Agenda item

This is an opportunity for public questions to be addressed to the chair.

Residents or persons working in the borough may ask questions on any matter in relation to which the council has powers or duties.

Responses may be supplied in writing following the meeting.

The following public questions were put to the meeting:

1. How long will the 42 bus run as a double-decker? Wouldn’t it be better to run it as a double decker in peak times only?

The chair said that this would be answered by TfL during one of the following items.

2. Can a pedestrian light be installed at the junction of the Old Kent Road and East Street, as that crossing is dangerous?

3. There are still problems in East Street regarding shops using the pavement.
   The chair responded that someone from the team responsible for East Street would be attending the next meeting to feed back on this, and a response to the question about East Street put at the last meeting was in the agenda pack.

4. Could there be a full road closure on Harper Road?

5. Who gives out permits for out-of-hours work to developers, like putting up hoardings? Residents should be able to double-check the genuineness of the letters they are sometimes presented with.

6. What is being done to stop John Ruskin Street being used as a thoroughfare? Can the street be narrowed to only let through cars?

The chair said a similar question had been received to which there was a response below. This, however, was not sufficient and she would be asking for a fuller response. 

7. John Ruskin Street has uneven pavements, and only the school end of the road has been repaved.

The chair said the repaving of a section of John Ruskin Street had recently been agreed, with more to follow as funding became available.

The following public questions were submitted in writing:

8. I have concerns about spitting in the streets.

9. What information are Southwark using to understand current cycling and how are they estimating increased cycling activity? We would like to understand the assumptions and how this affects parks and especially Burgess Park.

10. The amount of rubbish being left by the shops after the rubbish men have been is outrageous, [it is] causing rats and is constantly set alight. What is being done about this? 

The following public questions were submitted in writing and a response was received before the meeting:

1. Concerns about dog faeces on the pavements around Faraday Ward

Officer response:

In common with all wards throughout Southwark the cleaning service deploys both street sweepers and litter pickers to remove dog mess from the streets in Faraday ward. The primary responsibility falls on the litter pickers as they visit each street on alternate days Monday to Saturday with some streets scheduled for a Mon/Weds/Friday visit and the remainder with a Tue/Thurs/Saturday visit, litter pickers are issued with specialist kit that allows them to pick up dog waste in a hygienic and safe manner.

The council’s street sweeping teams also remove dog waste when they undertake their four weekly manual sweep of the streets.

Primary retail areas such as Walworth road receive a heightened level of cleansing which entails a continual daily cleaning presence from 06:00 to 18:00 (Monday to Saturday) and 06:00 to 13:00 (Sunday).

Levels of dog fouling are assessed in the street cleaning surveys that take place three times per year, each survey takes in seven wards which ensures every ward is surveyed once per year. The results for dog fouling in Faraday ward for the past 5 years are as follows :

2012/13 -  Of the 54 roads surveyed none were found to have dog fouling present

2013/14 - Of the 50 roads surveyed only 2 (4%) were found to have dog fouling present

2014/15 – Of the 50 roads surveyed only 1 (2%) were found to have dog fouling present

2015/16 – Of the 50 roads surveyed none were found to have dog fouling present

2016/17 – Yet to be surveyed

2. How can the Council stop rat running down Lancaster and Webber Street?

Nearly all of the traffic that passes down Lancaster Street and Webber Street is through-traffic. It has no origin or destination in the area, it is just using these streets to rat-run and avoid the larger arterial roads which are designed for City Sprint Vans, HGVs, and Ubers. Both these streets are residential, and Webber Street even has a school on it near it’s junction with Lancaster Street. Given this, will the Council agree to investigate whether some form of road system change could remove some, or indeed all, of this through traffic?

There is no one solution to this, but possible solutions could include making one or both streets one-way to motor traffic, or using bollards to block off one end of either of the roads, or to block off the middle of either of the roads. For instance if you installed a few bollards in the middle of Lancaster Street those residents on the southern end of the street would have access via Borough Road, and those residents on the northern end of the street would have access via Webber Street. However, it would be impossible for through-traffic to use Lancaster St as the cut-through it currently is, and pollute and congest the area by so doing.”

Officer response:

Council officers have arranged to meet with Cathedrals ward councillors on a range of traffic-related issues in more minor roads in the area, including these two streets, in the next few weeks. Following this initial meeting community members can be updated on further planned actions and any outcomes. Traffic movement in the area has been affected by the delivery of the North South cycle superhighway, which will undergo full monitoring in Spring 2017.

3. How can the council reduce HGV rat running on John Ruskin Street?

I would like to draw attention to the increased traffic flow, particularly HGVs and mail-order delivery vans, along John Ruskin Street in recent months.  I have sent NLE an email, copied to the relevant Lambeth Councillor and MPs Harriet Harman and Kate Hoey, noting this use of John Ruskin Street as a rat-run-cum-shortcut due to works at Elephant & Castle and at Vauxhall Cross.  NLE was good enough to telephone me; the others have maintained silence and need prompting to respond.  My email suggested that it was, perhaps, time to close John Ruskin Street at the Walworth Road end: this is where there is a school.  It is important to note that the street is entirely residential: it is not a commercial road.  There is a 20mph restriction in place, with signs only at the Camberwell New Road and Walworth Road ends of the street; and speed humps over which HGVs and delivery vans speed, or slow down and then rev up and away from creating ground shake, a lot of noise and pollution.  While these vehicles may not be directly related to the works at Kennington Park Place I believe they are the result of non-stop work and changes to traffic layout at Elephant & Castle and at Vauxhall Cross, both part of the NLE and TfL plan.  The traffic tailing back along Walworth Road and Camberwell New Road have never been as bad as they are at present but there is no reason that this should impact negatively on an otherwise peaceful, pleasant residential oasis. In the short term, while discussions regarding blocking off one end are set up, the 20mph limit could at least be enforced more obviously: more signs including road markings.  My earlier email to NLE pointed out that 20 or so years ago the John Ruskin Street residents had successfully campaigned to stop HGVs using the street.  NLE, TfL and Lambeth and Southwark Councils need to enforce that ruling.

Officers response:

John Ruskin Street is not an identified route for NLE construction traffic.  The council will monitor any transgressions and is working closely with the NLE team.  Officers will liaise with the Police and request speed enforcement on John Ruskin Street in the next quarter.

4. Car/traffic preference at the junction of  East St and Portland St on market days, particularly Friday, Saturday and Sunday's, and the speed along Portland street.

Officers response:

Officers note the concerns about vehicular traffic given priority at East Street / Portland Street junction, particularly on market days, and traffic speed on Portland Street.  The proposed Elephant & Castle to Crystal Palace Cycle Quietway  (QW7) traverses  Portland Street and its junction with East Street.

  East Street / Portland Street junction - the proposals for this junction are to:

·  Give priority to pedestrians by changing existing give-way markings Accentuate pedestrian  presence by using  existing buff colour surface  solely on East Street 

·  Improve visibility for all road users by removing existing  two waste compactors  which obscures visibility for pedestrians and drivers  approaching the junction.

·  Improve effectiveness of existing  traffic calming on approach to East Street market from Portland Street.

Portland Street

The existing speed cushions on Portland Street will be replaced with evenly spaced sinusoidal humps which are more effective in reducing traffic speed  and encourage steady driving.  Post implementation traffic speed data collected as part of the QW7 project indicates speeds are not very far from the 20mph limit. The QW7 works are programmed to commence next year. Officers will continue to monitor traffic speeds in this area as part of post monitoring programme for the Quietway scheme.