In recent weeks Hammersmith and Fulham residents living near Olympia have contacted their local councillors to complain about traffic problems in the areas surrounding Olympia.  Many of the complaints were about the Traffic Management Order that was in place in September and which created a one way system for part of Blythe Road.  Residents complained of traffic jams, fumes, and the need to take long diversions to get in and out of their homes.

In response to these issues, local councillors have met with council officers to begin exploring solutions.   However, Olympia has also been receiving complaints directly from residents.  They have now begun what will be a long-term process of local engagement with local residents.

So here is a brief update on:

– how residents can engage directly with Olympia,

– the immediate plans that Olympia have put in place to begin addressing problems related to their business operations.

How to engage directly with Olympia:

• Olympia has created this email address so that they can hear directly from local residents: residents@olympia.co.uk and respond to them via news bulletins
• Olympia has committed to holding quarterly meetings with residents where senior Olympia staff, local residents, and other parties can talk face to face about problems and potential solutions
• So email this address and ask to receive Olympia’s email bulletin for residents, and ask to be invited to the quarterly meetings.

Olympia’s immediate term plan to begin addressing traffic and other problems

This is taken directly from the first Olympia news bulletin which went out to residents who have signed up for it:

• We are rolling out updated ‘tool-box-talks’ to the entire traffic team, to ensure they engage with all drivers who are waiting to gain access into the site, to keep engine idling to an absolute minimum and to keep dwell times minimised. 
• We will monitor and record all vehicles which arrive out of tenancy times and discuss the problem they cause with event organisers.
• We will reduce our parking capacity in Maclise car park, and use more of the space for marshalling purposes instead of standard parking; this will reduce the number of vehicles ‘waiting’ on the surrounding roads requiring unloading time
• We will increased marshalling staff deployment, covering points around Olympia when necessary
• We are in conversation with LBHF to increase signed coverage when the TMO is in operation
• We will reduce the use of the licensed TMO to targeted dates only, rather than the entire licensed period.  Therefore not leaving the road equipment in situ when not required – for example, the next licensed period is for 14 days, but the TMO will only be operational and deployed for essential days during this period

• We will host a contractors meeting, to discuss the actions and behaviours of lorry drivers with their employers
• We are committed to regular interaction with all residents who would like to engage with us, this will be done via the dedicated residents email address, newsletters, meetings and the website.

We are committed to reducing the impact of our operation on the local neighbourhood and will continue to hone our operations in accordance with feedback we receive.

This article first appeared on http://hammersmithfulhamforum.com.