Old Park Road; along Wilmer Way between Ashridge Gardens and Bowes Road; and along Bowes Road outside Arnos Grove Station.

At Wilmer Way the new route will meet the existing walking and cycling route through Arnos Park, which continues northwards along the Waterfall Walk, through Brunswick Park and Oak Hill Park towards East Barnet. The scheme proposes improvements to this route too. The shared walking and cycling path through Arnos Park will be improved, but the most important change is where the route leaves Arnos Park and crosses Waterfall Road, very close to the roundabout and the bridge under the Piccadilly Line viaduct. Currently, there is no proper facility for pedestrians and cyclists to cross this busy stretch of road. A parallel pedestrian/cyclist crossing will be installed here, making this part of the route much safer and pleasanter, and improving access to the Waterfall Walk.

The route incorporates nine "parallel crossings" for pedestrians and cyclists, several of them at crucial points that currenty lack a protected crossing.

In all, the proposals include nine parallel crossings, which combine a zebra crossing for pedestrians and a cycle crossing running next to it. Several of these crossings will be at points where there is an obvious "desire line" but currently no safe crossing, eg across Broomfield Lane between the two parts of Broomfield Avenue

Depending not only on the outcome of the current public engagement, but also on the availability of funding, the project will move on to detailed design work, followed by a statutory consultation. The council has not provided even rough estimations of when each stage in the process might occur.

The timeline included in the briefing for the project does not include any dates. Any progress past the current engagement and concept design phase will depend on the availability of funding