Rockets

Are the council digging for oil in the middle of Margy Square? In all seriousness I thought there was due to be a consultation on any further changes to the road layout there yet there appears to be a huge flower patch going in - is this as a result of the consultation?

Local schools are warning parents to be aware that yesterday afternoon there was an attempted robbery of school children in Dulwich Park where the assailants showed knives and an imitation gun. Luckily the robbers were interrupted by a member of the public and the children left unharmed but apparently there will be an increased police presence around the park for the next few days and anyone who sees anything should dial 999 immediately. School children are being warned to avoid the park for a few days and told not to have phones or ear buds on view whilst in the park. It is clear that the park is being targeted so everyone please keep your wits about you and let's hope these idiots get arrested soon.

Likewise - always found Balfes (and Evans for that matter) really friendly, helpful and very good at what they do so sorry you didn't have the same sort of experience.

The problem with the bikes is that the business model is built around the ability to pick one up and then drop it wherever you want - the same issue of littering is being experienced in every city that has deployed them globally.

Goodness me - so really it's the shop footfall and nothing directly linked to Calton at all....is there any stat from the LTN programme that the council hasn't tried to manipulate?

Wow - it is all really starting to unravel isn't it. You do wonder how many other reports the council and councillors changed/redacted and what was the catalyst for TFL to ignore their changes to this report? Maybe TFL are fed-up with the way the council manipulates reports to hide the damage the LTNs are actually doing. I did laugh when I read that either Margy or Richard had written to TFL saying there needed to be more detailed analysis of the impact of the measures before any conclusions could be reached - that's a bit rich coming from councillors who were more than happy not to have any detailed analysis done when they were championing how wonderful their LTNs were and how they were most definitely not displacing traffic and causing congestion elsewhere yada yada yada.

They are making money from the e-scooter trial - there is a cost involved for each company to be involved in the trial and then I believe once the winners are selected they will pay the council for the privilege of running the service/having access to the streets for parking of the e-scooters. Pretty sure the bike providers will do the same.

Now I am intrigued - did Paul find somewhere good? Is he still in the area - does he have any recommendations 16 years on!!! ;-) P.S. A nice walk up Greendale followed by Sunday lunch at the Crooked Well - in case anyone cared for my today recommendation! ;-) And the throwback one would have been the Bishop when Scott owned it!

I think the catalyst for this to happen will be revenue - if councils think they can make money from cyclists in the same way they do from cars via LTNs etc then that will be the tipping point for some form of traceable registrations. The "bikes don't kill people" is a bit of a smoke-screen/head in the sand by the cycle lobby as you see so many near misses with red-light jumpers and injuries do occur when people are hit by bikes - granted it probably won't kill you (although there was a case about a bike killing a pensioner a couple of months ago) but that should not be used as a defence. Malumbu - welcome back - did you get bored of your self-initiated exile to the Lounge - we missed you?! ;-) And, ahem, I am afraid it is you that has not done their homework - e-scooters in the trials are not required to have registration plates.... https://www.gov.uk/guidance/e-scooter-trials-guidance-for-users#:~:text=E%2Dscooters%20do%20not%20need,or%20pay%20vehicle%20excise%20duty. On that note I didn't realise you needed to have a driving licence to use e-scooters in the trial - how is that monitored - do you have to add the details when you register for the service? This probably explains why they have plates on them because it is probably a pre-cursor to them saying that once the trials end e-scooter riders can get points on their licence - a very sensible move given some of the horrendous riding you see on e-scooters (more often than not illegal privately owned ones that have been souped-up for speed).

A bit of kite-flying/pandering to an audience by the govt here or does anyone think this will actually happen? https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/16/registration-plates-and-insurance-for-cyclists-on-table-in-review-of-road-laws Interesting to note that the hireable e-scooters seem to have some sort of visible number plate on them.

I think this one is a more of a case of you renting your room out to many lodgers and then not feeling like you can then tell them not to spill into the hallway! ;-) The council really needs to do something, it’s getting ridiculous.

I heard the same rumour. At least he’ll be handy for the station… Fingers crossed no Russians from Salisbury pop over. I’d hate to end up with Novichok in my coffee just because Johnson popped in the local cafe for a sausage roll. I hear the street What's App group is on fire - the people are not happy - doesn't a Labour MP live on the same or neighbouring road - the street parties might be fun?! It's one hell of a pad he has bought and apparently matching cargo bikes as well so everyone will get their chance to egg them as they trundle to Gail's for brekkie!!! ;-)

I remember doing a delivery of furniture to the house next door to Maggie's and the security was very tight to get anywhere close to the other houses - booking a slot for arrival, bomb checks in and under the van etc. Which is why it is rather surprising, if the rumours I heard last night are true, that Boris has selected a house on a road that is very much not a gated community. It sounds like the house search was concluded some time ago. I bet the neighbours are going to be delighted to not only have Boris living next to them but also all of the security rigmarole that will no doubt have to come with him.

The council is already making money from the trials - this is where, and why, it gets a bit sticky for the council as they are encouraging these providers to be part of the trial and the providers have to pay for the privilege so it makes if difficult for the council to then say - please don't dump e-scooters as you try to win the trial by carpet bombing your branded e-scooters everywhere whether people are using them or not.

James, Anything you can do about the e-scooter problems (especially outside of Superdrug) - they are becoming a real problem?

Has anyone actually seen anyone using any of the e-scooters left outside Superdrug - they were encroaching onto the pedestrian crossing at the weekend.

He may find his budget of £3m doesn't go as far as he thinks....;-) I am with Spartacus - this could be the trigger for the house price crash locally! Although I do wonder if he might head to where Maggie was as security is probably the defining purchase criteria!

But Rahx3 - even if you think Southwark News are running a campaign against LTNs it's pretty compelling what the TFL report says isn't it? Again this is from the TFL report that Cllr Leeming wanted to not be sent to residents before he redacted it.... Herne Hill is the best logical alternate route for northbound drivers who are otherwise unable to travel through Dulwich Village This has caused increased flows through this section of network resulting in increased congestion That's not spin or part of a misleading campaign - that statement comes from TFL about the cause of the Croxted Road problems - laying the blame clearly at the Dulwich Village LTN and it is categoric proof that the LTNs in Dulwich are causing the issues, which is the polar opposite of what your fellow LTN supporter Cllr Richard Leeming has been telling/misleading people about the traffic on Croxted Road. This is why Leeming was so desperate to redact the TFL report and said "this must not be sent to the residents". Why? Because it exposes the lies the council and councillors have been telling people about the impact of LTNs and shows that LTNs do cause displacement, do delay buses and do increase pollution in other areas. From day 1 the council have been manipulating everything to do with LTNs to paint them in a positive light and confirms what many of us have feared - that the council and pro-LTN supporters have been lying to people to defend the LTNs that create quiet roads for them and increase congestion for everyone else and that is a disgrace and the council and the pro-LTN supporters should be ashamed of themselves. I don't know how Cllr Leeming has the power to redact a tfl report. The fact that we can read it online suggests that hasn't happened. The point I was making is that Southwark have responded to the issues raised by tfl and made changes accordingly. The tfl report suggests that the tweaks made in March have been broadly successful and that they continue to work with Lambeth and Southwark. The fact is that data show a broadly positive impact on traffic reduction across the area and an increase in walking and cycling. The 'shocking' news is that they have continued to monitor and adjust the scheme, in order to improve it over time. Rahx3 - it appears Cllrs Leeming and Newens sent a number of objections/changes to the report to the person who deals with the councils within TFL but these changes were not incorporated into the final report and that is when Cllr Leeming said it must not be sent to residents in the form it was. For transparency perhaps the Cllrs would like to share the changes they asked to be made to the report - but from what I read it looks like the councillors have all lost their appetite to vocalise the changes they wanted mad with the general public…one can only wonder why….might be a good time for an FOI to help them….

Unfortunately this is a problem every where e-scooters are promoted as a means of active travel. I was in Munich some years ago and the locals were complaining about the growing problem of dumped e-scooters. And remember the council is actively promoting, and making money from, these trials so they want to see more providers and hence more scooters blocking our pavements until they select the winner. When is the winner due to be selected? In the meantime the e-scooter providers will be carpet bombing more of their product onto the streets.

The big challenge is that so much money is being spent on cycle infrastructure on the basis of "build it and they will come". And that makes sense in many areas but the increase in cycling has not been anywhere close to what it needs to be to justify the negative impact on other forms of transport and the policy needs to shift to proper assessment of what happens to other modes of transport like walking, driving and buses when so much roadspace is dedicated to cyclists. Remember in the pandemic and Will Norman stating that there would be a 10x increase in cycling - it just hasn't happened and growth isn't happening at a rate that suggests 10x will ever be achieved - the recent figures of a 25% increase in cycling compared to pre-Covid levels draws that into the harsh realities of daylight given the amount of money that has been spent and the hundreds of new miles of roadspace given over exclusively to bikes? It does very much seem that the cycle lobby has hijacked the post Covid transport discussion and the Mayor's office and councils have been drawn into it and have prioritised cycling disproportionately over other modes of transport. As soon as equal weighting is given to all the better for everyone.

And Rahx3 in case you can't/won't click through to it here is that it says on Page 6 of TFL's report: Root Cause of Delays Herne Hill is the best logical alternate route for northbound drivers who are otherwise unable to travel through Dulwich Village This has caused increased flows through this section of network resulting in increased congestion. Pretty compelling huh? I wonder how the councillors and pro-LTN lobby are going to try and spin their way out of that one....... Thanks Rockets, that's helpful. I'm pretty dubious of Southwark News reports on LTNs, as they've run a campaign against them that's included very misleading, sometimes false reporting. It's a shame that they quote the report out of context, and don't link to it, but not that surprising perhaps. Reading the report, it sounds as though the issues with increased bus times referred to in the Southwark News headline were prior to the changes Southwark put in place in March. Although it does sound that Croxted road Northbound (whilst improving), may still be experiencing increased traffic. So perhaps the headline ought to be - a very successful traffic reduction scheme isn't 100% perfect and there continues to be monitoring and some adjustments being made. That is pretty shocking. But Rahx3 - even if you think Southwark News are running a campaign against LTNs it's pretty compelling what the TFL report says isn't it? Again this is from the TFL report that Cllr Leeming wanted to not be sent to residents before he redacted it.... Herne Hill is the best logical alternate route for northbound drivers who are otherwise unable to travel through Dulwich Village This has caused increased flows through this section of network resulting in increased congestion That's not spin or part of a misleading campaign - that statement comes from TFL about the cause of the Croxted Road problems - laying the blame clearly at the Dulwich Village LTN and it is categoric proof that the LTNs in Dulwich are causing the issues, which is the polar opposite of what your fellow LTN supporter Cllr Richard Leeming has been telling/misleading people about the traffic on Croxted Road. This is why Leeming was so desperate to redact the TFL report and said "this must not be sent to the residents". Why? Because it exposes the lies the council and councillors have been telling people about the impact of LTNs and shows that LTNs do cause displacement, do delay buses and do increase pollution in other areas. From day 1 the council have been manipulating everything to do with LTNs to paint them in a positive light and confirms what many of us have feared - that the council and pro-LTN supporters have been lying to people to defend the LTNs that create quiet roads for them and increase congestion for everyone else and that is a disgrace and the council and the pro-LTN supporters should be ashamed of themselves.

Wow…..and so the house of cards begins to fall…talk about a smoking gun…what a buffoon…sending it to the very people he didn’t want to see it. It makes you wonder how many other reports the council intercepted in an attempt to change the “current form” of information shared with the public. It might explain why so many reports were delayed during the whole process. I suspect Cllr Leeming has just shone a spotlight on the manipulation the council has been engaging in to try and suppress the truth about LTNs. Any of the pro-LTN lobby have anything to offer in Cllr Leeming’s defence or are you wondering whether you have been used as part of the council’s propaganda machine to manipulate reality?

So the council constantly rolling out the most Southwark residents don't own a car is somewhat misleading then when applied to areas like East Dulwich because most residents of Southwark in this area do own a car? It's a bit like saying most Southwark residents live within walking distance of a tube....when it is clearly not the case as it only applies to those living in the north of the borough (but where the population density is higher). And there is a direct correlation between PTAL scores and car ownership figures - the council cites it as part of there reasoning for higher car ownership in the Dulwich area due to the poor PTAL scores.

So the council constantly rolling out the most Southwark residents don't own a car is somewhat misleading then when applied to areas like East Dulwich because most residents of Southwark in this area do own a car? It's a bit like saying most Southwark residents live within walking distance of a tube....when it is clearly not the case as it only applies to those living in the north of the borough (but where the population density is higher).

I belive this is the report you require https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VhHc02WXeovZL02aXi0iLWssPdgcuSiy/view?s=09 And Rahx3 in case you can't/won't click through to it here is that it says on Page 6 of TFL's report: Root Cause of Delays Herne Hill is the best logical alternate route for northbound drivers who are otherwise unable to travel through Dulwich Village This has caused increased flows through this section of network resulting in increased congestion. Pretty compelling huh? I wonder how the councillors and pro-LTN lobby are going to try and spin their way out of that one.......