Bull Lane, Enfield

The Scheme

The Bull Lane bus gate is part of a larger scheme, North Middlesex Hospital Active Travel Improvements. This scheme was funded by DfT's Active Travel Fund Tranche 2 to create an "active travel route", i.e. one attractive to walkers and cyclists. 

On the northern half of Bull Lane, a segregated two-way cycle track has been created as planned. On the southern half, a bus gate was to be created very close to the southern boundary of Enfield with its neighbour, Haringey. The junctions with two side roads were to be reconfigured so that vehicles on the southern half of Bull Lane could not turn into them or turn round at the junction. No other "traffic calming" measures were planned, e.g. a speed limit of 20mph. 

Enfield originally proposed a bus gate much closer to the boundary with Haringey. It used large rectangular planters to create a chicane. The chicane started to the north of the existing wide double gates into the Bull Lane playing fields. 

Redevelopment of Selby Centre

After Enfield put the plan out to consultation, they learned that Haringey's plans to build a new Selby Centre on the Bull Lane playing fields involved creating a new vehicular access from Bull Lane. This would lie within the proposed bus gate.

The northern end of the proposed new entrance to the playing fields lay 7.5m south of the southern end of the entrance to the yard for the industrial units at 22, Bull Lane (which include Demitris Motor Repairs and MOT Centre).

Long HGVs cannot turn round in the yard at 22, Bull Lane. They must either reverse in or reverse out. They go beyond the entrance and then reverse in. They therefore make use of more than the 7.5m of carriageway which lies between the entrance to 22, Bull Lane and the new proposed entrance to Bull Lane playing fields. 

Enfield's Response

It simply is not possible to install a properly-configured bus gate between the entrance to the yard and the proposed new entrance to the playing fields. You cannot fit a quart into a pint pot.

Rather than telling Haringey that it was impossible to move the bus gate north to allow Haringey's plans to go ahead unchanged, Enfield tried to accommodate them. That meant removing any physical features in the bus gate which would interfere with HGVs when they went beyond the entrance to the yard in order to reverse in.

The result was what we see today. Haringey's plans (which needed planning consent from Enfield) took precedence over Enfield's businesses, their customers and the wider community.

The Bus Gate Order

Enfield's definitive traffic order for the bus gate is here. The image below shows what the bus gate looks like from the south, close to the border with Haringey.

The bus gate runs from the start of the block-paving on the right to the end of the block-paving on the left and from the fence on the right to the edge of the playing fields on the left. 

Here is an aerial view with the land specified in the traffic order outlined in purple.

It is impossible for any vehicle larger than a motorcycle to enter either the yard on the right or the future Selby centre on the left without becoming legally liable for the Moving traffic penalty, currently £160. 

What is going on? 

The root of the problem is Enfield's attempt to meet the needs of the businesses at 22, Bull Lane and to allow Haringey to proceed without changing their plans for the entrance to the new Selby Centre. 

Long HGVs cannot turn round in the yard at 22, Bull Lane. They must either reverse in or reverse out. The implication of the exclusion of goods vehicles entering the yard from the traffic order is that they go beyond the entrance to the yard and then reverse in. It was to accommodate such manoeuvres that they were exempted on entry but not exit. That also explains the use of areas of flush block-paving rather than raised build-outs.

You cannot fit a quart into a pint pot.

Enfield should have explained to Haringey that HGVs needed to use that part of Bull Lane between the entrance to the yard and the proposed entrance to the Bull Lane playing fields to enter and leave the yard. There was therefore no possibility of fitting a bus gate between the two entrances. If a bus gate was to be installed, it had to be where Enfield had proposed. That location was compatible with an entrance to the Bull Lane playing fields at or close to the existing double gates.

"Traffic Calming" 

The "traffic-calming" measure consists of two areas of grey block-paving, flush with the tarmac, one on each side of the road. The two areas of block paving form a chicane. Road markings indicate that cyclists in each direction are expected to deviate around the block paving.

The plans describe the areas of block-paving as "Carriageway build-out" with "kerb flushed with carriageway level". 

DfT Local Transport Note 1/07: Traffic Calming states:

6.3.10 A build-out is a section of kerb built out into the carriageway on one side only to narrow the road. 

Block-paving flush with the carriageway is not a build-out, does not narrow the road and, when its colour is close to that of the tarmac, is barely noticed by drivers. Its greatest (only?) effect is on cyclists, who lack the suspension to ride comfortably over it. They therefore tend to pull out to avoid it, putting them in the path of motor vehicles whose drivers haven't realised they're not meant to be there.

Normally, traffic-calming measures are implemented under a traffic order creating a 20mph zone. If these areas of block-paving were build-outs, their locations would make sense in helping to guide vehicles coming from each direction into the adjacent sites before the bus gate. Vehicles from the north would be guided into the yard for the industrial units. Vehicles from the south would be guided into the future vehicular entrance to the Bull Lane playing fields. 

Apart from imposing a 20mph speed limit, such traffic orders do not restrict the use of the road.

Bus Gates

A bus gate is completely different. It imposes a penalty on unauthorised vehicles which drive on the land specified in the traffic order. The legislation requires the signs indicating the restriction to be placed as close as possible to the start of the restriction in each direction, not back-to-back in the middle. Other legislation (s.122 of RTRA 1984) ...

Consequences of Conflating the Traffic Orders

Enfield used a single traffic order for both purposes. That is why the traffic order applies from the start of the chicane of block paving to the end. It empowers them to create the "traffic-calming" features within the land subject to the traffic order.

As the highway includes the footways, the entrance to the yard and the future vehicular entrance to the Bull Lane playing fields fall within the land specified in the traffic order. Enfield may not have intended this, but that is what its traffic order does. They were evidently aware of the difficulties lorries would face because they excluded goods vehicles entering the yard from the restrictions. Vehicles not permitted by the traffic order which enter or leave the yard and the future Selby Centre are liable to the moving traffic penalty.

What the Council Should Have Done

In the first place, when designing the active travel scheme, the council should have followed DfT guidance and decided that, in the absence of space to provide a segregated two-way cycle lane on the southern half of Bull Lane, it should make it a 20 mph zone. A traffic order implementing such a zone would have allowed the council to place traffic calming features wherever it wanted on the southern half of Bull Lane.

When faced with Haringey's informing them of their desire to use an entrance to Bull Lane playing fields which lay within Enfield's proposed bus gate, it was reasonable for Enfield to explore whether it was possible to move the bus gate north. But when the difficulties became apparent, Enfield should have backed away and said that the gate would remain where it had been proposed.

With a single traffic order for the bus gate and the traffic-calming features, it was inevitable that vehicles would have to pass through the land specified in the bus gate traffic order when entering and leaving the yard of 22, Bull Lane. Two solutions were then possible:

• split the traffic order into two: one for the bus gate; and another for the traffic-calming features;

• tell Haringey that it was not possible to move the bus gate.

Enfield did neither.

The locations of the areas of block-paving appear to have been positioned as well as possible to allow the use of the entrances both to the yard and the proposed future entrance to the Bull Lane playing fields. It is not clear why they were made flush with the carriageway rather than being at the level of the footways, i.e. build-outs. 

The entrance to the yard was already wider than that implied by the dropped kerbs

 inside the land specified in the envisaged traffic order

 but have done would have been to explore with advise Haringey that they had designed the bus gate to accommodate the use of the existing double gates as a vehicular entrance to Bull Lane playing fields and that Haringey should adjust their plans.

A traffic order for a 20mph zone would have empowered Enfield to place whatever traffic-calming features it wished on the southern half of Bull Lane. This could have included build-outs with cycle gaps occupying the areas of block paving. A plan of such build-outs appears below.

On the plan has been drawn a bus gate which would be the subject of a separate traffic order. The extent of the bus gate would be defined by a plan such as this. It excludes the footways and small areas of carriageway which might lie within the sweep of the wheels of vehicles entering or leaving the entrances to the yard and the Bull Lane playing fields. 

This is what such a scheme would look like:

The blue roundels are readily visible to vehicles coming in either direction on Bull Lane. They are on kerbed islands which force vehicles to slow down. The islands would not hinder buses or emergency vehicles using the road, although they would limit their speed.

Written 27th January 2026; last updated 28th January 2026