Update: the consultation is now closed. Our full response was: https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Southwark-Cyclists-Camberwell-Grove-Bridge-response.pdf

Our simple guide to answering the Camberwell Grove consultation is our One Minute Action page: https://membership.lcc.org.uk/take-action-keep-camberwell-grove-bridge-closed

If you want to know more detail about the Camberwell Grove consultation, carry on reading. We will be updating the page as people analyse the consultation documents in more detail, but we’ve done enough to say the following.

Camberwell Grove is the middle section of what will soon be Quietway 7, and it includes a bridge that has been shut to motor vehicles since 2016. Southwark Council are currently asking what you think about re-opening the bridge to motorists.

The closure significantly reduces motor traffic on a route that bypasses the deadly junction at Camberwell Green. Keeping the closure will have wider benefits for Quietway 7, which runs from Elephant and Castle to Crystal Palace. The original plans for Q7 proposed improvements to nearby roads and junctions that had to be dropped because there was too much motor traffic coming from Camberwell Grove.

Making the bridge closure permanent should unblock progress towards a quietway that is safe for cycling by all ages and abilities. It will improve walking routes to the shops, hospitals and public transport at Denmark Hill, and help children get to the two nearby schools.

Re-opening the bridge will not stop heavy lorries from getting diverted through the narrow roads around Lyndhurst Way and Chadwick Road. Supporting the bridge closure could be the first step towards reducing air pollution and road danger across the whole area between Peckham and Camberwell.

Background Information

All the details about the Camberwell Grove consultation are at www.southwark.gov.uk/camberwellgrovebridge

For more information on why local residents want the bridge kept closed, try the Camberwell Grove Traffic Campaign website.

The full summary and report for the Southwark Council decisions on Quietway 7 are recorded on the Southwark Council webpage: “Cycling Quietway 7 – Elephant and Castle to Crystal Palace”. Appendix C and E are particularly relevant to Camberwell Grove and Champion Hill. This summary compiles most of the relevant information, but you can see how these consultations were originally presented to the public by visiting the consultation hub and searching for QW7.

If you have any good ideas about any of these issues that you think we should put in the Group’s official consultation response, either join our discussion group or email southwark ‘at’ Lcc.org.uk.

Suggested Consultation Response
A link to our official consultation response will be posted when we have drafted it – check back here in a couple of days. Until then we are recommending the following comments:

If you use the following text to inform your response, the more that you can personalise the comments the better.
It is good if you can explain how you currently use the road, or how you would be prevented from using the road if the traffic increased again. It is also good to describe how changing the local roads would influence how you visit Camberwell – perhaps you would spend more time in Camberwell if the quietway was safer, and maybe you would visit the shops on Bellenden Road more often if there were fewer lorries?

Secondly, make it clear that you think that cycling is a serious issue for all Councillors. Some people think that local residents should have the final say about changes to the roads that they live on, some people think that larger scales are important. Whatever you think, emphasise that cycling is an important issue to you, and that you want Southwark to do more to create space for cycling.

Our response

Question 1
Support Option 2: Keep the bridge closed to motor traffic

Question 2:
Our Suggested Comments:

For Camberwell Grove to be a healthy street that encourages more walking and cycling, it is essential the bridge stays closed to motor traffic.

Keeping the bridge closed is essential for Camberwell Grove to be safe for cycling by all-ages and abilities. I am concerned the consultation doesn’t mention the council has decided this road should be a quietway, which it defines as able ‘to accommodate parents, children and disabled people who cycle’. If the bridge re-opens then the road has too much traffic to meet the standards of a Quietway.

Camberwell Grove is a key walking route to local schools, shops, hospitals, universities and Denmark Hill station. It will soon be designated as a part of cycle quietway across our borough. But reopening it to motor traffic would increase congestion and air pollution. It would not be pleasant for walking.

Re-opening the bridge will increase traffic through the wider area. Previous proposals for improvements to the junction of Dog Kennel Hill-Grove Hill Road and to Champion Hill were supported by a majority at consultation, but were blocked because of the amount of traffic on Grove Hill Road. Closing the bridge has significantly reduced traffic on Grove Hill Road, so making the bridge closure permanent will allow Southwark Council to re-visit the proposals.

Larger vehicles are going to be pushed onto the Lyndhurst Grove to Chadwick Road diversion, even if the bridge is re-opened. These roads are narrow and unsafe for heavy traffic. We need a solution that keeps through-traffic on main roads like Denmark Hill.

Overall, it is unfair for improvements to Camberwell Grove, McNeil Road, Grove Hill Road, Dog Kennel Hill and Champion Hill to be traded against traffic being pushed to Lyndhurst Grove, Lyndhurst Way, Bellenden Road and Chadwick Road. The bridge should be kept closed, but this should be combined with improvements to the roads that prevent through-traffic from taking short-cuts down residential streets. Keeping heavy traffic to the main roads will mean that walking and cycling can then become a better option for more local people, with improved road safety and lowered air pollution across the whole area.

The Mayor of London is right to say many more journeys need to be made by foot and cycle, in order to cut congestion, obesity and deaths from dirty air. Southwark has some of the worst traffic jams, health and air quality in the UK. If we cannot grasp this opportunity to make Camberwell Grove a healthy street now, when and where can we ever expect action to be taken?

Note on Question 3 and 5:
If you live in the consultation area, click ‘I live here’ and give your home postcode and address.
If you live outside the consultation area but work, volunteer or are a business within it, then give that postcode and address.

Otherwise, give your home postcode and address and click ‘I live here’. We have contacted Southwark Council, who confirm that the ‘here’ in Question 3 is referring to your postcode, not to the consultation area.