It seems that Bowes Primary School will benefit significantly from the A406 improvement scheme.

The school will gain space by the closure of the end of Stanley Road, which runs at the side or it. By blocking off its junction with the A406 Bowes Road, the school will be able to enlarge its playground and the coaches it uses for school trips will be able to park in this area.

In the recent Bounds Green improvement scheme newsletter, published by Transport for London, the associate headteacher of the school, Androulla Nicou said: “We are looking forward to having a new, enlarged playground as part of the Bowes Road improvement works. We think closure of the junction will be a good thing for parents and children as it will help to improve safety in the area around the school.”

As residents of Highworth Road, the road at the other side of the school, we are surprised that Ms Nicou thinks that this new scheme will improve safety.

What will happen is that the school traffic, which at the moment is shared between Stanley and Highworth Roads, will only be able to use Highworth Road in future.

So, our narrow road, which has no space for two cars to pass each other, nor of course, for cars to turn round, will have double the amount of traffic. How does that improve safety or our quality of life?

Is the school going to insist that all pupils walk only along Stanley Road? The school is part of our community and both pupils and residents should be considered in such decision making.

J Anderson, K Burke
on behalf of Bowes/Telford Community Action Group