Not undercover

Last year East Dulwich councillors found the money to go halves on a new covered waiting area – Platform 1 near the rear of trains. This financial year we’ve arrange for £10,000 to make the lighting at the station entrances infinitely better.

Chuffed to see that this all seems to have inspired the train operating company _ Southern Railway – to replace the other waiting areas. Platform 2 looks completed – we had to nag to get the covers taken of  it today but it looks good.

The new Platform 1 is just at the removal of the old covered waiting area stage. We’ll find out when it all due to finish.

We’ve also highlighted that the smaller covered area we helped make happen is leaking in two places!

While trying to get things sorted we’ve reported a number of other issues – flat screen at the bottom of ramp to platform 1 isn’t working, graffiti , dot matrix clock not working.

If you spot anything wrong do let us know and we’ll get it fixed. Also, if you have ideas to make the station better tell us and we’ll see if we can work some magic!

Tram sanity

Britain is an expensive place to build public transport. We don’t do things cheaply. The Cross River Tram proposed for London under Transport for London rapidly rose from £200m to £1.5bn and unsurprisingly was killed as a consequence.

So I’m delighted to see some sanity around the costs of tram spending. Blackpool has recently completed a three year program costing £100m to rebuild 26km of tram lines, adding new signalling to 14 junctions, built a new tram depot and bought 16 new trams from Bombardier.

At that sort of saner pricing trams could have a huge revival. And this is just the start of making trams cheaper to build…

Seal Southwark Borders?

Average speed cameras have been now proven to reduce 73% of deaths and serious injuries – analysis of 15 sites with SPECS average speed cameras. But they’ve also seen improved traffic flow, reduced emissions and greater public acceptability than spot speed cameras.

The first 20mph average speed cameras are up and working in Southend on Sea.

The beauty of these camera systems is they don’t just make single locations safer but whole stretches of roads and areas safer. Smoother traffic means greater flow with less variability between the fastest and slowest vehicles.

A ‘safe-zone’ scheme was trialled of average speed cameras close to a school in Poole. 93% of parents supported the scheme but what parent wouldn’t support making the area around a school safer.

The key is general attitudes choosing to drive slower or accepting average speed cameras to make large safety gains. Here I’m hopeful. Since 2000 to 2010 the number of drivers breaking 30mph in free-flowing traffic has fallen from two-thirds to half. But at that rate it will take 50 years to solve speeding. Research suggests three types of driver – First 52% group largely speed-limit complaint, second type of 33% only sometimes drive up to 10mph above speed limits and the third group 14% who regularly drive above and often very much beyond the speed limit. Any average speed camera scheme has to be aimed at that third group.

Most research has shown that 70-80% of people support speed cameras. This probably stems from the fact people caught speeding are typically twice as likely to have been involved in a crash. This is born out in insurance premiums which often jump with a speeding conviction. Insurance companies have lots of their own evidence and data that they base such premiums on. They spend a lot of money analysing that data tofinely adjust premiums based of risk.

But how to fund average speed cameras them?

Obviously reducing crashes saves money. The West Midlands send people caught speeding on Speed Awareness courses that the speeder pays £80 towards. The course provider costs around £30 and £50 is used to pay for the camera system operation. So they can be largely self funding in revenue terms. So finding the capital is the issue. Each pair of cameras costs around £50,000. So volume discounts etc £650,000 total capital cost. Allowing for Southwark on costs a cool £1M to make Southwark probably the safest borough in London.

Where to start. Most crashes in Southwark happen along Transport for London trunk roads such as the South Circular, Old Kent Road. Such roads also cause a terrible local environment. Placing cameras at around 16-20 locations, at the Southwark borders, would catch the 50% of all Southwark traffic transiting Southwark which is more likely to be speeding through. 

Such a scheme would increase traffic flow as people drove more evenly. It would reduce pollution and most importantly reduce crashes and people being injured.

What do you think?

Beyond daft?

I took this photo 6.40am today. Exactly the same traffic managementwas in place at 6pm last night and a number of iterations of this have been proceeding south to north along Walworth recently.

We also had the same issue at Goose Green in East Dulwich recently.

I don’t doubt that all these road works are necessary but why are lanes closed and temporary traffic lights in place for the hours outside when a whole lane needs closing?
Other local authorities I’ve worked with would insist that the lane required by workers when working to ensure their safety are released outside the working period.

Instead we have 16 hours out of 24 hour day where temporary traffic lights are in operation when they needn’t be. Sometimes such pointless traffic management is left in place over whole weekends.

I’ve contacted the Labour cabinet member to ask why this is now allowed to occur. If you also think this is beyond daft email barrie.hargrove@southwark.gov.uk the politician responsible and copy me james.barber@southwark.gov.uk.

Residents kept in the dark…

I was amazed to discover that Southwark Council is considering switching of Southwark street lighting. Clearly adjusting street lights is an ongoing sage managing over 16,000 street lights in Southwark.

What’s really amazing is that this news is buried in Highway Electrical Newspage 12. The article is titled “42% of Councils in England and Wales Planning Some Street Lighting Cuts”. It shows Southwark as one of of the local authorities in the “Councils planning total or partial night switch off”.

I haven’t knowingly heard this before. Have you?

It’s the only London Authority listed in this category. No public announcement. No public consultation even with the Police let alone residents or businesses.

Another example of no democracy in a Labour led Southwark.

What is particularly galling is that it took me four year to get all the street lighting in East Dulwich ward brought up to modern standards – bright white light rather than faded yellow light. This saved buckets of electricity. So really frustrated to hear they might be turned of.

Olympic chaos

For many months Londoners, who lets not forget are each paying £240 towards the Olympics being held in London, have been inundated with communications to minimise travel. That banned night time deliveries will potentially be allowed. That Zil lanes will be created to whisk non athletes Olympic hangers on with snouts in the 5* trough around London at break neck speeds. Olympic ticketing shambles where applicants appear to have feast or famine with tickets. Sponsorship from companies with no London or UK connection – just dull global brands.

Twenty days ago at the 100days to go mark someone in the Olympic organisers suddenly realised that the Olympics appears a pretty rotten deal for Londoners with even less interest outside London. That a huge glut of Londoners putting their homes up for rent during the Olympics. Many are planning to simply avoid all the crap by being out of London for as much and long as possible.

A sudden plea at 100 days from athletes to enjoy the Olympics and ‘a golden summer’. I hope the Olympics are a roaring success but boy have the London Olympics committee done everything they can to alienate it from Londoners. The London Olympic brand appears very tarnished.

I have been fortunate in the ballot and have tickets for two Olympic and one Paralympic events. This is solely for my children to enjoy the buzz. I’m prepared to cover up for their sakes as much of the rubbish as I can to make it the best possible experience. They wont realise we’re conforming to the petty debranding of their cloths to avoid any embarrassment.

Oh why oh why couldn’t the London Olympics have kept the original Olympic type spirit. Even the London 1948 Olympic austerity games would have been preferable to the complete sell out and apparent incompetence we’re experiencing.

E&C Green Walls

This week the 200m2 Edgware Road Bakerloo line Green Wall has finally settled in and looks fab. It was planted last November by Transport for London being funded by £5M Department of Transport.

It’s part of a London trial to re-prove the already well known peer reviewed research that vegetation help remove PM10 particulates from the air. And London is one of the dirtiest cities in Europe for this type of pollution. Imperial College will re-confirm the evidence for London.

Even if such Green Walls were not fab for helping relieve air pollution they look so much nicer that blank walls.

We have exactly the same type of wall on the side of the E&C Bakerloo ticket hall building.

Greening this blank wall would be an excellent start to making the E&C a greener cheerier place.

What do you think?

Peckham Rye station

I was delighted to hear that £10.6M will be spent making Peckham Rye station and the immediate area around it something we can all be proud of.

I helped ensure this was in the Lib Dem 2010 local election manifesto so it has always been a priority for me and my political group. So its good to know its become a local Labour priority. Roughly half the money will come from Transport for London and half from Southwark Council.

Creating a large open square to the front of the station, renovate the station, create a buzzing pleasant day time and most importantly evening destination. Currently things like the cinema are fine but really under used. Venturing out into the centre of Peckham for leisure doesn’t seem popular. I regularly take my family but it feels odd with so few people around. Changing this for a cafe culture and hopefully other attractions will be a real fillip for Peckham and more generally Southwark.

The only fly in this ointment is the proposed four year time scale. Christ that’s a long time to make it happen. I wish I was the project manager…

Capital Projects

At the last Dulwich Community Council meeting we decided (in no particular order) how to allocate our limited capital to projects:

1. Artistically illuminate East Dulwich station bridge £10,000 – we think making the station area more attractive will help reduce crime and the fear of crime there.

2. Go slower signs £6,000 – residents often contact us that people are speeding on there roads but they don’t want speed humps. Where do you think we should put the 4-5 active speed signs?

3. Cycle contraflow on Henslowe Road £8,500 – some residents have told us its a long cycle round while others have told us they don’t like pavement cycling. This should solve both points but we hope to do it for a lot less than the ridiculous sum council officers have suggested.

4. Fix North Cross Road grot spot £4,000 – just by the electricity sub station.

5. Community notice boards £3,000 – they’ve worked well so far and more should work even better.

6. 20mph Lordship Lane £15,000 – we’re hopeful that with the new crossings on Lordship Lane simple signing of a 20mph speed limit will work making Lordship Lane even more attractive.

7. Trees on Lordship Lane £8,500 – we want to make Lordship Lane even greener and more friendly.

8. Goose Green School £5,400 – they’ve asked for help greening the school grounds.

9. Goodrich School £3,300 – they’ve asked for help greening the school grounds.

10. East Dulwich Crime Reduction fund £8,000 – some more funds for local Police to tell us how to reduce crime further.

11. Worlingham Road grot spot £5,000 – space between sheltered accommodation and 31A Worlingham Road.

12. Goose Green playground £5,000 – a little help to make it an even better playground.

Total £81,700 (with reserve of £312).

Streetcar named Southwark

I came across the Portland Streetcar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail

They decided to implement a tram that is lighter than Light Rail. They’ve spent $130m (£110M) for 5km of streetcar. The spec involves digging down 30cm for new tracks rather than 45cm for light rail. They also largely use traffic signals which are cheaper than special track signalling and don’t involve central signalling boxes etc.
 
This seems the perfect solution for a new tram from Peckham to Waterloo station or even London Bridge (connecting with the shard) via Elephant&Castle. The cost is such that even Southwark could choose to borrow the money for this on its own or use planning gain but it takes some big imagination and political will.