Agenda item

The cabinet member for regeneration and new homes and the cabinet member for environment and the public realm to present the theme for the meeting.

The cabinet member for regeneration and new homes, Councillor Mark Williams, and the cabinet member for environment and the public realm, Councillor Ian Wingfield, presented the motion on the themed debate.

Councillor Damian O'Brien, the majority opposition group spokesperson, responded to the cabinet member's motion and proposed Amendment A.

Following debate (Councillors James Coldwell, Bill Williams, Adele Morris, Rebecca Lury, Gavin Edwards, Octavia Lamb, Dan Whitehead, Maisie Anderson, James Barber and Victoria Mills), the cabinet member for regeneration and new homes, Councillor Mark Williams, and the cabinet member for environment and the public realm, Councillor Ian Wingfield, responded to the debate.

Amendment A was put to the vote and declared to be Lost.

The motion was put to the vote and declared to be Carried.

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

RESOLVED:

Transport

1.  Southwark Labour is committed to making the borough a cleaner, greener, healthier and more pleasant place to live for our residents.

2.  Council assembly recognises that high quality, accessible and well maintained transport is essential to improve the public realm, expand economic growth and to enable residents to travel and access services as freely and easily as possible.

3.  Council assembly also recognises that transport has a significant environmental impact, particularly on air quality, and this administration’s priority is to deliver a sustainable transport system, which promotes and encourages walking, cycling and improving public transport access and links.

4.  Council assembly welcomes the steps this administration has taken improve transport and make Southwark a more pleasant borough to live, including:

o  investing over £30m in cycling over 5 years and launching the Southwark Cycling Strategy to make it easier and safer for people in the borough to travel by bike,

o  delivering the new north-south cycle route, the Southwark Spine, to complement Quietway cycling routes and link to the new north-south Cycle Superhighway on Blackfriars Road;

o  increasing the number of Play Streets, closing roads to make it easier and safer for children to play outdoors;

o  making Southwark an Age Friendly Borough, enabling older people to access a broad range of affordable and accessible transport options to get around the borough easily;

o  doubling investment in roads and making Southwark a 20mph borough;

o  successfully campaigning for improvements to bus services, such as extending the 42 and 136 bus routes, and improving the C10.

Regeneration

5.  Council assembly recognises that effective transport infrastructure is necessary for regeneration, to both unlock new developments and meet existing demand, for example on the Old Kent Road, where the Bakerloo Line Extension will help deliver growth in homes and jobs.

6.  Council assembly welcomes the steps that the administration has taken to use infrastructure in new developments to make it safer for people to walk and cycle, for example at Elephant Park;

7.  Council assembly calls on the cabinet to continue working with Transport for London (TfL) to extend the Santander Cycle Hire scheme through Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, and bring the scheme to Camberwell, Peckham and Walworth.

Air Quality

8.  Council assembly recognises the significant impact transport has on air quality; the most polluted areas in the borough, where national standards for air quality are frequently exceeded, correspond to the major road network.

9.  Council assembly therefore welcomes the work the council has done to improve air quality, including working with Tower Hamlets on the Tower Bridge Anti-idling partnership to encourage drivers to turn off engines when stationary, and improving the council’s commercial fleet to reduce emissions.

10.  Council assembly also welcomes Mayor of London’s commitment to improving air quality by:

o  bringing forward the implementation of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) and extending it to cover more of the borough, following calls led by Southwark Labour;

o  introducing new Clean Bus Corridors, prioritising new, clean buses in the most polluted roads in the city, and setting a target of only buying clean electric or hydrogen buses from 2020;

o  bringing forward plans for the new Rotherhithe pedestrian and cycle bridge following campaigns by Labour councillors, which will bring benefits for the local environment by reducing congestion;

o  making cycling easier and safer for more Londoners.

11.  Council assembly welcomes the Mayor’s commitment to delivering ‘Healthy Streets’ and calls on the cabinet to continue to put pressure on TfL to deliver public realm improvements in Peckham and Camberwell town centres in line with this vision.

Rail services

12.  Council assembly welcomes the consultation on the new Thameslink Programme timetable and the  introduction of 4 trains an hour on the Catford Loop, but believes that this should be a 7 day service and should extend the service through the whole Thameslink core;

13.  Council assembly notes the continued and unacceptable levels of delays, cancellations and overcrowding on Southern Rail services, and calls on the government to allow TfL to be able to take over rail services in south London;

14.  Council assembly welcomes the progress the council has made with TfL on the re-opening of Camberwell station, and calls on the cabinet to continue lobbying TfL and train companies to make the strong case for re-opening the station.