Blocking Calton Avenue to Emergency Vehicles: who knew what and when
One Dulwich has been accused of spreading lies about Southwark’s decision to block Calton Avenue to Emergency Vehicles – who was consulted, how many ES vehicles access the junction, and whether the £1.5m designs are fit for purpose. We stand by our reporting, and reproduce the evidence in the timeline below.
1. When does Southwark decide to block Calton Avenue?
17 January 2024: Southwark Council closes the public consultation on proposed designs for the Dulwich Village junction. At this point, there has been no mention of a plan to close Calton Avenue Southbound to Emergency Services (ES) Vehicles.
7 March 2024: Southwark Council announces it intends to approve the new £1.5m designs for the junction, including plans to introduce a bollard on Calton Avenue to prevent ES vehicles from accessing Calton Avenue “in view of the safety concerns caused by the level of non-compliance at this arm”.
There is no mention of this being a trial. There is no public consultation on this new feature.
The decision is formally taken on 12 March 2024.
2. Is the London Fire Brigade consulted?
28 March 2024: An FOI response (Ref: FOIA 8524.1) from the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to an FOI submitted to them on 8 March (“Please can you provide any correspondence between the London Fire Brigade and Southwark council asking LFB to participate in the consultation”) says that the LFB “can confirm we have had no confirmation of this proposal or communications regarding this and hold no correspondence”.
A further FOI response (Ref: 8524.2) from the LFB on 14 May includes an email dated 9 March from the Borough Commander of the LFB to Southwark saying the LFB has been contacted by concerned residents about the closure of Calton Avenue to Emergency Vehicles and asking if the Council can confirm this is the case.
After chasing up this email on 20 March, the Borough Commander receives a reply from a Southwark Officer saying “Apologies, the project manager was supposed to get in touch”, and adding that this was an informal consultation and not the statutory consultation which has yet to start.
An FOI response (Ref: 24996313) from Southwark Council on 3 May – broken down into four separate parts, and providing copies of correspondence and meetings between the Council and the Emergency Services – sheds a little more light on this confused picture.
It appears that Southwark had invited all three emergency services to a Teams meeting (see Part 4) on 1 February 2024 – that is, after the public consultation had ended – but that the LFB didn’t attend (see Part 1).
Afterwards, on 5 February, a Southwark Officer emails all three emergency services (see Part 3) to say that Calton Avenue Southbound will be closed to ES vehicles on a trial basis.
After claims are made on X (formerly Twitter) that the LFB had not been consulted about blocking Calton Avenue, Southwark Council asks the LFB to correct their FOI response (see the long thread in Part 2).
On 5 April, Cllr Richard Leeming comments on X (formerly Twitter) that he has been “assured by officers that the LFB were consulted, their response to the FOI was inaccurate & will be corrected”.
On 9 April, a Southwark Officer advises local councillors that the LFB has indicated it does not intend to comment further.
As of today’s date, the London Fire Brigade’s FOI response of 28 March has not been corrected.
3. Is the London Ambulance Service consulted?
9 April 2024: An FOI response (Ref: FOI 6164) from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) to an FOI submitted on 8 March reveals that the LAS attended the Teams meeting with Southwark Council on 1 February (see above), where they raise concerns about the re-introduction of physical closures on Calton Avenue “due to the potential that they could cause delays to emergency vehicles”.
The LAS goes on to say that following discussions at the meeting, “it was decided that…the re-introduction of the physical closures would be accepted”. However, the LAS adds that the impact of the closure will be closely monitored and “where necessary the requirement for the road closure would need to be reviewed and if needed would be removed”.
It is clear from the concerns expressed and the words used that – having fought so hard for the junction to be reopened to ES vehicles in 2021 – the LAS have reservations about the plan and have agreed to it on a trial basis only.
4. How many Emergency Vehicles use the Dulwich Village junction?
17 April 2024: An FOI response (Ref: 24050749) from Southwark Council to an FOI submitted on 12 April contains a spreadsheet showing how many Emergency Vehicles have used the junction in 2022, 2023 and the first three months of 2024.
In 2023, 179 ES vehicles used the junction – an average of 15 a month, and a 39% increase on the number using the junction in 2022. In January 2024, a total of 24 ES vehicles used the junction – the highest number for one month recorded so far.
The spreadsheet does not make clear which route ES vehicles most commonly take when exiting the junction but, either way, the numbers do not support Cllr Richard Leeming’s claim on X (formerly Twitter) on 14 March 2024 that “the ES have only exited onto Calton Avenue a handful of times in the last few years”.
5. Are the new designs for the junction fit for purpose?
22 April 2024: An FOI response (Ref: 25058345) from Southwark Council on 22 April gives details of a Swept Path Analysis for the new junction designs.
This reveals that ES vehicles will not be able to travel through the junction to and from Court Lane without overhanging or overrunning the footway (i.e. mounting the pavement), which is clearly a hazard for pedestrians. The accompanying set of designs (dated 17 April) highlights the problems.
We are waiting to hear Southwark’s response to what appears to be a design fault.
6. Are the Metropolitan Police consulted?
5 June 2024: An FOI response (Ref: 01/FOI/24/036507) from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to an FOI submitted to them on 8 March (“Please can you provide any correspondence between the Met police and Southwark council asking the Met to participate in the consultation”) reveals that this information was not held by the MPS at the time the request was received on 8 March.
This confirms that the Police were not consulted before Southwark Council announced their intention on 7 March to install a bollard on Calton Avenue.