Rockets

Cllr Leeming claiming residents have been/are being consulted....does anyone know anyone who lives close to the junction that has been consulted or engaged with to date? This looks all like a retrospective action after the council recently spent hundreds of thousands turning the junction into a glorified cycle super highway without consulting anyone...they claim these are interim measures before the consultation starts....hmmmm https://twitter.com/RM_Leeming/status/1578413546735816704?t=QK-jMqW_ze7U8mGrphY43Q&s=19

A new estate agents just before the house market crash - good luck to them! ;-) I wonder if the race to the bottom will be as competitive as the race to the top between the various agents in the area!

It came from a couple of the traders on Lordship Lane - they suggested it was going into the Lila's jewellers site.

Is there any truth to the rumours that Wagamama's and Poundland are coming to the Lane?

Imagine how the cycle-lobby will go on the attack when they start to realise that cycling in London is significantly lower than it was in 2019! ;-) It's not so much a war on motorists as a war on every other road user other than cyclists - emergency services, buses, pedestrians, lorries, taxis, private car owners - you name it they have all been pushed to one side in favour of cyclists and, for all the money and disruption to the London economy and everything else that these policies have impacted negatively still there is no sign that there is a cycle boom (despite what Aldred and co may claim in their research - which is becoming more laughable by the day as actual TFL data shows that the cycle boom never happened). At some point people are going to start asking whether the millions if not billions that the Mayor's office wasted on this experiment been worth it and I think it is very clear that to date it hasn't. Look at Margy Square as a very local case in point. The amount of money spent on that and the repeated failures by the council to find a solution that works for everyone from the emergency services through cyclists and pedestrians. Just look at what has appeared on the road at that junction in the last couple of days - two painted cycle lanes, one in each direction with absolutely zero consideration for the pedestrians or others that use the space. Remember, when this planning disaster was first rolled out it was mooted as a shared space for everyone (remember the ludicrous concerts organised in the Square to emphasise the shared space element) - well all of that has been thrown to one side in favour of making the junction a glorified cycle super-highway where pedestrians and everyone else are de-prioritised in favour of cyclists. And all of this has happened without any of the promised consultation with local residents on usage - Cllr Rose and her band of planners have just gone ahead and thrown in what they (and the cycle-lobby) think is best for the junction despite assurances that locals were going to be consulted. You hope one day someone in the council will be forced to accept responsibility for this complete disaster which has just gone to demonstrate how much time, money and effort the council wastes whilst pandering to the whims of lobbyists.

There are two additional temporary pedestrian crossings that have been added on Lordship Lane - does anyone know whether these are going to be made permanent or ahead of works impacting the existing ones?

Here is the detail from TFL on what is happening to cycling in London at the moment - no boom And here is the National Travel Survey data debunking DFT's claims of billions of extra miles - which was the key narrative used to prop up the cycle lobby's push for LTNs. It was just not happening. Malumbu - never been a fan of Gail's, much more an Au Ciel or Redemption fan....next time you venture to Dulwich Village let me know and I will gladly buy you a coffee and a croissant!

Rahx3 - what's your point exactly - you know they close vehicular access to parts of Dulwich Village for large parts of the day and have basically ring-fenced the village with LTNs.....so really a reduction is, well, kind of understandable is it not?

Is this not a major local interest story? I do think it is ironic that Malumbu, someone who neither lives in Dulwich (nor Southwark for that matter) suggests something to be lounged on the basis it is not in East Dulwich. By that measure should Malumbu not be confined to the lounge permanently as well.....;-)

It's interesting that in the last couple of weeks two of the main pillars the pro-LTN lobbyists built their campaign around (that London had seen a huge - millions/billions of miles -increase in travelled miles and that there has been a cycling boom) have been exposed as utterly false - travelled miles in London had been decreasing constantly over a long period and cycling levels are lower than they were in 2018.

Ha ha...Malumbu is back as the acting head of lounge policing! He moves in in October doesn't he?

I am not sure how doing what they are doing helps the problem of a few cars driving through - looks like they will still be able to, either by design or mistake, drive through as "the grave" only blocks one side of the road. It also does nothing to address the bigger issue of cyclists flying through the junction at high speed so it would have been good if some cycle calming measures could be put in as well. Surely something could have been added that straddles both lanes of the junction in front of the shops that would visually deter drivers, but allow emergency services to navigate it and slow cyclists at the same time?

Are the council digging for oil in the middle of Margy Square? In all seriousness I thought there was due to be a consultation on any further changes to the road layout there yet there appears to be a huge flower patch going in - is this as a result of the consultation?

Local schools are warning parents to be aware that yesterday afternoon there was an attempted robbery of school children in Dulwich Park where the assailants showed knives and an imitation gun. Luckily the robbers were interrupted by a member of the public and the children left unharmed but apparently there will be an increased police presence around the park for the next few days and anyone who sees anything should dial 999 immediately. School children are being warned to avoid the park for a few days and told not to have phones or ear buds on view whilst in the park. It is clear that the park is being targeted so everyone please keep your wits about you and let's hope these idiots get arrested soon.

Likewise - always found Balfes (and Evans for that matter) really friendly, helpful and very good at what they do so sorry you didn't have the same sort of experience.

The problem with the bikes is that the business model is built around the ability to pick one up and then drop it wherever you want - the same issue of littering is being experienced in every city that has deployed them globally.

Goodness me - so really it's the shop footfall and nothing directly linked to Calton at all....is there any stat from the LTN programme that the council hasn't tried to manipulate?

Wow - it is all really starting to unravel isn't it. You do wonder how many other reports the council and councillors changed/redacted and what was the catalyst for TFL to ignore their changes to this report? Maybe TFL are fed-up with the way the council manipulates reports to hide the damage the LTNs are actually doing. I did laugh when I read that either Margy or Richard had written to TFL saying there needed to be more detailed analysis of the impact of the measures before any conclusions could be reached - that's a bit rich coming from councillors who were more than happy not to have any detailed analysis done when they were championing how wonderful their LTNs were and how they were most definitely not displacing traffic and causing congestion elsewhere yada yada yada.

They are making money from the e-scooter trial - there is a cost involved for each company to be involved in the trial and then I believe once the winners are selected they will pay the council for the privilege of running the service/having access to the streets for parking of the e-scooters. Pretty sure the bike providers will do the same.

Now I am intrigued - did Paul find somewhere good? Is he still in the area - does he have any recommendations 16 years on!!! ;-) P.S. A nice walk up Greendale followed by Sunday lunch at the Crooked Well - in case anyone cared for my today recommendation! ;-) And the throwback one would have been the Bishop when Scott owned it!

I think the catalyst for this to happen will be revenue - if councils think they can make money from cyclists in the same way they do from cars via LTNs etc then that will be the tipping point for some form of traceable registrations. The "bikes don't kill people" is a bit of a smoke-screen/head in the sand by the cycle lobby as you see so many near misses with red-light jumpers and injuries do occur when people are hit by bikes - granted it probably won't kill you (although there was a case about a bike killing a pensioner a couple of months ago) but that should not be used as a defence. Malumbu - welcome back - did you get bored of your self-initiated exile to the Lounge - we missed you?! ;-) And, ahem, I am afraid it is you that has not done their homework - e-scooters in the trials are not required to have registration plates.... https://www.gov.uk/guidance/e-scooter-trials-guidance-for-users#:~:text=E%2Dscooters%20do%20not%20need,or%20pay%20vehicle%20excise%20duty. On that note I didn't realise you needed to have a driving licence to use e-scooters in the trial - how is that monitored - do you have to add the details when you register for the service? This probably explains why they have plates on them because it is probably a pre-cursor to them saying that once the trials end e-scooter riders can get points on their licence - a very sensible move given some of the horrendous riding you see on e-scooters (more often than not illegal privately owned ones that have been souped-up for speed).

A bit of kite-flying/pandering to an audience by the govt here or does anyone think this will actually happen? https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/16/registration-plates-and-insurance-for-cyclists-on-table-in-review-of-road-laws Interesting to note that the hireable e-scooters seem to have some sort of visible number plate on them.

I think this one is a more of a case of you renting your room out to many lodgers and then not feeling like you can then tell them not to spill into the hallway! ;-) The council really needs to do something, it’s getting ridiculous.

I heard the same rumour. At least he’ll be handy for the station… Fingers crossed no Russians from Salisbury pop over. I’d hate to end up with Novichok in my coffee just because Johnson popped in the local cafe for a sausage roll. I hear the street What's App group is on fire - the people are not happy - doesn't a Labour MP live on the same or neighbouring road - the street parties might be fun?! It's one hell of a pad he has bought and apparently matching cargo bikes as well so everyone will get their chance to egg them as they trundle to Gail's for brekkie!!! ;-)

I remember doing a delivery of furniture to the house next door to Maggie's and the security was very tight to get anywhere close to the other houses - booking a slot for arrival, bomb checks in and under the van etc. Which is why it is rather surprising, if the rumours I heard last night are true, that Boris has selected a house on a road that is very much not a gated community. It sounds like the house search was concluded some time ago. I bet the neighbours are going to be delighted to not only have Boris living next to them but also all of the security rigmarole that will no doubt have to come with him.