More residents and politicans join crusade to stop heavy good vehicles hurtling past residential streets

Campaigners are mounting more pressure on Crossrail after the Times revealed huge lorries carrying materials for the tunnel will hurtle past their homes every day for the next 18 months.

Crossrail and its contractor BFK are about to start moving thousands of tonnes of tunnel segments from Old Oak Common depot to Westbourne Park on lorries driving down the Harrow Road.

There will be an estimated 70 large articulated lorries everyday – that is one every nine minutes between 8am and 6pm.

The lorries will turn right on to the Great Western Road where usually only buses are allowed to turn.

The Kensal Triangle Residents’ Association (KTRA), Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council, Green party activists, councillors and politicians including London Assembly Member Murad Qureshi have all raised concerns about the impact the lorries will have in the area.

They have called for the materials to be transported down the canal.

Parents are also concerned about their children’s safety walking to school.

Andy Bradfield, from KTRA, said: “Surely the original Crossrail application required permission and Brent residents should have been told.

“Someone somewhere didn’t do their job properly.

“All these lorries are coming down the Harrow Road and we still haven’t been told about it by Brent. How is this fair or just?”

Susanna Rustin, Green Party activist, crosses the Harrow Road every day with her daughters on their way to school. She said: “We know that people on bicycles and on foot are at risk from HGVs, particularly at juctions.

“Hundreds of children cross the Harrow Road every day on their way to school and I am really anxious.

“At least two pedestrians have been killed in collisions with lorries in London in the past month. Air pollution will also increase with this new traffic bring its own health risks.”

Schools near the Harrow Road include Queen’s Park, Ark Atwood, Wilberforce, St Mary’s, St Thomas’s, Middle Row, Stephenson, Sion Manning, Essendine, Westminster Academy, St Peter’s, Barlby and St Charles.

A spokesman for Crossrail said: “Lorry routes for Crossrail from working sites to the Transport for London Road Network are subject to the agreement of the relevant local planning authority under the terms of the Crossrail Act. “Harrow Road was approved as a route for the Westbourne Park worksite by Westminster Council in 2009.

“Crossrail met with Brent Council’s traffic managers to consult on plans for other lorry routes into Westbourne Park on June 28 2011.”