Rockets

The devil is very much in the detail isn't it. Interesting that on a road like East Dulwich Grove parts of it are consistently breaking the pre-Covid levels yet traffic (according to the council) is still not at pre-Covid levels across the borough. Also, does the council allow us to compare previous dashboards as, correct me if I am wrong, but more of the dashboard is turning orange and red than before? What caused the drop in traffic on Lordship Lane Central in May as that looks like the chart has been corrected or altered given the previous trends.

Absolutely, side road or back street cycling has always been the safest option - I used to cycle to Hammersmith and only once or twice on the route needed to go on busier roads. But LTNs were built on the premise that side-road traffic was increasing - which it wasn't - that narrative was built on dodgy data that has since been corrected and now shows that traffic levels are decreasing and would decrease more if it was not for the get it now delivery culture that most are embracing that has led to an increase in van traffic. LTNs were also built on the premise of a car-led recovery, which again, did not happen. They were also built on the promise of a modal shift to bikes which again, did not happen. But what has happened is that congestion has increased (particularly clear to anyone who spends anytime around Dulwich) around peak travel times as those fewer cars are being forced along fewer roads. So we are left wondering why are council's continuing to pursue this ludicrous strategic initiative when it is clear it is not delivering and installing even more measures (Turney) that will put increased pressure on roads (and residents) around the Village and Croxted Road etc.

One Dulwich latest update - seems like the Turney closure came as a surprise to even those who have been granted an audience with the council - one wonders who was lobbying for it then and why the council didn't mention it to anyone..... Campaign Update | 11 Oct URGENT ACTION NEEDED Southwark updated its ‘Dulwich Village – streets for people’ website with two design ideas for the Dulwich Village junction yesterday, 10 October. To everyone’s astonishment, both designs include the closure of Turney Road at the Dulwich Village end. This has never been raised before, and wasn’t mentioned at One Dulwich’s online meeting last week. The Council has provided no information at all on the likely effects of the Turney Road closure on a) access for local residents or people working in Dulwich, or b) the displacement of traffic and congestion on to surrounding roads and in the Dulwich area as a whole. Consultation/engagement closes on 30 October, meaning that there are now just 19 days left to respond. PLEASE ACT NOW We are asking you to take five urgent actions: 1. Comment on the design proposals here. It takes only a few minutes. Question 2 We suggest you answer ‘Don’t support’, as no evidence has been provided to suggest that any of the core objectives could be delivered. Question 3 Please ask the Council to allow access for Blue Badge holders, GPs, community nurses and midwives, SEND transport and social care workers so that the most vulnerable in the community are looked after. Question 4 Please object to the closure of Turney Road because there is no information about the likely impact on access or traffic displacement. Question 5 cannot be answered, because there is no way of rejecting both design proposals and Questions 6 and 7 are irrelevant. We suggest you leave all these blank. 2. Email [email protected] to say that the online survey does not allow you to reject both design proposals, so you have left question 5 blank, but that you would like email confirmation by return that Southwark Council has recorded your rejection of both design proposals on the grounds that insufficient information has been provided about the impact of the closure to motorised vehicles of a) Turney Road and b) not one but two arms of the junction. 3. Email [email protected] to say (in your own words if possible, please) that the consultation process on the design of the Dulwich Village junction is deeply flawed because: we have been given no data or modelling to show the likely impact of the closure to motorised vehicles of either a) Turney Road, or b) two out of the four arms of the junction; we were promised that engagement would take place with local people (residents, businesses, campaign groups) BEFORE concept designs were presented (Phase 1 interviewed only a ‘representative sample’ – and didn’t ask where people lived – so did not capture the views of the community); the deadline of 30 October gives us insufficient time to respond; the online survey does not allow respondents to reject both design options; no local councillor is willing to champion the needs of residents or businesses who object to the scheme; no council officer is willing to act on legitimate concerns raised by local people about the lack of motorised access for those with protected characteristics, or for those who care for them. 4. Email Southwark’s chief executive [email protected] to complain, using any or all of the above points, and adding your own personal perspective. 5. Sign the epetition (now working) on Southwark’s website (not our petition but we support its aims) asking the Council to ensure access through the junction for the most vulnerable. Thank you for your support. The One Dulwich Team

Legal - was the electric bike in question that green electric bike delivery monster truck that jumped the red lights at Turney and shot up the hill - I didn't catch which company it was but they should know that their riders are driving recklessly - a number of people commented on it as he was going at an unsafe speed and driving through the junction without a care for anyone else using it? Far too many times I see cyclists, whether lycra-clad weekend Olympic road warriors on their £10k bikes or electric bikes bombing through that junction - anyone who walks that way knows that fear of dread when you hear the ominous sound of an expensive gear train on a carbon-fibre bike approaching at speed! ;-) The school issue is a big one that is not going away and I do then chuckle to myself when I see posts like the one below from people who were no doubt complaining that too many people were driving to drop their children at Alleyn's and now the children are using coaches still aren't happy.....

Unfortunately Rahx3 is very much part of the problem not the solution and their views are so reflective of the many blinkered pro-cycle brigade that have commanded more attention with the council than they warrant over the last few years. As long as cyclists are happy then stuff anyone else. My problem with the plans is, again, the council is not offering anyone the opportunity to argue against the measures - the "consultation" has been designed to ensure they get the measures through whether local people want them or not. These councillors are the same ones who take every opportunity to rail against government for underhand tactics yet are more than happy to use such tactics when it suits their agenda. It is such hypocrisy on a massive scale and I sense there is going to be another wave of constituent discontent with these plans, certainly many of our neighbours have not had any say thus far and are incredulous that the council suggests there has been any engagement with local people - the amount of our money that the council is wasting on these cycle lobby pandering vanity projects is unbelievable and the DV junction is being turned into an extension of the Herne Hill velodrome to the benefit of one group and no-one else. It's time it stopped and the council take a more balanced approach that is inclusive of everyone who uses the spaces.

And here is the second proposed design.

Very interesting taking a closer look at the proposals - there's a new LTN introduced with the permanent closure of Turney Road to vehicular traffic between Burbage and Dulwich Village. https://consultations.southwark.gov.uk/environment-leisure/dulwich-village-streets-for-people-phase-2/consultation/subpage.2022-09-23.6861053244/ Respondents are presented with two design options and have to select one - both of which, of course, prioritise cyclists over every other user of the space and both of which close Turney Road to cars and vehicles - one wonders what residents of Turney think as they won't get any vehicular access by looks of the designs. Once again, this is not a consultation as there is no way to object to either design as people are presented with Option 1 or Option 2 or No Preference - thereby ensuring the council gerrymander their plans through.

Cllr Leeming claiming residents have been/are being consulted....does anyone know anyone who lives close to the junction that has been consulted or engaged with to date? This looks all like a retrospective action after the council recently spent hundreds of thousands turning the junction into a glorified cycle super highway without consulting anyone...they claim these are interim measures before the consultation starts....hmmmm https://twitter.com/RM_Leeming/status/1578413546735816704?t=QK-jMqW_ze7U8mGrphY43Q&s=19

A new estate agents just before the house market crash - good luck to them! ;-) I wonder if the race to the bottom will be as competitive as the race to the top between the various agents in the area!

It came from a couple of the traders on Lordship Lane - they suggested it was going into the Lila's jewellers site.

Is there any truth to the rumours that Wagamama's and Poundland are coming to the Lane?

Imagine how the cycle-lobby will go on the attack when they start to realise that cycling in London is significantly lower than it was in 2019! ;-) It's not so much a war on motorists as a war on every other road user other than cyclists - emergency services, buses, pedestrians, lorries, taxis, private car owners - you name it they have all been pushed to one side in favour of cyclists and, for all the money and disruption to the London economy and everything else that these policies have impacted negatively still there is no sign that there is a cycle boom (despite what Aldred and co may claim in their research - which is becoming more laughable by the day as actual TFL data shows that the cycle boom never happened). At some point people are going to start asking whether the millions if not billions that the Mayor's office wasted on this experiment been worth it and I think it is very clear that to date it hasn't. Look at Margy Square as a very local case in point. The amount of money spent on that and the repeated failures by the council to find a solution that works for everyone from the emergency services through cyclists and pedestrians. Just look at what has appeared on the road at that junction in the last couple of days - two painted cycle lanes, one in each direction with absolutely zero consideration for the pedestrians or others that use the space. Remember, when this planning disaster was first rolled out it was mooted as a shared space for everyone (remember the ludicrous concerts organised in the Square to emphasise the shared space element) - well all of that has been thrown to one side in favour of making the junction a glorified cycle super-highway where pedestrians and everyone else are de-prioritised in favour of cyclists. And all of this has happened without any of the promised consultation with local residents on usage - Cllr Rose and her band of planners have just gone ahead and thrown in what they (and the cycle-lobby) think is best for the junction despite assurances that locals were going to be consulted. You hope one day someone in the council will be forced to accept responsibility for this complete disaster which has just gone to demonstrate how much time, money and effort the council wastes whilst pandering to the whims of lobbyists.

There are two additional temporary pedestrian crossings that have been added on Lordship Lane - does anyone know whether these are going to be made permanent or ahead of works impacting the existing ones?

Here is the detail from TFL on what is happening to cycling in London at the moment - no boom And here is the National Travel Survey data debunking DFT's claims of billions of extra miles - which was the key narrative used to prop up the cycle lobby's push for LTNs. It was just not happening. Malumbu - never been a fan of Gail's, much more an Au Ciel or Redemption fan....next time you venture to Dulwich Village let me know and I will gladly buy you a coffee and a croissant!

Rahx3 - what's your point exactly - you know they close vehicular access to parts of Dulwich Village for large parts of the day and have basically ring-fenced the village with LTNs.....so really a reduction is, well, kind of understandable is it not?

Is this not a major local interest story? I do think it is ironic that Malumbu, someone who neither lives in Dulwich (nor Southwark for that matter) suggests something to be lounged on the basis it is not in East Dulwich. By that measure should Malumbu not be confined to the lounge permanently as well.....;-)

It's interesting that in the last couple of weeks two of the main pillars the pro-LTN lobbyists built their campaign around (that London had seen a huge - millions/billions of miles -increase in travelled miles and that there has been a cycling boom) have been exposed as utterly false - travelled miles in London had been decreasing constantly over a long period and cycling levels are lower than they were in 2018.

Ha ha...Malumbu is back as the acting head of lounge policing! He moves in in October doesn't he?

I am not sure how doing what they are doing helps the problem of a few cars driving through - looks like they will still be able to, either by design or mistake, drive through as "the grave" only blocks one side of the road. It also does nothing to address the bigger issue of cyclists flying through the junction at high speed so it would have been good if some cycle calming measures could be put in as well. Surely something could have been added that straddles both lanes of the junction in front of the shops that would visually deter drivers, but allow emergency services to navigate it and slow cyclists at the same time?

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.