Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Camberwell Grove Bridge - UPDATE

I received an amazing 187 responses to my survey on views concerning the closure of the railway bridge in Camberwell Grove - representing 215 residents. This is well over 50% of those who received the survey.

Of those 187, 100 (53%) were in favour of keeping Camberwell Grove closed permanently, whilst 87 (47%) want to see the road re-opened.

80 (80%) of those residents who want to see the road stay closed live in Camberwell Grove; whilst 71 residents (81%)of those residents who want the road to re-open live in Grove Park; where much of the displaced traffic from Camberwell Grove has been diverted.

From those respondents who want to see the road re-opened, the overwhelming majority are in favour of it returning to a two-way route, albeit with some width restrictions. There were many other individual proposals concerning priority lanes and one-way traffic from other respondents. However, there was near unanimity from all respondents that they did not wish to see the introduction of traffic lights at the bridge - I also received 28 separate letters on this topic!

As some residents will know, Southwark Council's preferred "safe" option for Camberwell Grove is that it should re-open with traffic light controls.

I presented my survey results at last night's Camberwell Community Council, and secured the agreement of my Council colleagues and the relevant traffic officer that there should be (a) further consultation with affected residents about the proposals for Camberwell Grove by the Council and that (b) as part of that consultation there should be a public meeting for all affected residents of Camberwell and Peckham to explore the various options.

Watch this space for more details of the public meeting!

3 comments:

Trafford said...

How long does it take to mend a bridge? It’s coming up for two years since we were told that this bridge was “closed for repair”. I have seen no sign of any repairs which have been promised for Feb, then March then July 07 and still nothing. What’s wrong with this place that we can’t even fix a bridge (and make it strong enough for two cars at a time?) It’s pitiful!

What’s with these absurd ideas of keeping it closed? Is this the first step in introducing private roads throughout London so the residents in posh streets can keep out people who need to use them for access? By the way the idea that the residents of Grove Park want the bridge opened to reduce traffic in Grove Park is ridiculous. They want it opened because the bridge makes them feel cut off from the rest of Camberwell and doubles the journey time to places like Vauxhall. The extra traffic in Grove Park is fairly minimal since the people who used to use Camberwell Grove as a cut through don’t use it at all with the bridge shut.

CAN SOMEONE TELL US WHEN SOMETHING IS GOING TO BE DONE ABOUT IT???

Julian Cave said...

Trafford - You are very wrong I'm afraid. I am a resdent of Grove Park and we have seen traffic increase a great deal, people who used to use Camberwell Grove now use GP, Chadwick road, and Lynhurst raod to get down the hill. They speed down GP which is a tight residential street with sharp corners. they bleep their horns and race around the coners hoping that nobody is coming the other way. That is why we have had many more accidents and why only last week somone overshot the corner outside no 80 mounted the pavement and crashed into the fence. Fortunately there was noboy walking past or they could have been killed. There are many young children in GP and it is only a matter of time before someone is!!

Regarding posh people and private street- don;'t talk bollocks we want Camberwell grove open because it it an important throughfare more suited to traffic than GP. We do not want to be cut off from Camberwell. Why we live there.

Dawn Sanders said...

I was at the bridge meeting last night and was disappointed to hear, after I, and another woman (a school lollipop patrol person for the local school) had requested that traffic flow solutions take in the need for pedestrians (both children and adults) going to the local school and Denmark Hill station, a councillor request that people respond to the proposal in hand. I remained at the meeting for an hour and then left completely disillusioned. The most refreshing suggestion at the meeting was a plea to examine traffic flow across Camberwell and Peckham. Peckham has seen some interesting changes to pedestrian provision and paved community spaces and yet Camberwell remains dominated by traffic. Perhaps this is an opportunity for the council to think more broadly about traffic flow across the two districts and, dare I say it, think beyond the car and highlight walking and cycling as valid transportation options well-integrated with traffic-management rather than as a peripheral add-on. Perhaps the mood changed last night and I left before other pedestrians and cyclists spoke, I hope that was the case.