SE23 Forum

Parents dropping their children at school and collecting them are a good revenue raiser for some zealous parking attendants!

I don't really understand why teachers in London can't get public transport like everyone else. Quite a few do already and it's not like we aren't very well served by public transport or that they go home late in the evenings. On Thorpewood Avenue there are two schools and consequently there is very little parking for residents with no drive. There are a fair few shop owners, pool users etc too which all adds up. It makes life very awkward for those residents with small children or the elderly. That's why there has been a petition for controlled parking for those houses but not others which I think is sensible.

For the record, I'm a local shop owner and I walk to work :-)

Maybe the job centre car park (behind) could give free use at weekends when it's not in use (open Mon-Fri) for shop owners or pool users at weekends. Just a thought...

For the record, if I were a shop owner coming by car then I would park on my road too! They've as much right to park there as I have (as do the teachers). However for some households this is a big problem so I'm glad council have asked the question I just hope they can cope with a nuanced answer.

Deano, I agree with you on this. The perfect solution would be to have designated parking areas for shop keepers and pool users so as not to take up space of local residents parking (job centre car park?) This could be a solution maybe....

Does anyone know what happened to the CPZ consultation? It closed on 18 Dec so they should have done the sums by now. They were quick enough dealing with the Library consultation - even if they then ignored the result.

I was just thinking the same.

Lewisham sent a helpful one-liner to a local resident who inquired:

Victory for common sense, the council has listen for a change to the common people and not perused with their revenue raising schemes.

I did agree with part of the scheme around a small part of the town centre area but as along as the residents got free parking permits has it would not cost much to manage.

I don't believe the council have listened at all Herbparis, they have just stuck to their original agenda.
I was told by one of our Councillors about 2 years ago that we would never get a CPZ on Thorpewood Avenue because the Council had included 200 free parking spaces on TA and adjoining roads in their assessment of the impact of the pools reopening.

According to Cllr Chris Best, we can expect a proper report on the consultation at some stage.

I have re-read this thread and there are many issues and potential solutions. Where traffic management is concerned, there seems to be a lack of ambition and imagination to make changes that could benefit lives and lead to a flourishing town centre.

Lack of money/resources is usually given as the reason for not being able to make significant changes to infrastructure. Earlier in the thread it was pointed out that Forest Hill Pool is very near the (usually empty) Perry Vale car park, but that a bridge would be required to make usage of the car park attractive and feasible. I wonder has anyone at the council or the GLA/TFL investigated and costed this?

Similarly, I think the design of roads bearing heavy traffic needs a total re-think. Why are there so few road tunnels? The Rotherhithe tunnel was completed in 1908, the Blackwall tunnel was built in 1897 (widened in 1967), the Kingsway Tram Underpass was completed in 1906. The Limehouse Link Tunnel completed in 1993 seems to be one of the few major London road tunnel projects undertaken within living memory.

Clearly we have not become less capable engineers over the past 100 years, because we have built the Channel Tunnel, and Crossrail is a major project. The expertise is there but where is the political ambition to make serious significant changes to the infrastructure that would benefit so many lives? Is it because those with power live in roads with No Through Traffic - the traffic having been quietly re-directed to someone else's road?

Hi Devonish,

I know most of the people involved in making decisions don't live in London and travel to their offices by train and bicycle.

Capital cost has always been a problem with big road infrastructure projects and whilst a bypass in a provincial town may cost a few million, a road tunnel in London with the required exits and entrances would cost billions. Since the mid-1990s, it has been politically challenging to do anything that is even seen to encourage car usage.

Elevated roads are a lot cheaper than tunnels, but the controversy over the Westway has put paid to anything like that around here and to be frank, I doubt we'd want that anyway.

With the capital cost being so high, revenue has been an issue. Whilst we may be able to borrow cheaply as a nation at the moment, the fact is that train passengers pay (heavily subsidised) fares and road users don't. There are long discussions about a "crossing" at Silvertown, but the building of this is likely to be funded by a toll at Blackwall which will likely put paid to the whole idea.

That said, with Vehicle Excise Duty about to be hypothecated for road maintenance and building again, it is possible that more initiative may be shown for big road infrastructure projects.

I have never seen a TFL map available online showing the various cycle superhighways; however, someone did put one together recently and the pattern of the routes is striking, see link below. Hint: it's not what is there, but what isn't there.

Here is the Google map.

Yes, we have a quietway close by, but a quietway is defined as routes to "overcome barriers to cycling, targeting cyclists who want to use quieter, low-traffic routes, providing an environment for those cyclists who want to travel at a more gentle pace" (source). This does not support people who are commuting into London.

I was not living in SE London when the cycle superhighways were first introduced, but I do wonder whether the response from our local government at that time was apathetic, or just pathetic.

There is seemingly no will to invest/improve the road network passing through Forest Hill as noted by Chrisse, the only hope for improved rail links will be when London Bridge re-opens, there is scope for improved bus links (why is it so hard to get to Clapham, for example -- there isn't even a bus route following the south circular), and there is scope to improve the cycle routes into Central London.

OK this is way off topic but ......

I don't know.

The residents and politicians in Herne Hill lobbied hard for them to have the Thameslink through-service from Sutton to the City and St Pancras. (TFL originally planned for the Sutton service to terminate at Blackfriars, following the London Bridge upgrade) I believe there was a route via Forest Hill that was originally favoured for the through-service because of the longer platform lengths. The Herne Hill route I think can only take a maximum of eight carriages.

The rail link I am looking forward to is Crossrail at Whitechapel, which Forest Hilliers will be able to get to on the Overground.

Coming back to road traffic management, I wonder what architects and engineers could come up with if they were given an open brief to reduce noise pollution and air pollution?

How pathetic is it that GLA politicians bleat about air pollution, but the London Taxi fleet is STILL RUNNING ON DIESEL. LPG has been around for decades and LNG has never been cheaper. Are they asleep?

How much would the NHS save on sleeping pills alone, if noise pollution was reduced on roads?

https://lewisham-consult.objective.co.uk...578#page40


The report is now out - 78% not in favour of CPZ

Forest Hill is well provided with two large car parks, but they seem to be underused: (1) The High Street (Sainsbury's) car park is unaccountably inaccessible. (2) Perry Vale car park is cut off from the places people want to go when they've parked; as was suggested elsewhere, a pedestrian bridge or underpass across the railway is required.

Hi DF, I walked from the Perry Vale car park to WH Smith the other day, just out of interest. It is 2 minutes. If you are disabled you can park in a number of areas in FH with your badge. If you are a mother or father with kids it is a little longer, about 4 to 5 minutes dependant on how fast you push your buggy.

My point is, there is parking for the majority of people. They choose not to use it because some people are just plain lazy or are unaware of the positioning of the car park.

And BTW, I had my foot crushed in an accident a few years ago so am not the quickest walker.

3 minutes is not an unreasonable walk from the PV car park.
6 minutes for a staircase free path is though, especially as it is such a polluted, noisy, dirty route.
What a lovely gateway.

The game has changed especially with online shopping - local shopping has to be made a pleasant experience.
Posters can call the shrinking customer base lazy and impatient and perhaps they are right, but unless the issues are tackled quickly, increasingly more will go somewhere else.