Tulse Hill news, chitter chatter and gossip

[nick]

Got a leaflet through the door today with changes to be implemented by "winter 2024"


The leaflet and opportunity to comment etc is here:

Tulse Hill Gyratory Safety Scheme

What we are doingWhilst we continue to consider large-scale improvements at Tulse Hill, we plan to make some improvements at Tulse Hill Gyratory to improve the safety of pedestrians crossing the zebra crossings. This will include Tulse Hill, Norwood Road, Christchurch Road and Hardel Rise.â¯...

haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk

From a quick read - it seems to be an "austerity" option - painting SLOW on the tarmac in a few places and putting visors on some lights. Although I would welcome the board's on the downhill stratch of Harden Rise - as that is always fun to cycle down whilst east bound cars from the A205 try to cross the lanes

 

[editor]

If that's true that's really upsetting. We should be doing more to encouraging businesses to exist past 6pm in WN and TH not less. Incl. 24hr services on the Thameslink.

It is indeed true. They've stopped the live music for now, installed double glazing on the big pub windows and made the outdoor area by the side of the pub for smokers only.

The Effra Social had the same thing earlier this year. ONE neighbour moved in and relentlessly complained the noise to the point where the bar started to worry about its future. For several months the music had to be so quiet that people keep asking me to turn it up. All the bass bins were unplugged (and remain so) and the company spent a fortune on soundproofing.

 

[Crispy]

Yeah it's very basic. Just the bit between the two triangle islands on Hardel Rise. Some wider pavements and some bollards. Won't stop the drag racing up Christchurch, and does nothing for the co-op corner.

 

[Smick]

I am not sure it is going to improve anything without a series of speed cameras, both static and average speed,

 

[edcraw]

I am not sure it is going to improve anything without a series of speed cameras, both static and average speed,

The plans to get rid of the gyratory would go a long way to decrease speeding bit looks like there isn't the budget.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

IIRC the original residents meeting with TfL about fixing/removing the gyratory was in 2013, which means that it’s taken 11 years to do exactly nothing (except lowering the speed limit to 20, which was a wider change not specific to the gyratory.)

Since then two people have been killed by drivers in the gyratory area and a number of others seriously injured, plus many other minor incidents.

But it still doesn’t meet the supposed threshold for speed cameras. We need a few more people to be killed before the junction is considered dangerous enough to have cameras

The new changes are better than nothing and should slow traffic a bit on the west side of the gyratory, but the main dangers remain the coop corner and the downhill bit by the Tulse Hill Hotel, where drivers floor it as fast as they can, despite the 20 limit.

Both bits need speed cameras.

I understand TfL are about to adopt/start using a new type of speed camera which is more sophisticated/accurate, and this may come with a policy change on how the locations are decided. Which could be an opportunity for the gyratory. Not sure what’s happening with this tho.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

This is good - new traffic filter to be installed at Palace Road/Leigham Vale junction, to prevent that little rat run along Probyn Road which drivers use as a shortcut to the south circular.

 

[Crispy]

It's good to have that blocked off, but it precludes making a good protected cycle crossing of Norwood Road. Anyone coming from the nice protected LTN has to either brave the gyratory and south circular, or battle through traffic on Norwood Road before turning off. There's road space for something like:



Which, in combination with a safe crossing of the S.circ at Elmcourt -> Lovelace Road, would provide a safe route all the way up to the protected route on Rosendale Road (soon to be extended all the way to the crossroads at The Rosendale pub)

 

[Smick]

It's good to have that blocked off, but it precludes making a good protected cycle crossing of Norwood Road. Anyone coming from the nice protected LTN has to either brave the gyratory and south circular, or battle through traffic on Norwood Road before turning off. There's road space for something like:

View attachment 450808

Which, in combination with a safe crossing of the S.circ at Elmcourt -> Lovelace Road, would provide a safe route all the way up to the protected route on Rosendale Road (soon to be extended all the way to the crossroads at The Rosendale pub)

That junction is a mess. Hopefully they won’t just leave it as it is when they close Palace Road / Leigham Vale.

I’ve long believed that the best option all round would be to protect Hitherfield School with a no through road parklet / raised pedestrian area on Leigham Vale. That would stop most of those trying to cut through Probyn, unless they usually park to the east of Hitherfield, as well as allowing children to leave the school safely. The school street which they have doesn’t seem to have any benefit for most children coming to or from the school.

There are countless initiatives in the area and Leigham Vale, which has a large primary school, is never restricted.

 

[Crispy]

Trouble is Leigham Vale is a boundary road for the LTN. If you close it, then that boundary traffic has to move further South to York Hill and Knollies Road, which are even less well suited to that amount of traffic.



The current pavement build-out could be improved and enlarged, with better protection from the road maybe. It's not like anyone has to cross.

They should get rid of parking on the railway side of LV actually. If it's a boundary road, it's silly for so much of it to be effectively one-way. Replace the useless pavement and parking with an uphill-only cycle track and you get loads more room for vehicles and pavement enhancements on the housing side.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

It's good to have that blocked off, but it precludes making a good protected cycle crossing of Norwood Road. Anyone coming from the nice protected LTN has to either brave the gyratory and south circular, or battle through traffic on Norwood Road before turning off. There's road space for something like:

View attachment 450808

Which, in combination with a safe crossing of the S.circ at Elmcourt -> Lovelace Road, would provide a safe route all the way up to the protected route on Rosendale Road (soon to be extended all the way to the crossroads at The Rosendale pub)

This is a good idea. Though I'm not sure there's currently anything in the pipeline to deliver it. Lambeth has the Healthy Routes programme which is currently trying to fix the bits between Streatham and Gipsy Hill, including a crossing over the South Circular between Hillside Road and High Trees and some bits on the High Trees estate. Might be worth suggesting it to Lambeth Cyclists to get it added to their list, and maybe local councillors.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

In terms of Leigham Vale, the forthcoming return of the Streatham Wells LTN will reduce traffic there.

Also, if you scroll down to the bottom of the PDF (see link below) of those plans published yesterday, there are some plans to remove some of the parking on LV and add traffic calming measures:

https://moderngov.lambeth.gov.uk/documents/s160199/Appendix%20B%20-%20Design%20Drawings%20-%20Streatham%20Hill%20LTN.pdf

 

[sparkybird]

In terms of Leigham Vale, the forthcoming return of the Streatham Wells LTN will reduce traffic there.

Also, if you scroll down to the bottom of the PDF (see link below) of those plans published yesterday, there are some plans to remove some of the parking on LV and add traffic calming measures:

https://moderngov.lambeth.gov.uk/documents/s160199/Appendix%20B%20-%20Design%20Drawings%20-%20Streatham%20Hill%20LTN.pdf

For the short time that the Streatham Wells LTN was on place, traffic was massively reduced on Leigham Vale and the Headteacher at Hitherfield was very disappointed when it got suspended.
It really needs to come back

 

[Smick]

Why should it take a by-product of other calming measures to protect Hitherfield School?

Reducing parking on Leigham Vale is going to increase vehicle speeds. As it stands, parked cars on the railway side are providing barriers yet people still manage to break the speed limit. Take those away and you’ll have one lane of free flowing traffic in either direction.

I can’t see anything better to protect the school than making a barrier at the school itself.

Even if the school street restriction were moved from Hitherfield Road to Leigham Vale, it would be an improvement.

 

[edcraw]

Why should it take a by-product of other calming measures to protect Hitherfield School?

It's not a byproduct of other measures though its an actual aim. By filtering Valley Rd you stop the rat running of Leigham Vale as well.

Would be all for filtering Leigham Vale but unfortunately it's just not realistic.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Why should it take a by-product of other calming measures to protect Hitherfield School?

Reducing parking on Leigham Vale is going to increase vehicle speeds. As it stands, parked cars on the railway side are providing barriers yet people still manage to break the speed limit. Take those away and you’ll have one lane of free flowing traffic in either direction.

I can’t see anything better to protect the school than making a barrier at the school itself.

Even if the school street restriction were moved from Hitherfield Road to Leigham Vale, it would be an improvement.

We tried to get a school street on LV but the council won't allow it because LV is supposedly classed as a 'distributor' road. But the LTN should fix a lot of the traffic problems.

The plans I linked to above include various measures to slow traffic, including new speed bumps and chicanes: