former East Dulwich councillor - how can I help?

[cassidy]

Hi James

Sorry if i was not clear, the filtering system is by the church and starts just before the houses on the church side. There is a lollypop lady crossing children there in the morning and afternoons however i've noticed more recently when picking up my niece from school that her view is often quite obscured by a camper van and some times cars parked just off the filtering system where the white lines are. At a meeting i attended last year there was some mention of different lines being painted to stop traffic parking in those spaces making it easier for the children when crossing and also allowing a better flow of traffic which would hopefully prevent hold ups and could help avoid accidents.

[trinity]

Hi James. I hope you will be able to help me with this.

Today I was walking my children to school and noticed that the crossroad of Goodrich Road and Landcroft Road is very difficult for a child to cross due to very poor sightlines. Cars were parked very close to the junction plus the hill and a slight bend in the road meant that my daughter had to venture quite a way into the road before she could see both ways.

On the junctions of Goodrich with Friern and Goodrich with Upland the pavement has been built out so that cars can't park at the corners and also allows pedestrians to safely see past the parked cars. As a result my daughter had no difficulty with these junctions.

Is this treatment possible for the Goodrich/Landcroft junction?

Many thanks

[James Barber]

Hi cassidy,

The part of Adys Road you're having this problem with represents the border between South Camberwell ward to the west and The Lane ward to the east. So probably best that you contact the cllrs for those wards:

South Camberwell ward:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

The Lane ward:

[email protected]

[email protected]

vacancy - cllr Keadean Rhoden I believe has resigned.

[James Barber]

Hi trinity,

Yes, that junction from my experienc can be tricky to cross.

Monies for changes to roads - such as kerb buuild-outs - usually get spent retrospectively based on crash data.

I've asked council officers for a meeting to talk me through the end to end process and specifically crash maps for Southwark and East Dulwich. I'd imagine no reported crashes at this site but it must make you hesitate about allowing your child to go to school by themselves.

Normally in such circumstances we get a pot of capital money under the Cleaner, Greener, Safer banner every year and we'd often use a few thousands to fix such problems that don;t directly warrant collission reduction money but do need fixing when they become apparent. This coming financial year we're unclear on whether we'll have CGS funding - it appears to have been diverted for an Olympics fund centrally administered from the new Town Hall. Fingers crossed the CGS money will be reinstated. If it is I'd encourage you to apply for kerb buildouts at this junction.

Seperately we're using some of last years CGS allocation to create 20mph speed limits on all the roads bounded by Lordship Lane, Whateley Road and Barry Road. This wont be a 20mph zone with humps everywhere as the vast majority of vehicles are travelling very close to 20mph already but such 20mph speed limits do have the effect of bringing speeds down several mph and should result in vast majority travelling at or below 20mph.

We'll then see which roads are seeing greater than 20mph speeds and would then expect to have humps installed on an as needs basis. 20mph speed limits should happen in 8-12 weeks time.

A speed review after about 12 months which should be timed nicely for the next CGS round.

[trinity]

James Barber Wrote:

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

> Hi trinity,

> Yes, that junction from my experienc can be tricky

> to cross.

> Monies for changes to roads - such as kerb

> buuild-outs - usually get spent retrospectively

> based on crash data.

> I've asked council officers for a meeting to talk

> me through the end to end process and specifically

> crash maps for Southwark and East Dulwich. I'd

> imagine no reported crashes at this site but it

> must make you hesitate about allowing your child

> to go to school by themselves.

>

> Normally in such circumstances we get a pot of

> capital money under the Cleaner, Greener, Safer

> banner every year and we'd often use a few

> thousands to fix such problems that don;t directly

> warrant collission reduction money but do need

> fixing when they become apparent. This coming

> financial year we're unclear on whether we'll have

> CGS funding - it appears to have been diverted for

> an Olympics fund centrally administered from the

> new Town Hall. Fingers crossed the CGS money will

> be reinstated. If it is I'd encourage you to apply

> for kerb buildouts at this junction.

>

> Seperately we're using some of last years CGS

> allocation to create 20mph speed limits on all the

> roads bounded by Lordship Lane, Whateley Road and

> Barry Road. This wont be a 20mph zone with humps

> everywhere as the vast majority of vehicles are

> travelling very close to 20mph already but such

> 20mph speed limits do have the effect of bringing

> speeds down several mph and should result in vast

> majority travelling at or below 20mph.

> We'll then see which roads are seeing greater than

> 20mph speeds and would then expect to have humps

> installed on an as needs basis. 20mph speed limits

> should happen in 8-12 weeks time.

> A speed review after about 12 months which should

> be timed nicely for the next CGS round.

Thank you for this. If CGS money is to be available for the forthcoming year I would be keen to apply for it.

The other junction that would cause my children problems is that of Rydedale and Underhill Road which is very close to the junction of Underhill and Dunstans. Sightlines are also very poor due to cars parked very close to the junction, vehicles seem to come fast down the hill and buses also travel along the road.

Presumably your comments re CGS above also apply to this junction. I am not sure whether Underhill Road is already a 20mph road.

[indiepanda]

The junction between Ryedale and Underhill is quite a problem for cars too. Turning out of Ryedale its hard to see approaching cars coming down the hill as they are partly obscured by the cars parked on the Ryedale side of the road close to the junction. And the cars do whizz down the hill at silly speeds at times - if they are meant to be doing 20mph I am sure lots are breaking the limit.

[James Barber]

Hi trinitiy,

Yes Ryedale/Underhill are within 20mph zone.

Lets se what happens with CGS - which should be clear by June.

[candp]

I'm sorry I haven't checked the ward boundaries (or read back through this thread, I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned before) but is the junction of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye on your patch? When driving along East Dulwich Road (towards Nunhead) and turning right onto Peckham Rye the traffic lights are seriously badly sequenced. (You will recall there was a pedestrian fatality there a while ago there.) The amount of time allowed for cars to turn right is often not long enough for even one car to get through. As a result one almost always has to turn right as the light turns red or very quickly before the traffic starts to come from the other direction. This is really unsafe for the driver and pedestrians crossing by the Rye.

Any info appreciated...thanks.

[trinity]

Hi again James, apologies for the third message in one day.

I'm not sure you're the man to sort this but you might be able to help.

One of the pedestrian buttons at the pelican crossing on Lordship Lane/Townley Road junction is not working. Not only is the 'wait' light not functioning but it also doesn't 'call' the green man. It is the button on the Townley Road side. I think that it has been broken for a while as my daughter claimed it wasn't working last week but I didn't believe her. I believe her now.

[James Barber]

Hi trinity,

I'll report it for you today.

Regards james

[trinity]

James Barber Wrote:

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

> Hi trinity,

> I'll report it for you today.

>

> Regards james

Thank you

[James Barber]

Hi candp,

Slightly out of my patch but happy to report it and ask to see the paper copy of the traffic light sequence.

NB.I've been asking for all traffic light sequences to be made publicly available as we must have loads of traffic engineers and others who could finesse the current settings and squeeze more pedestrian time out of them. Whenever I give a specific example of a daft set of settings they get improved but never get whole set of traffic light sequences. This is a slow way ot improve things.

[trinity]

Hi James - can you tell me how to find out the speed limit on Wood Vale? Currently there are conflicting signs.

When entering Wood Vale from Melford Road there is a sign saying that you are entering a 30mph zone and leaving a 20mph zone. However when you enter Wood Vale from Forest Hill Road there is a 20mph painted on the road and when you exit Wood Vale onto Forest Hill Road there is a sign saying you are entering a 30mph zone and leaving a 20mph zone. So I am confused.

Thanks

[Magpie]

James - I have asked this question on another thread, but the timings at the traffic lights at the Plough Junction have been causing long tail backs for a few weeks. The problem is heading out of East Dulwich up to Forest Hill. The lights are only letting a few cars through at a time, the result is queuing traffic back down Lordship Lane, causing noise and air pollution to local residents (of which I am one), as well as to anyone walking past. It was particularly bad yesterday. Do you know who I can contact about this - it has been going on for a least 4 weeks now.

[candp]

Thanks James, appreciate it, the junction is really dangerous (and busy). I'll look up the boundaries and email the right councillors too.

Couldn't you could get the traffic light sequencing through a FoI request?

[dukesdenver]

trinity Wrote:

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

>

> One of the pedestrian buttons at the pelican

> crossing on Lordship Lane/Townley Road junction is

> not working. Not only is the 'wait' light not

> functioning but it also doesn't 'call' the green

> man. It is the button on the Townley Road side. I

> think that it has been broken for a while as my

> daughter claimed it wasn't working last week but I

> didn't believe her. I believe her now.

James, this crossing is now permanently stuck on 'WAIT' so the traffic is being stopped every 30 seconds or so even when no-one is waiting to cross.

[James Barber]

I reported the problem yesterday and checked this morning and still the junction timings appear incorrect. Some vehicles chsoe to ignore the lights and this is a recipe for an avoidable collission.

I'll chase this again now.

[skyblue]

Hi James could you have a look at the secondary school threads in the family room and let us have your thoughts. Thanks

[James Barber]

Hi skyblue,

My perspective.

It seems at best bizarre that some secondary schools in Southwark are taking Lewisham kids who are travelling past Southwark kids who've not been allocated places in Southwark secondary schools. Yet at the same time Southwark kids are being offered the places Lewisham kids didn't want in Lewisham.

Charter School catchment criteria appears doctored by not accepting the pedestrian cut throughs of Wanley Road or Greendale to Blanchedowne.

Kingsdale criteria works against some extremely local kids.

These schools are now so well accepted that I would hope they could open up more to local kids.

Which is why my eard colleagues Cllr Jonathan Mitchell, Rosie Shimell and myself have arranged a visit to the Harris East Dulwich Boys Academy and are in the throse of arranging a visit to Kingsdale.

[James Barber]

Hi trinity,

It sounds like the 20mph/30mph signs they place at the edge of 20mph zones has been turned around.

I reported it and asked for it to be fixed.

[trinity]

James Barber Wrote:

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

> Hi trinity,

> It sounds like the 20mph/30mph signs they place at

> the edge of 20mph zones has been turned around.

> I reported it and asked for it to be fixed.

Thank you James but I don't think that is the problem.

Either Wood vale has a limit of 30mph in which case the signs at the junction of Wood Vale/FHR on both the road and on a post need to be removed or it is a 20mph road and the sign at the Melford Road/Wood Vale juntion needs to be removed.

Thanks

[James Barber]

Hi trinity,

Council officers assured me this morning they are aware of the problem and are on the case.

When a road become 20mph they have a sign facing vehciles going into the 20mph area stating 20mph and usually the flip side facing people leaving stating 30mph. They usually hanf from a post. Rotating the sign then states 30mph going into a 20mph road etc.

I'm clear that Wood Vale is 20mph and the sign will be corrected to this.

[trinity]

I agree - I think Wood Vale is 20mph.

Thank you for your help.

Trinity

[AllyCat]

Hello James

Can you tell me who I would need to contact about asking for a bus route that runs from East Dulwich (Lordship Lane) to Nunhead - at the moment the buses turn at the end of the Rye - nothing seems to run directly and this is rather frustrating....

Thank you

[James Barber]

Hi AllyCat,

Buses are controlled by TfL buses and subsidised.

The London Mayor decides on this and is scrutinised by Greater London Assembly members on the Transport Committee..

The two GLA members I'd recommend you contacting are Val Shawcross and Caroline Pidgeon. Val is the GLA member covering Southwark & Lambeth, currently the chair of the Transport Committee but I don't believe she lives here - [email protected]. Caroline lives in Southwark, former Southwark councillor and from memory is the vice chair of the Transport Committee - [email protected].

Last year Carolien was chair and Val vice chair. I suspect this will happen again and anything involving buses will take years to make happen or eve not happen.