We are waiting for the police report on the recent accident in Station Road, (‘Road must be made safe,’ Harrow Times, April 7) and Harrow Council will of course look carefully at any advice or recommendations that follow.

We at the council were very sorry to hear of Mrs Elmi’s accident, but pleased to hear she has now left hospital. We wish her well in her recovery.

I want to provide more detail of the new Station Road layout and respond to the concerns raised in the Harrow Times.

We take safety very seriously and do not bring new schemes forward lightly.

The safety of pedestrians is a key consideration in all highway work and this scheme was carefully designed, in line with Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor of London’s guidelines.

Safety audits were carried out before work started and agreed with TfL in advance.

As a result, the road width has been kept to a minimum to limit the time it takes to cross. There is a 20mph speed limit and the pavements are wide, to give both pedestrians and vehicles clear visibility in both directions. Unlike the scheme it replaced, a clear distinction has been made between the carriageway and pavement by using contrasting colours. Contrasting surface materials also assist visually impaired people.

The design is in common with many roads across London and locally in Wealdstone High Street.

There are kerbs along both Wealdstone High Street and Station Road, except at junctions where tactile paving marks the edge of the carriageway.

This is not unique in Harrow and is a common feature in a number of streets across London.

At peak times, around 70 buses an hour travel through Station Road — just over one a minute.

With such a low level of traffic for a town centre road, limited to 20mph, people are unlikely to use pedestrian crossings and will instead cross at the nearest point, so such crossings were not installed. There were no pedestrian crossings in Station Road beforehand.

Yellow lines are painted along the length of the carriageway to prevent parking and have the secondary benefit of defining the road and providing a contrast with the pavement. Before the road opened to two-way traffic, signs were installed to advise people of the changes, information leaflets were provided to businesses and London buses provided information in the town centre.

In response to feedback from residents, we put up additional signs to make it even clearer to pedestrians to take care as they and drivers become accustomed to the new layout.

Councillor Keith Ferry (Lab)
Portfolio holder for planning and economic development