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Shopkeepers rally to support Mitcham bus lane (From This Is Local London)
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Shopkeepers rally to support Mitcham bus lane
7:00am Wednesday 20th March 2013 in News By Lauren May, Chief Reporter
Front row left to right - Councillor Geraldine Stanford, Councillor Peter Walker, Sudharman Perera, Vijay Patel, Fedor Kalais, Kayode Elegbede, Onder Akar
Shopkeepers have rallied to support a proposed bus lane through Mitcham town centre.
The bus lane through Mitcham Fair Green would form part of the £6.2m Rediscover Mitcham Project to revitalise the area but the controversial proposal has divided opinion.
While some residents and businesses are strongly opposed to the plans, others have said they would welcome the change which the council predicts will increase footfall in the area by 6,000 people per day.
Supporters were joined by Figge's Marsh ward councillor, Peter Walker (Labour), a strong supporter of the plan.
Vijay Patel, 61, has run the Same Day Snaps shop at the Fair Green for the last 30 years and started a petition in support of the plans which has attracted the signatures of 34 businesses in the town centre including Morrisons, Boots, Halifax and Lloyds TSB.
Mr Patel said problems began for shopkeepers when the area was first pedestrianised nearly two decades ago.
He said: "Since 1994 Mitcham has always struggled but with McDonalds moving out and others it has had a knock on effect to all businesses.
"We do need the bus lane.
"People who have bags will be able to get home more easily and it will be more convenient for people to stop in.
"It would be a wonderful change and people would be able to view the shops."
He added: "There’s been a decline because what happened is that big businesses want visibility.
"If there’s no visibility there’s no business.
"You may have the most wonderful shop and ideas bit these ideas will not be any good to the local shop owners or for marketing your business because no one can see it."
Overall plans for the Rediscover Mitcham Project were approved by the council’s Street Advisory Management Committee (SMAC) last month, but plans for a bus lane were opposed by councillors on the committee.
Merton Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, Andrew Judge, decided to press ahead with the plan calling it a "balanced solution that takes into account the need for an active, vital and prosperous town centre as well as the need to preserve coherent green space."
The decision has since been called in by opposition councillors with the Sustainable Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel voting to re-consult on the plans, this time involving Figges Marsh and Cricket Green councillors in drafting the document.
Alternative suggestions for the area include reconsidering the placement of existing bus stops and removing the gyratory.
Comments(6)
Tobermory
says...
2:58pm Wed 20 Mar 13
Mitcham must be one of the few 'High streets' in the UK that doesn't have a branch of Costa or Starbucks and you have to ask why.
Mitcham is a dump no bus lane is going to turn it into anything else.
The only two shops worth visiting by bus are Lidl and Adsa and they will be harder to reach if the bus stops are moved.
Ask Mitcham residents what would encourage them to shop in the town centre and I would bet my last £ it wouldn't be moving the bus stops.
robmorleyuk
says...
3:55pm Wed 20 Mar 13
The shopkeepers themselves state that without McDonalds there’s nothing to draw the crowds & that’s a pretty damning confession.
Has there been a survey of local residents regarding where they do their major shop, how often they use the local shops and most importantly what would encourage them to make greater use of local businesses? I don’t recall the result of such a survey being mentioned, only ‘would you like a new bus lane’. If the locals who can walk there don’t make significant use of the shops who will take a bus to go there to shop?
Let’s find out if there is (or can be) anything appealing enough to draw shoppers in greater numbers. If there is and the bus is to increase the visibility of these shops shouldn’t the bus lane exit through Upper Green East, currently a Cul de Sac?
Why waste the opportunity to advertise all the shops?
MrDrem
says...
4:34pm Fri 22 Mar 13
What Mitcham needs is a better selection of shops, more targeted to the residents who now live there. Maybe they should try opening in the evenings, when the commuters are coming home, or stocking things that people would like to buy, or smartening up their shops?
I note that lots of the shops are looking quite run down, which is unfortuante for those that do make the effort. Some of the Eastern European shops there are fantastic.
Maybe the shop keepers could also look at the report for London Councils - http://www.londoncou
ncils.gov.uk/policyl
obbying/transport/pa
rkinginlondon/parkin
gurban.htm and push for more cycle parking, and better cycle routes into the town centre, making getting there safer, for pedestrians and cyclists, rather than pandering to those who are by and large just passing thorugh.
robmorleyuk
says...
7:31pm Fri 22 Mar 13
For nearly the life of the poll it showed around 75% NO, 24% YES, then on the close the figures suddenly drew near level.
Its almost as if there was a concerted effort to change the outcome.
It still came out as a NO.
tjames
says...
6:44am Sat 23 Mar 13
tjames says...
1:31pm Wed 20 Mar 13