Not a long time ago I wrote in LoughtonEssex.co.uk about Loughton High Road makeover and what has happened as a result. Now, it’s Debden turn: the work has been started on Debden Broadway to put a new road surface and new pavements. At the moment, the work is far from over but I can already see that nothing good will come out out of it.

The number of parking spaces is to be reduced again

The first thing is that the number of available parking spaces available on the Broadway itself will be reduced dramatically and this is a bad news. In 2008, the car parks on the North and on the South of Debden Broadway (Burton Road and Vere Road) have become chargeable. That was done under a good pretense to improve the parking availability and allow people who live nearby to park more easily. In reality, nothing has changed except that everyone except local residents now has to pay for parking during the working days and even on Saturdays (on the North of the Broadway).

The improvements are usually a good thing. The new parking layout, new lighting, new pavements, complete CCTV coverage of the Debden Broadway area and surrounding car parks are good things but it is the council job to make these improvements happen, not a gift we should be thankful about. The improvements have been done and as a result the car parks are no longer free - this is not good thing. What I’m amazed about is that the number of available parking spaces have been reduced and if the car park on Burton Road has been modernised, then the car park on Vere Road has not been modernised at all, just the Car Park Charges signs have been added and yellow lines painted where necessary and where not necessary and even over the crumbled and damaged road surface. By the way, since bus routes 20, 167, 367 and 250 have been altered to use Vere Road, the buses partially destroyed the road’s surface there but nobody cares about that.

The one-way traffic flow will not be introduced

The second thing about the current Debden Broadway makeover is that it seems that the initial plan to make The Broadway a one-way street will not be implemented. Allowing only one-way traffic system would improve the flow of traffic, improve the safety of pedestrians and make finding an empty parking spot easier even though number of parking spaces is to be reduced.

Ideally, it should be a stretched roundabout system like that:

• Vere Road stays one-way street for those, who don’t want to park on the Broadway but would like to drive on to Debden;
• The Debden Broadway becomes one-way with some available parking spaces on either sides of the street;
• Burton Road also becomes one-way street.

Initially, I was against making streets one-way in Debden. I also was against all the car park restructuring business and all the following parking measures but who listens to the common folk so to speak? Nevertheless, if changes have began, it’s always wise and necessary to finish them, not to stop half way. Together with the new proposed Debden shopping centre and the Debden Underground Station transport hub, the Debden Broadway modernisation would bring welcome changes into Debden and maybe even allow it to shrug off the “council estate suburb” nickname.

But the reluctant, long to plan and implement changes will not bring the desired effect and instead of 5 years we may wait for 20 or 30 for Debden to become a modern XXI century town.

Conclusion

The road and parking system in Debden has worked for 50 odd years and would work another 50. If you want to make a town modern, it’s not always necessary to make controversial decisions and break the established and well-working structure. Put the better pavements in, improve the lighting, plant more trees, add more benches, allow more restaurants and cafes in a town centre - the solutions are obvious but as always they are not thoroughly thought through and yet again we may end up with the redevelopment, which will not achieve its goal.