Southwark Spine Consultation: Peckham High Street to Lordship Lane

[James Barber]

Removing parking and pedestrian refuge islands to make the traffic more free flowing on these rat runs but then countering this with more speed humps is very old school highway engineering.

The ideal would be reduce traffic. This is how they successfully make cycling on back roads more popular - and has been done to great effect in Hackney.

Either a hard blockage or CCTV monitoring. I'd favour the latter allowing Southwark registered cars to pass unhindered. Non-Southwark cards during rush hours pay a fee.

[Abe_froeman]

What would your CCTV scheme cost James?

[alex_b]

James - Thanks, I agree. Also speed humps massively increase the noise and pollution from the traffic from the braking, accelerating and banging over the humps. Is there any chance you could push officers to adopt a more sensible approach?

It would be nice if the Lane Ward councillors were engaged on this topic in any way, have you spoken to them about this?

[ed_pete]

Alex - last year when Southwark were consulting on the Bellenden one-way one of the Lane councillors did post on the thread - user is Jali1, you could try to get in contact with her.

This is what she said at that time:

A couple of points on the Bellenden Road Consultation

Hi everyone, I am a Lane Ward Councillor living on Chadwick Road in the middle of the Bellenden Road area. I have been actively working with residents and the council to find a way forward. As a mum of two young children I would like more road safety measures to be put in. I am hopeful that the consultation, the council and Dutch - Mobycon consultants will come up with a sensible solution that will help pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and public transport to co exist in a way that works better than it does now and helps all of us to stay safe.

I attended the meeting last night and took down many questions and notes, all of which I have fed back to the cabinet member, fellow councillors and officers at the council. I can confirm that they ate all committed to finding the best way forward for all of us.

I understand Mobycon are producing a report of their consultations and ideas to date. As soon as this has been produced the council will come back with the next steps.

I remain positive that we can all work together to make the Bellenden Road area better and safer for all residents. If you have any further issues that you would like me to flag with my fellow councillors, the cabinet member and the council officers, then please do email me on [email protected] and put Bellenden Road in the title.

With thanks and best wishes, Jasmine Cllr Ali

[rollflick]

Most of this proposal for a 'flagship cycle route', first announced in 2014, seems to be painting a few cycle logos and hoping it will make a big difference. Yeah right.

But the bit around the Bellenden one-way system is bonkers. Separating cyclists from drivers then merging them again at junctions is about as stupid an idea as is imaginable. The official design report on the scheme even states: 'there are safety concerns at the location where the protected cycle lane merges with general traffic. It is important to ensure sufficient visibility and a slow operating speed to enable cyclist and car driver to anticipate each other?s movements.' Do councillors really think what would effectively be a game of chicken is going to encourage kids to cycle?

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/transport-and-roads/roadworks-and-highway-improvements/street-improvements/bellenden-gyratory

The other fundamental problem is that it's a terrible use of road space: the cycle tracks would be too narrow to cope with rush hour cycle flows (even before any further increase), while loading vehicles would block the reconfigured carriageways. The report acknowledges 'the lack of road width would result in issues with delivery vans and minibuses stopping in the roadway. These would block traffic, causing congestion. The next design phase should address these issues by providing enough loading zones at appropriate locations. This could also be enabled by designing loading zones that are located partially on the footpath'

That was back in 2016 and the problem has just been brushed under the carpet.

Southwark Cyclists are highlighting the problems here https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/new-southwark-spine-proposals/ and calling for people to respond to the consultation before 4 December by rejecting the proposals and taking action to both remove the one-way system and reduce rat-running.

https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/demand-a-safer-spine/