Ring Road Money Pit

I was horrified to read that Boris Johnson has asked TfL to work up plans for a £30bn ring road tunnelled under London.

Apart from the traffic generation and extra air pollution it would cause £30bn is a colossal amount of money.

We could build roughly 6 complete new underground lines in London for this sum. Such a huge expansion in tube lines would bring huge benefit to all Londoners not just the tiny minority that drive in central London.

Or we could build 300 new tram lines across London. A revolution in public transport.

Or we could make every street and road in London utterly cycle friendly and still have many billions of pounds left over.

How would you solve London transport problems with £30bn?

Dangerous Junction

The more that I look at the areas around the junctions go Townley Road with Lordship Lane the more convinced I am that we can make it much better.

Currently its crash magnet and a local hotspot for collisions. It’s also an area with really restricted parking for residents. The road has been been made nice and wide and clear of all obstacles. It makes it tempting to speed.

Narrowing the road and the Townley Road entrance would really help reduce speeds and crashes. With kerb build outs we can achieve this while making it possible for residents to be able to park. It would require changing the two stage Pelican crossing to make it more obviously one stage crossing.

What do you think should be done to make this patch of East Dulwich better and safer for roads users and local residents?

Lordship Lane Challenge

We need to find ways of making Lordship Lane an even better place to shop, socialise and serve the local community.

As Lib Dem East Dulwich councillors we’ve ensured much improved pedestrian facilities – making it 20mph, two signalled crossings, an extra zebra crossing at Goose Green, raising side roads to make Lordship Lane level, hanging baskets.

We’ve talked to five cinema providers and we’re delighted the Picturehouse Cinema are working to make a cinema happen by Christmas.

We’ve improved North Cross Road and the market.

What next? The junction of Lordship lane and North Cross Road will be revamped during the summer with money we’ve allocated from our devolved capital budget. This should solve an crash hot spot and make the market more inviting.

We also need to:

– Lordship Lane pavements improved. This will mean helping small businesses with the pavement they control. Currently they look terrible.

– Free wifi which will be free if done on a Southwark wide basis.

– Legible London signage to make it clearer where everything is and draw people from East Dulwich station along to our high street (via Grove Vale).

– Town Centre loyalty card.

– Season banners on lampposts.

What do you think we need to work on to make Lordship Lane better?

St.Francis Road Luck Needed

Years ago the Abbotswood Estate was built. Part of it include some cycle and pedestrian shared paths. But despite asking years ago (when I chaired Southwark Cyclists) they’ve never had a dropped kerb to make them work – you have to be stunt cyclist to use them. So almost no cyclists actually use them.

So I’m trying to get this fixed yet again. Wish me luck.

What other little details block people cycling freely?

IMG00339-20140307-0735

Southwark Supertram Progress

For several years I’ve been working on how to bring a tram route initially and then network to Southwark.

When Ken Livingstone was Mayor of London he said he supported them but only gave enough money to keep a project team employed who never got to build anything. When Boris Johnson became London Mayor he canned that team and the pretence of TfL tram in southwark was over.

So how to make this happen privately?

Talking to investment banks one key requirement is certainty that their investment would have a chance to produce a secure return. The greater the security the cheaper money can be borrowed at.  But building track on public roads could allow other to duplicate routes.

So the planning advice we’ve received has really helped nail this. First when the Lib Dems led Southwark Council we ensured the Core Strategy stated it was pro trams.

Second, any tram network using the public highway would need planning permission. It would deal with where plant is located, designed, etc. With granted planning permission subsequent applications would have to show how they would integrate with existing schemes and tracks. It doesn’t give a monopoly but this does give more certainty that practically investment will be more secure.

The advice wording is “But any application will be judged on its practical merits. IF a planning application is granted and results in a tram being built and running, then any subsequent planning application for a tram may not be practical due to that prior granted tram planning application”.

A useful step forward.

All New Chinese Crystal Palace

The Chinese Zhong Rong Group are proposing to rebuild a pastiche of the great Victorian Crystal Palace.

It’s clear from their representatives who spoke at the Dulwich Community Council that they really arent sure what they’re proposing. It might include a 6* hotel, it might include an auction house, it might include exotic galleries. Yet before knowing what they’re proosing and the related transport requirements they’re asking people whether they support it or not.

What they do know is theyre not planning transport upgrades such as extending a tube line or reopening the high level Crystal Palace station. But witohut a step change improving public transport it wont work without terrible congestion for locals. My fear is massive car parking.

But removing the car parking that has taken over the core of Crystal Palace Park would improve that space. The accomodation blocks and other structures don’t make the park feel parky. So clearly something needs to happen with the park.

So personally I’m against the amorhpous scheme until I see credible plans addressing my fears.

London Bridge Chaos

London Bridge is ungoing many years of being rebuilt to enable Network Rail to serve long distance commuters better. Long distance commuters are more profitable and they spend more at concessions. It has already seen the South London Line closed to make way for the rebuild and seen no increase in other rail services to Southwark rail stations.

To add insult to injury while the building works go on the services have become so unreliable that British Transport Police have had to deploy a visible presence during rush hours:

Police at London Bridge

 

 

 

Next week the new platform 14 & 15 open. Network Rail are fanfaring that they will be partially covered – but the old platforms 14 & 15 were fully covered and we also had a platform 16 Network Rail decided to remove. All those hundreds of millions to be treated as susipcious with permanent cop presence and platforms less protected from the weather.

Why can’t we have great public transport rather this dumming down to mediocre but yet at huge expense?

Play Streets

The legislation allowing Play Streets was passed in 1938. It allows for 3 hours per week for local residential streets to be closed and children get to play outside where they live.

But over time the number of Play Streets has declined from 700 in the 50’s to none by the 80’s. So a revival is long overdue.

Lambeth Council are trialling on Guernsey Grove in Herne Hill and Hexham Road in West Norwood Play Street days. Residents are allowed to close their street for up to 3 hours per week so their children can play in a great traffic free environment. Most often they do this during a weekend afternoon.

This has been inspired by schemes in Hackney, Bristol and even New York.

Should you street become a Play Street?

Southwark 20mph

Southwark is introducing 20mph speed limit on all roads except those controlled by TfL or the Dulwich Estate.

This has been a long time coming with the strategy agreed when Lib Dems led the council. Richard Thomas was the lead councillor on this years back.

But not much point making our roads 20mph without any enforcement.

The Association of Chief Police Officers have announced a course option for motorists exceeding 20mph as an alternative to a fine and or points on driving licences. The course would be for motorists travelling 24-31mph.
Avon and Somerset Police are the first ti pilot this course.

We need to persuade our Met Police in Southwark to also take this approach.

Do you agree most roads should be 20mph in Southwark?

No Notice – Barry Road Resurfacing

Local councillors have just received at 16.22 today notice that council officers plan to resurface Barry Road starting on Monday 24-27 February 8am-4pm.

If you live on Barry Road and park a vehicle on Barry Road you will need to park it elsewhere. If you live nearby expect lots of Barry Road residents to park on your street!

See attached draft letter to be delivered over the weekend. After seeking clarity we now know that Barry Road will be resurfaced from its junction with Lordship to junction with Upland Road.  You could not make this up!

Barry Road letters