Past London Peak Cars?

Transport for London has done some strategic analysis of transport trends.

Most significant is that the population of London has expanded by ONE MILLION people in the last decade to 8.2 million people. I must admit I don’t remember being asked to vote on this – it’s not from new births.

During the decade the number of jobs has been static at 5 million – with a dip of 250,000 jobs from the recession that has now fully recovered and up 5.2%. This contrasts sharply with the population rise.

During the decade a sharp increase in trips by public transport and the proportion has rise from 30% in 1993 to 35% in 2001 to 43% in 2011. The flip side is private transport has fallen over the same period from 46%   to 43% in 2001 and 34% in 2011. Cycling use has risen from 1% to 2%. This is all in sharp contrast with the rest of the UK.

Are you using public transport or cycling more?

 

Crown House – decision point

Crown House at 41-43 East Dulwich Road is the ex. Dulwich Area Housing office.

It’s had a busy last six month seeing two planning applications to its reuse.

Nursery

The first was a planning application for new 100+ nursery places, refused by Southwark Council but the applicant has appealed it.
It was refused as the council doesn’t think they’ve made enough efforts to lease it as office spaces protecting local employment. And also no transport report.

The former is odd as with such huge shortages of nursery places many are unable to go back to work. So this feels a red herring or ill conceived. The transport issues interesting. When the council applied next door it was allowed BUT on the condition they produce a Travel Plan.

So I’ve contacted the planning inspector who will decide the appeal supporting the application IF a condition for a Travel Plan is added.
The planning inspector can be contacted at: teamp3@pins.gsi.gov.uk reference APP/A5840/A/12/2185756/NWF

What’s very frustrating is that until May 2012 this planning application would have been decided by the Dulwich Community Council but instead council officers miles away made the decision – wrongly in my mind.

Shop

The second is a planning application for a new medium sized shop. We’re not keen on this as if it’s a successful shop sucking retail vitality out of Lordship Lane. Also the needs more school and nursery places and this site on it’s own could provide much needed nursery places.

If you have a view on this planning application tell council officials – planning.applications@southwark.gov.uk – and copy me.

9 December – train service downgrade.

LONDON OVERGROUND is being extended from 9 December by adding a section Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction – http://goo.gl/9roun

It brings 4 trains per hour (tph) 7 days a week between Clapham Junction and Highbury & Islington via Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High St, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham. This will open up new journey opportunities to east and west London. All these south London stations will appear on the new TfL Tube map. The downside to that is that it looks as if the new Tube map will show us cut off with no rail services to central London. How daft is that.Southwark Rail User Group have thoughtfully produced a much more useful map to publicise our rail connections into central London – http://www.bellenden.net/SRUG-maps.

BUT THE SOUTH LONDON LINE DISAPPEARS
But this also means we say a sad goodbye to the inner South London Line (SLL) – http://goo.gl/yWQmd. This hopefully temporary closure until 2018 when London Bridge station reopens will really isolate communities along the SLL route with no direct access to London Bridge and very patchy services into Victoria – many people will be deterred from living in Camberwell and other communities along the line. Many users, organisations and representatives fought a long and hard campaign to save it. But it was not successful. See here for some of that story – http://www.bellenden.net/rail-cuts. We’ll have to fight hard for the service to be returned in 2018.

REMAINING SERVICES
The changes will leave us with these services off peak:

– Victoria from Nunhead, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill: 2tph Mon to Sat, but none in the evenings, and none on Sunday. (3tph between 8am-9am)

– Clapham Junction via Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High St, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham to Canada Water and beyond on the London Overground: 4tph, 7 days a week morning till night.

– St Pancras and beyond from Nunhead, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill via Elephant Castle/Blackfriars: 2tph, up to 9pm Mon to Fri, and terminating at Blackfriars after that time and weekends. (More tph Mon-Fri between 8am-9.15am)

– London Bridge from North Dulwich, East Dulwich, Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham, Sth Bermondsey: 4tph, 7 days a week morning to night. (In the peak there will be 6tph – a 10 minute frequency.)

DISAPPEARING SERVICES
The services we are losing are:

– the 2 tph between London Bridge and Victoria via Sth Bermondsey, Queens Rd, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Clapham High St, Wandsworth Rd, Battersea Pk, provided by the South London Line. (SLL). They are currently 7 days a week from morning till night.

Their loss means for the stations affected:

– no trains to London Bridge via Battersea Pk, Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High St, Denmark Hill.

– no trains to Victoria via Sth Bermondsey, Queens Rd, Clapham High St, Wandsworth Rd, Battersea Pk.

– no trains to Victoria after about 7pm, and none on Sunday from Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill.

– a reduction from 4tph to 2tph to Victoria from Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill.

– a reduction off peak from 6tph to 4tph to London Bridge from Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham, Sth Bermondsey.

CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE OUR VICTORIA SERVICES
In the longer term we want our South London Line service between London Bridge to Victoria, via Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill and all the current SLL stations, restored once London Bridge station is rebuilt in 2018.

In the meantime, the campaign continues to get the gaps filled in services to Victoria that the loss of the South London Line creates in the evenings and at weekends and to restore the service to 4tph – http://www.bellenden.net/victoria – You will see there the email addresses of all those who should know the effect of the loss of our South London Line.

Green Dale partially blocked

Last night a tree from JAGS playing field was blown over and has landed onto Green Dale.

I’ve reported it and a council employed tree team will visit ASAP. What’s particularly worrying is that some pedestrians are walking under the fence end where a gap is present – so I’ve asked the council treat the matter with urgency.

It should be fully removed today.

Green Dale changes

Southwark Council directly and indirectly are planning some big changes to the incredibly popular Green Dale cycle and walking route.

Cycling alone in the  4 months April to August has seen a total of 39,287 cyclists using this route. That implies over  100,000 cycle movements along this route a year.

The changes at the northern end to reduce car blocking with Champion Hill and at the southern end removing excessive bollards and planting look good. The middle section, Wanley Road junction, sees a hedges usefully cut back to increase safety with further changes of adding bollards which looks daft and dangerous.

To compound the middle proposals a Planning Application has been made that would increase the tunnelling affect by narrowing Green Dale and adding blank hedge frontage just south of Wanley Road junction with Green Dale:

261873_1

I’ve asked the Cabinet member for Transport Cllr Barrie Hargrove to amend his middle plans and not added unnecessary bollards. I’ve formally objected to the Planning Application.

Fingers crossed common sense prevails.

Safer Lorry Procurement

In London the vehicles that pose the greatest risk to cyclists are lorries. Astoundingly lorries represent 5% of the traffic in London, but are responsible for 50% of cyclist fatalities.

Local council’s such as Southwark are major purchasers of companies that use lots of lorries. Combined they contract 1000’s of lorries to serve our local communities. 

The London Cycling Campaign has a great campaign to encourage councilsto ensure that their boroughs’ streets are safer for cyclists. Lorries with trained driver, side-guards, better mirrors. Not big changes in themselves but would make a big change for the safety of cyclists.

Currently no London boroughs that have a safer lorry procurement policy for buying such services or lorries. Icampaigned and managed to get all Southwark Council’s own lorries owned by Southwark to have side-guards and warm promises that they’d work on Veolia to have side guards on their rubbish trucks used to support the Southwark waste collection contract. However on the back of the successful HGV campaigning Transport for London have now adopted a safer lorry contract which LCC are now asking all London boroughs to adopt.

Once one borough has shown a safer lorry procurement policy is possible – ironing out all the legal wrangles – then I see no reason why others can’t follow. Some will argue that they have years left on specific contracts but my professional experience tells me that often negotiating with suppliers comes up trumps.

Talking to my leader Cllr Anood Al-Samerai we will be calling for Southwark Council to do this and it will form part of our cycling strategy.

Heathrow nonsense

I was dismayed to see such stupid protestations from Conservative MP’s  who should know better and supposed business leaders. They’ve been demanding Heathrow have a third runway to magically solve all our economic woes.

First myth. Building a third runway with all the infrastructure would take at least 10 years and would only come on stream in two or three five year parliaments time. Not much economic magic about a ten plus year delay.

Second myth. That air pollution wouldn’t be a problem, that aircraft are so much cleaner. Most aircraft are flown for 40+ years. The current aircraft flying would be the ones to be used. Equally ground transport for passengers and staff would see NOx pollution causing further ill health to residents there let alone all the noise pollution. The World Health Organisation noise limits are already well and truly being breached across London.

What is truly astounding is the latest MP to call for this is Tim Yeo. He’s the chair of the parliamentary Climate Change select committee. Clearly a man in the wrong job.

The coalition agreement is quite clear. No third runway at Heathrow. I’d be saddened if the Conservatives renege on their commitment to this going into the 2015 elections. The Heathrow sound problem reaches across most of south London.

My Olympics

Loved the opening ceremony – surprised no London’s Calling from The Clash. I didn’t expect to watch more than five minutes but ended up watching the whole thing. Fab.

I was fortunate enough to buy family tickets for Hockey and Archery. We all really enjoyed both events if not the exceptionally early starts following LOCOG instructions. London Bridge was near empty at 7.15am and 4pm despite the repeated gloom and doom messages and really no need for the irritating one-way system. Network Rail should have shown proper leadership on this.

What I was really impressed by at the Archery was that they’d created taster opportunities to try Archery. What a great idea really enthusiastically done. Surprised Hockey didn’t do this as well and other sports come to that.

Amazed at how many people making it all happen were around. Clearly money was no object but at least it all worked aned everyone friendly.

I’ve had some casework where LOCOG/Home Office haven’t granted security clearance to someone with no criminal record, British national lived in the same address all their lives. So they’ve missed the opportunity of a lifetime to help.

All the events had spare tickets which could esailly have been sold. The Olympics would be so much better if they could shake of the freeloaders who demand games lanes from their five star hotels and reserved free tickets to everything.

I’d give the London 2012 games 4/5.  Network Rail 2/5 as just plain daft at London Bridge. London Underground 4/5. Food 3/5 unimaginative. Olympics shop 2/5 weird selection of goods.

Catch 22 – a Southwark Tram

Since writing a blog about a Southwark Streetcar I’ve been approached by various parties to discuss how we can do this in Southwark.

The most promising is a Southwark SuperTram. This comes from a company that have been working on a Preston SuperTram where they’re only a planning application away from having all the permissions they need.

A Southwark SuperTram could cost £55M and connect London Bridge with Kings College & Maudsley hospitals close to Denmark Hill station.

Within a short walk of its route 130,000 Southwark and Lambeth residents live, let alone the thousands of businesses.

Why this route? Well with t he South London Line closing it would link two hospitals into London Bridge and Guys Hospital. It keeps all the route in Southwark minimising complications to Transport for London alone. Avoiding any need for compulsory purchasing would avoid the huge complications and costs of a Transport Works Act needing parliamentary approval.

When a Cross River Tram was proposed its costs ballooned to £1.5bn for around 20km so how come £55m for 7km? Revolutionary track deployed in concrete beams only 30cm deep – LR55. light overhead lines. Trams made from of the shelf components.

To build such a tram could be done with multiple teams at 400m per team per week. Several options for where to place the depot.

And the tram journey? 15 mins end to end running every 4 or 5 minutes.

So far all politicians like the idea of trams but want Trampower to prove somewhere else it can make trams happen. I’m hopeful that with encouragement Trampower will make their Preston scheme happen and then a Southwark Supertram becomes much more convincing for everyone.

For history buffs this is a picture of the last piece of tram track removed from Camberwell.

Last Camberwell tram track

 

 

 

 

 

 

What were our forefathers thinking.

Cycleloops

Lots of guard railings have been removed with most to follow. Scrap metal merchant bonanza. it transpired that guard railings just corralled pedestrians and didn’t make them any safer or other road users – sometimes trapping cyclists and pedestrians into dangerous and even occasionally deadly situations.

So great these guard railing are going. But they were incredibly useful for parking bikes and locking them up.

What to do?

Well they’re not a new idea but cycleloops seem the obvious alternative. Just need to persuade Southwark to roll them out…perhaps not pink ones.