James Barber

The ward based Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams are not 24/7. They work shifts to be around Policing proactively. They try and find patterns and change things to reduce crime. So these team don't often work beyond 11pm. The fast reaction type Police or 999 Police are around 24/7. Yesterday I was reading licensing report that ncluded a full Police report on their fast responses. For East Dulwich 84 fast responses in last 6 months. This is the loewest number for any part of Southwark. If anyone's interested I'll dig out the link.

I feel the need to clarify how roads are chosen for renewal. Council officers obtain surveys of all roads and how well they're wearing. How a road superficially looks apparently is not a good indicator of its sub surface condition - or foundations as I think of them. The roads are then prioritised taking into account usage, indicating when they'll could fully fail, complaints, claims, etc. Officers then recommend the priority for spend. This year each of Southwark's community councils was awarded ?100,000 to spend on road renewals. That equates to roughly ?33,333 for each ward. Residents in each community council area were asked to comment on roads that needed renewing. So the vast bulk, ?3.2M, is spent in order based on technical advice from officers. This coming financial year I'm hopeful that Lordship Lanes turn in the centre where the shops are will be renewed and await officers technical reports about this.

I think the nearest sinusoidal humps are on Camberwell Grove. From the south, 1 angular humps then 3 sinusoidal humps then angular humps then the funny single lane bridge thing. Try them some time. On a bicycle you REALLY can tell the difference. In a car you can quite tell the difference.

Court Lane is in Village ward but I thought it would be useful to tell East Dulwich residents as any journeys planned along Court Lane will be disrupted. I believe with the junction improvements of Court Lane with Eynella and in the village end means this road will have to have some resurfacing. All works were planned at the start of the financial year ie 11 months ago.

Court Lane footway renewals have been completed. Starting Tuesday 9 March and finishing 19 March the road will be resurfaced by Conways. Works will take place between 8am-4pm Mon-fir and 8am-1pm Sats. Any problems during the works please let the contractors rep. Matt Hoel know on 020 8636 8822 or Southwark officer Alwyn Samuel [email protected].

Fire in some Bermondsey railway arches. 10 fire engines and 50 firefighters at the scene for some hours. All trains into London Bridge dramatically affected.

My understanding is that School Keep Clear markings have two main purposes. To ensure clear line of sight for parents and chilren crossing roads. To also ensure that if a fire ever happens Fire Appliances have reserved places to park up and operate from. Any conscious parking in these designated areas during term time places children at risk. To park where you know many many mnay children will be crossing roads and their safety placed at risk is supremely selfish. BUT with respect to the Goodrich School drop offs on the mini rounabout. I suspect many parents have just been caught unawares by the Dunstans Road renewals and knee jerk dropped their kids off. I'm hopeful that most have'nt consciously been thoughtless about it but probably caught be surprise and with uncertainty humans don't always think clearly about the big picture.

Can we all have a cease fire. The debate is being lost in a mist of frustration. The term traffic calming belies the blood pressure raising it can cause! Catching people who break 20mph speed limits would be the Police. All revenue raised goes to central government treasury and Southwark Council doesn't see a penny of it. If councils did, then council finance officers would be beating councillors doors down asking for more.

Hi intexasthe moment, Apologies, I thought I'd made the rational clear but clearly failed. The southern end of Barry Road is subtely different to other parts. It has a bend in it and an adjacent school and nursery. Changes to the junction of Underhill Road/Barry Road are in the process of being made - new yellow lining. This then leaves crashes at the sotuhern end of Barry Road to reduce.

Hi intexasthe moment, Sinusoidal humps are much better than cushions and angular humps. But they're still not flat roads for those that suffer from any jolting. Several people have highlighted they don't like any humps and bumps but for roads where the mean average is great than 24mph I can't see how we avoid them. What do you think?

Hi intexasthe moment, The southern end of Barry Road looks the same but subtely different in having a school adjacent to it. It also has a bend in it which appears to also contribute to crashes.

Heber School/Road. Local elections will take place on Thursday 6 May. Despite media speculation whether Gordon Browne will call an election earlier or later I don't think he's decisive enough to go earlier. So a double national and local election on Thursday 6 May seems certain. Heber School is one of the polling stations for East Dulwich. On the basis of a double election, after the polling stations close at 10pm all voting boxes for College, East Dulwich and Village wards will be taken to Heber School and verified. This means checking voters haven't placed national voting cards in the local elections box and vice versa. It also means checking that the same number of voting cards handed to voters are in the voting boxes. Once verified they'll be resealed and national election boxes sent over to Lambeth for counting and local election boxes sent to the Peckham Academy for counting from 1pm that Friday. BUT it does mean that Heber School and Road will have considerable toing and froing from around 10pm to my guess around midnight. I've asked the election officers to write to Heber Road residents to tell them this. I'm not expecting huge disturbances but it seems at the very least polite to explain the unusual goings on that will be taking place.

Hi intexasthe moment, I was also concerned that the plans for the 20mph speed limit area appears to wrongly show part of Barry Road as already 20mph. As I've said we've spent many hours getting to the point of 20mph strategy but I didn't proof read the letter or final map. I wish I had. When I asked for Barry Road to be a trial site for averaging speed cameras two reasons were given by traffic police that the trial could'nt take place on Barry Road. 1st some bits at the northern end 40mph, 2nd that testing it would involve high speed cars circa 100mph and the Police did'nt have the resourcs to stand at everyone gates ensuring H&S. So I'm frustrated to now hear view that all Barry Road is 30mph. I'll have to walk it to check for myself. As you've mentioned I've previously posted a map of Southwark roads with crash sites marked with red dots. The highest number of crashes were shown along places such as Lordship Lane and other big through routes with reasons to cross the road such as shops. However. it did also show the proposed part of Barry Road as having more crashes that busier through routes. I suspect this is in part as lots of families cross to get to and from a local school where a tight bend is located (junction with Etherow) and where current 30mph speed limit causes problems. For these reasons I hope residents do choose to go for 20mph speed limit that includes the southern end of Barry Road.

Hi Whoosh & bil, Completely understand your point and the one previously made about some passengers finding speed humps and cushions excrutiating. But before these measures people drove at excessive speed and crashes were much higher. In East Dulwich we're gonig to try a 20mp speed limit area without such measures. But such schemes apparently only work where the mean average speed is around 24mph. So for roads that were previously greater than 24mph average speed what would you suggest instead of humps and bumps?

I've had a query about the efficacy of car clubs replacing private vehicles. Will dedicated car club spaces casue more problems than they help resolve? The most recent data published on this is from carplus whose data states that ?one car club car replaces around 23 private cars? http://www.carclubs.org.uk/22/benefits/benefits.html TfL identified in 2008 that car club members reduced ?car use by an average 36 per cent and that almost a fifth of members sell a car either immediately before or after joining? http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/car-club-strategy.pdf In my mind it's quite clear that car club spaces will make East Dulwich even better. We're due 14 in the very near future.

Hi dukesdenver, I know this is counter intuitive but Townley Road is in Village ward so I'm afraid I don't. I'm sure if you contact Village ward councillor [email protected] she'd be happy to find out for you.

Please tell me you've reported this theft to the Police...

At last a Police force has engaged professional mathematicians. The LAPD are working with University of California. They?ve come up with two equations that could explain crime hotspots into two types. If I?ve understood correctly: ?supercritical? - small spikes in crime rates pass a critical threshold and create a local crime wave. ?subcritical? - when a particular factor such as a drug den causes a large spike in crime. They state that the equations suggest that rigorous policing could completely eliminate subcritical hotspots but simply displace supercritical crime. So the key would be keeping below supercritical thresholds and quickly dealing with subcritical factors. Any local mathematicians available for pro bono work?

Hi ruffers, My memory has failed me on speed cushion heights. Sorry. The maximum recommended appear to be 80mm and Southwark works to 75mm to allow for a mm or two either way. The Department of Transport recommendations can be found here: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tpm/tal/trafficmanagement/speedcushions?page=2 Wood Vale forms the boundary between Southwark and Lewisham. The SW quarter is in College ward and the NW quarter is in Peckham Rye ward. The Lewisham side is in Forest Hill ward. Electoral maps website: http://www.election-maps.co.uk/index.jsp appears to show the border being on the western side of the road which would imply Lewisham are accountable for the maintenance. To be honest it will take as much time to pin down who's accountable as reporting the issue. So I've reported the issue with junction of Wood Vale and Langton Rise. Is that ok?

Hi Spartacus, Apologies for not posting a response. I've been told they are going to colocate with the garage place and be scaled back to 8 vans. I'll chase enforcement officers to double check their understanding. If your correct the propreitors have not been fully frank with officers.

Hi dbboy, I thought the purpose of residential streets was for people to live and enjoy their lives in peace and tranquility. I thought main roads were to collect people and vehicles from residential roads and help deliver them to their destinations. For example Matham Grove - its been made one way and all East Dulwich Grove traffic wanting to turn right onto Lordship Lane is sent down it. This has made Matham Grove really unpleasant for the residents since this was introduced an age ago. Past traffic planners had little regard for people and their lives. Gradually the harm caused is being unravelled and streets made fit for people rather than speeding cars. Streets with high volumes of vehicles are less social as residents find it hard to be good neighbours with people across the road. They often as a result have higher crime and usually are more deprived because more affluent people vote with their feet and move.

Hi KalimityKel, Despite very big mature trees Goose Green does seems to get waterlogged. Perhaps it need some extra drainage?

100mm

Hi Barry, Southwark Council is currently renewing Melbourne Grove. I'm assured very soon the road will be renewed and then sinusoidal humps will be placed on Melbourne Grove section between Grove Vale and East Dulwich Grove. To preserve the newly renewed pavements, pavement parking will no longer be allowed from the 8 March. So the road will be narrower and another reason it wont be suitable for buses So how do we ensure when the train service is disrupted by engineering works that the rail replacement buses know not to try using Melbourne Grove as part of their route? Is this a contractual thing between your rail company and the bus company providing the rail replacement buses?

Hi Brum, I think it unlikely but I have asked whether this could be considered when another residents asked earlier this week.