TfL are consulting on putting in some proper pedestrian crossings at the junction of the South Circular and Lordship Lane.

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/roads/a...ship-lane/

This is really important to me because it’s right outside the cricket club that I help to run. Many of our secondary school aged players make their own way to and from the club, and this junction has been a real worry for a long time. Even for adults crossing either on their own or with young children it’s a pretty terrifying junction to cross.

We also have a lot of adults using the crossing as pedestrians under the influence of alcohol. This includes both senior players after matches and a period of time in the bar, and parents of kids every Friday evening during the summer when we also have the bar open and many parents enjoy a good few glasses of well deserved refreshment.

I enquired about this junction to local councillors many years ago and was told that they had already been lobbying TfL (who control the South Circular, not Southwark) for years without success. It is, in my humble view, many, many years overdue that this absolute no-brainer of a safety improvement gets done.

In my view, the following two changes should also be made to the proposal:

a) Turn the third crossing point (the one nearest the church) into one that has pedestrian signals also. Why would you not? It’s not in the nature of people (especially young people) to walk extra yards in order to use another crossing. They will use the shortest route. I would say it’s a ‘must have’ that all three crossing points have pedestrian signals.

b) Add a ‘KEEP CLEAR’ area on the road opposite the cricket club so that cars can more safely pull out, rather than having to dart out into the moving line of cars. I have been doing this manoeuvre about twice a week for the last four years, and it’s nearly always a case of having to drive into the westbound lane in order to try to get motorists in the eastbound lane to let you in. It is often a slightly hurried and precarious move. A ‘KEEP CLEAR’ area would make this substantially safer, especially during periods such as 7pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, when we have a change-over between two junior training sessions and we have 20-30 cars trying to leave the car-park at the same time.

I’d be hugely grateful to anyone filling in the consultation form to support the changes, and especially if you could back up my two proposed changes mentioned above.

Thank you.

David Cook
I’m also a local resident who would like to use the junction with my two kids aged 8 and 10 to get to Dulwich Park.