A Kingston Gate Ward-based trial, implementing one-way access on Upper King's Road and New Road in North Kingston, which started in January last year, is being extended by six months and expanded.

 The trial is in response to a long-standing problem of two-way traffic on Upper Kings Road, which was deemed to be "too narrow," says councillor for Norbiton and chair of the Kingston and North Kingston Neighbourhood committee, Olly Wehring.

 The problem caused occasional accidents and road rage, so on 24 January last year, Kingston Council began an Experimental Traffic Management Order (ETMO) on Upper King's Road and the road parallel to it, New Road.

 ETMOs allow consultations to happen whilst trials are in effect, unlike Traffic Management Orders (TMOs), which provide consultations before the trials begin.

 Speaking about ETMOs, Cllr Wehring said: "The reason ETMOs are so important is that they actually give you experience of what happens when you're trialing, rather than relying on what people think will happen when you trial."

 The initial trial converted both roads into one-way systems but in opposite directions.

On Upper King's Road, the "problem pretty much disappeared," says Cllr Wehring.

However, the Kingston and North Kingston Committee, which is running the trial, found that on New Road, drivers began using a shortcut, causing morning rush hour traffic coming from Kingston Hill, down to Crescent Road and Liverpool Road and then crossing over to New Road.

The first trial ran for six months, but the committee had various delays on the trial due roadworks around the area, which "skewed" the data.

Thus, it has decided to extend the ETMO by six months, starting this week and expand it to include 'No Entry' at the width restriction on Crescent Rd for vehicles from Kingston Hill towards Queen's Road.

The trial has been expanded to include No Entry' at the width restriction on Crescent Rd for vehicles from Kingston Hill towards Queen's Road (Credit: Kingston and North Kingston Neighbourhood committee)

After six months, the highways team will produce a report with its recommendation about whether to make it permanent or not, or what to do, or what the consequence of this move is.

The Kingston and North Kingston Neighbourhood Committee will then make a decision on whether to make the trial permanent in October.

As part of the decision-making process, there will be a public consultation which is open to anyone to share their thoughts on the trial.

The consultation can be found here.

Speaking about the trial and retrospective issues, Cllr Wehring told Kingston Nub News: "This has been a problem for a really long time.

The local councillors have decided to try something to solve the problem.

It appears to have solved the problem but brought to light another issue. So, we're looking to remedy that issue."

Following the trial, there will be a data collection or 'vehicle count' of the area, which will also be considered in the decision-making process.

Cllr Wehring said: "Our main goal is to control the traffic in the area, send the traffic down the roads that we think it should be on, and make the roads 'cleaner, greener, and safer' for the residents on them."