No through route at Loughborough Junction

[Earl Aelfheah]

Getting in or out of SE London by car is becoming unbearable. My parents, who come to visit from Surrey occasional have an absolute nightmare (it can take 40minites just to get out as far as Vauxhall. I wouldn't mind, but most weekends there are no trains, or reliable public transport. The inability to move around freely is actually the one thing that makes me think about leaving the area.

[James Barber]

I've asked Lambeth council officials what the score is.

Clearly it was closed but I'm unclear whether it was physically closed and now reopened or closed via signage and if the latter what enforcement is/will be taking place.

[BJL]

Also in the Brixton area - the left turn from Camberwell New Road into the top of Brixton Road has now been permanently blocked.

[Brooks]

I've just got off the phone with Lambeth Council, they told me it's been in place since August 29th and they are aware that there aren't enough signs. I asked them if they are currently enforcing the closures to which they said they'll get back to me about that.

[James Barber]

Just had very quick response from Lambeth officers.

THE CLOSURES ARE IN PLACE.

They are being enforced by CCTV. That the first two weeks they will issue warning letters and then tickets.

This could get really expensive as the tickets will be sent by post and people could amass quite a number of tickets before the first one arrived in the post. Please, please, please don't get ticketed.

[BrandNewGuy]

rahrahrah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I wouldn't mind, but most weekends there

> are no trains...

Actually, that hasn't been true for quite a long while. And it only takes a minute to check whether trains are running.

[BrandNewGuy]

But if they admit that there aren't enough signs, it'll be easy to appeal against tickets. Nice bit of sly revenue raising, though.

[HelBel65]

Eh? How can they close a road without actually, er, closing the road?

I have seen the signs, and the road open as normal. So have assumed the signs are incorrect, or premature, and ignored them. H

[minder]

I've seen the signs for the past few weeks and people still driving down then trying to do a three point turnaround when realising they've been caught on CCTV. Lambeth should put some sort of barrier to prevent entry into the road.

Just another money making scheme for them but residents are angry. There was a great letter in last Friday's SLP from a resident who explained how it was affecting the area.

[Jeremy]

Of course there should be a barrier. Current setup stinks of a revenue generator.

[Brooks]

Had this reply from Lambeth this morning:

During the first 3 weeks if you are caught by the CCTV car you will receive a warning notice for the first offence.

Subsequent to that you run the risk of a PCN of ?130.

Best wishes

George Wright

[jimmyraj]

I drove through there a few times at the weekend and the first I knew was a sign saying 'road closed ahead' but it was a temporary roadworks sort of sign and there was no notice saying that fine enforcement would be in place. If I get a fine I'll dispute it on that basis.

I'm very much for more pedestrianised areas, but for reasons others have already stated this one is extremely ill thought out IMO. The Camberwell New Road route from ED / Peckham in towards Vauxhall is absolute chaos - it can take 45 minutes just to get from Camberwell Green to Vauxhall at the moment and given they've reduced lane capacity around the Vauxhall area permanently I think it will be like that indefinitely. This gets rid of an alternative 'through the middle' route via Red Post Hill / Loughborough / Brixton Road. The alternative therefore is going to be to drive traffic via Brixton either via Coldharbour Lane / Gresham or Atlantic or via Herne Hill - all routes that are very congested.

We absolutely should be looking at more provision for cyclists but a sensible approach would be to consider that people will not be able to switch immediately to other forms of transport. I for one would love to take the bus to work (Peckham to Vauxhall Bridge Road) but the state of the traffic on these main arterial routes makes that impossible. I gave up cycling the route because I witnessed two different incidents involving people under articulated tipper trucks (one of which was a fatality).

Personally I think keeping a vital artery open to relieve pressure on the other routes is the best of a bad situation at the current time.

[wulfhound]

Of course there should be a barrier. Current setup stinks of a revenue generator.

Agreed - all the inconvenience without any of the benefits. How are people supposed to relax and enjoy the newly reclaimed pedestrian area if all that's holding the traffic at bay is cameras? Given the number of uninsured vehicles on the road, presumably quite a high % aren't properly registered with DVLA either.

We absolutely should be looking at more provision for cyclists but a sensible approach would be to consider that people will not be able to switch immediately to other forms of transport.

That's absolutely true, but equally it's hard for some people (esp kids & older people) to switch at all without some fairly radical interventions to de-traffic the streets. So if that is ever to happen, there will inevitably be situations where things have to be made worse before they get better. What they should have done is put in a lot more effort to prepare the ground first - making sure, for example, that the area is well-populated with Boris Bikes.

Personally I think keeping a vital artery open to relieve pressure on the other routes is the best of a bad situation at the current time.

Have to admit that I was surprised by this scheme for exactly that reason - and yet with car ownership in Zones 1 & 2 seemingly in free fall, such that in many areas a large majority of households don't have own vehicle now (70%+ along Loughborough Road), perhaps they're just less willing to tolerate the noise, pollution, danger etc. nowadays?

[Rockets]

If those signs are all the effort Lambeth is going to go to then this is yet another example of local council shameful profiteering at motorist's expense wrapped in a veneer of "helping the local community". At a time when councils are being shamed across the country for entrapping motorists with unclear markings and roadsigns around bus lanes they are brazen enough to put a few tiny signs on an arterial route and start cashing-in via CCTV. Cha-ching!

The Dandy Highwayman now works with a bucket of road paint and a couple of tiny road signs!

Has anyone seen how they are "policing" the other road closures nearby which were obviously designed to avoid the creation of rat runs as people find a way round it?

I have already found a route down some side streets which I don't think is impacted - and if the local residents have a problem with that they can talk to their council!

[Tigres Pride]

I don't know if people realise it yet but as well as Lambeth closing almost all the through routes from Coldharbour Lane to Camberwell new Road (apart from down Denmark Street to the roundabout and right into Flodden Road) , the TFL super-highway works are closing the road A202 from the Oval to Vauxhall from 20th September to 1st October. I saw the signs up on Thursday evening but I have not seen any postings re alternative routes!

[TJ]

Can I suggest anyone who disagrees with the closure signs the below link.

https://www.change.org/p/lambeth-council-cancel-proposed-road-closures-in-the-loughborough-junction-and-myatt-s-fields-areas

[macutd]

Yes that's exactly what happens. It just pushes the traffic onto somebody else's area. Very selfish!!!!

[cactus]

I walk from ED to Loughborough Junction twice a week.

On one road, Gordon Grove, temporary concrete slabs/barriers have been placed across the

entrance, but they keep on being moved aside. Seems pretty dangerous, to have a partial

obstruction, rather than something permanent.

[dulwichquine]

I drove through along Loughborough Road today, turning left off Brixton Road. Didn't want to chance driving through Loughborough Junction heading to Herne Hill, so I turned right into Barrington Road to go to the end of the road and turn left onto Cold Harbour Lane. However, nearing the end of Barrington Road, there is now a no entry sign! I ignored it and kept going as clearly other cars were doing the same. Can anyone explain if this no entry sign is correct and how on earth we get to Herne Hill/Dulwich if you come off Brixton Road?

[slarti b]

I cycle through the Junction most days to and from Vauxhall and there are still a lot of vehicles ignoring the misleading 'road closed' signs.

This puts Lambeth in a "heads I win, tails you lose" position. If they are using CCTV to levy fines they will raise a lot of revenue from confused motorists. At the same time they can claim the test closure is not causing any congestion problems!

Traffic figures resulting from this current botched trial cannot be used in any evaluation of the effect of a properly enforced closure of this important through route.

[mikeb]

@ Dulwichquine - I think the exact reason for the road closure is to stop people driving from Brixton Road through to Herne Hill or Dulwich, and force these journeys through Brixton or Camberwell (and in due course, encourage people to give up and take the bus or cycle, or taxi).

[Rockets]

It is obvious this has been terribly planned and executed by Lambeth - no one seems to have the first clue what is going on and the temporary nature of most of the signage and road markings is laughable. If they do start sending fines to people then it is a joke.

I drove past there today (using a sneaky short-cut that Lambeth haven't yet tried to close) and everyone seems to be going up and down the road quite oblivious to the supposed closures - it really does look like a work in progress.

@Dulwichquine if you look at the link at the top of the thread, which takes you to the Lambeth website, you can see that they are trying to cut most routes off around the area. How they are allowed to do this is anyone's guess.

@Cllr Barber - can you speak to anyone at Lambeth to get an update on this ludicrous situation?

[dulwichquine]

Thank you @rockets I will take a look.

@mikeb That is clearly the idea but it's not often easy or practical to do so with kids and shopping and so on. It doesn't sound like it's been very well thought out, either! I am just trying to figure out the alternative roads that can be used to get around.

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

For the past two years I was always using

Coldharbour lane- Denmark Road-Calais St-Lothian Rd-Patmos Rd-Foxley Rd-Cranmer Rd-Brixton Rd

Sometimes I cycle in and still use this route on the way to St James.

Now with the closures

Coldharbour lane- Denmark Road-Carew St -Lilford Rd -Akerman Rd-Patmos Rd-Foxley Rd-Cranmer Rd-Brixton Rd

Add two minutes to journey on scooter

Camberwell New road is just too busy and although you are going around the houses I find this route flows and not much in the way of traffic

[tiger ranks]

I nearly drove through it the other day but remembered about what I read see link below

http://news.sky.com/story/1551947/the-6m-bus-lane-outrage-over-entrapment

my personal view is this its another way of making a daily commute more difficult for motorists