Agenda item

Simon Phillips (SP), Principal Transport Planner, informed the meeting about the funding available from Transport for London (TfL) for transport improvements. He said that his team were in the process of asking local people about their priorities.

SP went on to say that, for the borough as whole, the following funding was available:

Corridors  £1,615,000

Neighbourhoods  £1,261,000

Smarter travel  £  373,000

Discretionary funding  £  100,000

The transport planning team had identified some projects for the Walworth area which he invited residents to feed back on. Officers had ranked the following five proposals as the most important:

1.  Walworth Road South 

SP said the issues facing this area included the wide road which was difficult to cross. There was also poor quality paving and street clutter. Furthermore, the junction with Albany Road needed to be looked at.

SP went on to say that this project would offer an opportunity to extend the Walworth project, to improve road safety and to improve the public realm. This project would be large in scale, and because of this, it would be expensive and take some time to complete.

2.  Albany Road

SP said that the issues facing this area were poor quality crossing points, street clutter and guard railings, high vehicle speeds and the poor access points into the park.

SP went on to say that there were several options for improving the area. These included: reducing vehicle speeds, improving the safety at junctions and the access points into the park, as well as reducing street clutter and widening pavements.

3.  West Walworth walking improvements

SP said that the issues facing this area were: a lack of dropped kerbs and crossing points, street clutter and narrow pavements, poor signage to Kennington Station, and dark and dirty rail bridges.

The options for improving the area included: area-wide improvements to the pedestrian environment, improving junctions and accessibility, and making rail bridges more attractive.

4.  East Street (from Flint Street to Portland Street)

SP said that the issues facing this area were the following: poor access and the poor condition of the footway, the ‘traffic conflicts’ on the junction with Portland Street, and the access to the market.

The options for improving the area were: improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists at junction with Portland Street, improving footways and walking conditions, de-cluttering and providing additional seating, cycle parking etc.

5.  Junction of Camberwell Road and Addington Square 

SP explained that the following issues in the area needed to be addressed: poor crossing facilities, the narrow footway which is in poor condition, and the ‘green man’ which is missing off one arm of the junction.

He listed the following options for improvements: improving the crossing facilities, installing a ‘green man’ signal on all arms of the junction, and improving the surrounding footways.

He invited residents to rank their choices in order of preference on the leaflets he had distributed, and to return these to him as part of the consultation.

Apart from these local projects, SP said that there were borough-wide proposals:

·  to encourage travel plans (to schools, hospitals and workplaces)

·  to promote walking and cycling

·  to develop car clubs and electric vehicles

·  to promote training, road safety campaigns and speed reduction measures

·  to conduct monitoring and surveys.

Q1 A resident said that SP’s presentation had been a very quick run-through, and that she felt unable to rank the suggestions, as she did not have enough information to make an informed choice. She asked whether SP had any costings.

A1 SP responded that he only had approximate costings, which related to the size of the project: small, medium or large.

The resident said that she wanted exact amounts.

SP responded that officers would look at detailed costings once residents had given their feedback on the options.

Q2 Cllr Mohamed asked what the process was going forward, and whether a budget had been devolved down to each of the Community Councils?

A2 SP responded that there was a total of £3.3m for the whole of the borough, and that each Community Council would compile a list of their priorities. These lists would then be combined into a final list. Which projects would be funded would depend on the overall list of prioritised projects.

Q3 Cllr Mohamed asked whether it could happen that none of the projects prioritised by Walworth residents would be funded.

A3 SP responded that this was possible in theory, but that in practice, it was likely that at least one of the Walworth projects would be awarded funding.

Q4 A resident asked whether it would be possible to suggest an alternative project. He said that route of the 343 bus should run via the London Bridge station forecourt, so that passengers would be able alight there for Guy’s Hospital.

A4 SP explained that it was possible to suggest alternative projects to those that were listed. He went on to explain that the bus routes were the responsibility of Transport for London (TfL) and that requests for changes to services or routes had been made by other Community Councils – so it was be possible to ask for this change. TfL was, however, likely to ask for a payment for the route to be changed.

A resident supported the previous speaker’s suggestion and said that it was more important for the 343 bus to run close to or along Guy’s Hospital rather than to City Hall.

Val Shawcross, GLA member for Lambeth and Southwark, said there had been various complaints about the 343 bus route, mostly about its punctuality and reliability. She went on to say that TfL were looking into the performance of the route, and invited residents to put forward suggestions for changing the route. She suggested Southwark or the Community Council should write to TfL to make this request.

ACTION: Chair to write to Transport for London to express the concerns of the Community Council about the routing of the 343 bus.

Q5 A resident asked why there was no pedestrian crossing near the Iceland on Camberwell Road.

There was a discussion about the location of the closest pedestrian crossing to this location.

A5 SP asked the resident to see him during the break to discuss this issue.