TfL Ref: FOI-3257-2425

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 8^th January 2025 asking for information about the A2 Blackheath Hill Junction.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. 

Specifically you asked:

“With regard to the proposed Blackheath Hill / Lewisham Road Banned Right Turn:

1. Please provide both the absolute increase in vehicle numbers and the percentage increase relative to current levels for each of the following roads: Royal Hill, Blisset Street, Winforton Street, and Point Hill.

2. any and all consideration, correspondence, meeting minutes, or other documentation of what would constitute a reasonable *relative* increase in traffic on roads absorbing the diverted traffic (for example whether a 10% or 100% increase in traffic would be reasonable)

3. baseline (i.e. current) hourly traffic figures for Royal Hill, Blisset Street, Winforton Street and Point Hill during the day time 

4. baseline (i.e. current) hourly traffic figures for Royal Hill, Blisset Street, Winforton Street and Point Hill during the night time

5. expected or modelled hourly traffic figures for Royal Hill, Blisset Street, Winforton Street and Point Hill during the day time with the scheme

6. expected or modelled hourly traffic figures for Royal Hill, Blisset Street, Winforton Street and Point Hill during the night time with the scheme

7. any and all considerations of the nature of the roads that will absorb diverted traffic (for example, single lane, narrow pavements etc) 

8. any Equality Impact Assessments conducted for this scheme, including but not limited to impacts on individuals in West Greenwich, particularly those living on residential roads expected to absorb additional traffic.

9. any documents that show why an Equality Impact Assessment was not conducted for individuals in West Greenwich, if it was omitted.

10. any consideration or modelling of the impact of diverted traffic on West Greenwich *in the absence of* permanent traffic filters (i.e. without a low traffic neighborhood or with only the limited low traffic neighborhood that is currently in situ)

11. In the TFL modelling document "Blackheath Hill / Lewisham Road (06/016) Banned Right Turn - Model Outputs - Note" it states in the conclusion, "These results are part of an indicative assessment and should only be used to help IDP to determine whether to proceed with the proposals and undertake a full modelling assessment." Please confirm whether a full assessment was undertaken, and please share this full assessment if it was undertaken.

12. Confirmation as to whether the information provided in the Consultation regarding traffic flows was based on the "indicative assessment" in the TFL modelling document "Blackheath Hill / Lewisham Road (06/016) Banned Right Turn - Model Outputs - Note"; or whether the information provided in the consultation was based on a "full modelling assessment" recommended by that paper.

13. In the TFL modelling document "Blackheath Hill / Lewisham Road (06/016) Banned Right Turn - Model Outputs - Note" it states in the introduction "The model covers a
    large area so not all roads are represented. Motorways, A Roads, TfL’s road network, the Strategic Road Network, and most other roads carrying in excess of 100 vehicles an hour are included in the model." Please confirm whether the roads Royal Hill, Blisset Street, Winforton Street and Point Hill were included in the modelling, given that they do not meet the stated criteria to be included in the model.

14. All correspondence, documentation, and information dated between January 1, 2022, and January 8, 2024, relating to decisions to proceed with this scheme and its expected implementation timeline.

15. Any correspondence, meeting minutes, or other documentation discussing potential risks or adverse effects of displaced traffic on smaller residential roads in West Greenwich.

16. Any traffic calming measures or mitigation strategies considered or proposed to address displaced traffic on smaller residential roads such as Point Hill.”

I am afraid that it is not possible to source all the information that is covered by your request within the costs limit for responding to cases, as set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12, TfL is not required to provided information if it would cost more than £450 to determine whether the requested information is held, and to then locate, retrieve of extract it from elsewhere. This is calculated at a cost of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work.

In this instance the exemption applies because of the large number of separate questions you have asked and the broad scope of some of them. In particular, your questions asking for “all documents” or “all correspondence” will be particularly time consuming to address, as there is no quick, automated or efficient way of determining exactly what is held and then finding it. Sourcing all of the other information within the scope of the request would add to the burden further. While it is difficult to estimate exactly how long it take, we believe it would be comfortably in excess of the 18 hour limit.

In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to reframe it to narrow its scope, focussing on the information that is of most importance to you. In doing so you may wish to review the advice provided by the Information Commissioner on how best to access information from public authorities, published online here: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/official-information/

Note also that you may find some information already published on our website that is of use to you – such as via the Consultation pages here -  https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/a2-greenwich-south-street#:~:text=Update%2025%20January%202024&text=In%20order%20for%20the%20junction,thank%20everyone%20who%20took%20part (the “Information to help you respond section includes a copy of the Equalities Impact Assessment, for example) – or via responses to previous FOI requests, published here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/search?Query=Blackheath+Hill&Sort=date%2Cdesc&TimePeriod=-1&PageSize=10 (note that you can use the search function to search keywords, such as “Blackheath Hill”).

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London