Last chance to object
Tell the Council what harm the Dulwich road closures are causing - to you, your family and your neighbours
We have been given a deadline of Thursday 11 November to object to the traffic orders for the revised Dulwich Streetspace scheme. If you follow the procedure below, each email objection should take only a few minutes to complete. Please email Southwark Council now!
Southwark itself has issued specific instructions on how objections should be made, which you can see here.
We are not being given the option to object to the scheme as a whole. But you can do this by objecting to the five permanent traffic orders and two experimental traffic orders at the same time, even though the official deadline for objecting to the experimental traffic orders isn’t until 4 May next year. This is particularly relevant to Melbourne Grove, because the new timed closure on Melbourne Grove south is obviously related to the relocation of the ‘experimental’ 24/7 closure on Melbourne Grove north.
Southwark wants you to send in a separate email for each traffic order. In each of your emails, you might want to say that you support the objections put forward by the Dulwich Alliance - we sent a joint statement to Southwark on 9 November which you can read here.
The orders (which you can find at www.southwark.gov.uk/trafficorders) are:
Dulwich Streetspace: Calton Avenue area (TMO2122-015_DS Calton Avenue area)
Dulwich Streetspace: Champion Hill (TMO2122-016_DS Champion Hill)
Dulwich Streetspace: East Dulwich area (TMO2122-017_DS East Dulwich area)
Dulwich Streetspace: Melbourne Grove south (TMO2122-018_DS Melbourne Grove south)
Dulwich Streetspace: Timed bus, cycle and taxi only routes (TMO2122-019_DS bus cycle taxi routes)
Dulwich Streetspace: Melbourne Grove north (TMO2122-EXP13_Melbourne Grove north)
Dulwich Streetspace: Grove Vale trial (TMO2122-EXP14 Grove Vale Trial)
Please note that no. 3 covers Derwent Grove, Elsie Road, Grove Vale and Tintagel Crescent, and no. 5 covers Burbage Road, Dulwich Village, Townley Road and Turney Road.
All of you will be affected in different ways by individual traffic orders depending on where you live and work. But the traffic order with the biggest repercussions over the widest area – and the reason for the introduction of timed restrictions on other roads – is the closure of the central junction in Dulwich Village. Because of this, we are asking you all to comment on no. 1, Dulwich Streetspace: Calton Avenue area, in addition to any others you choose.
How to object
For each traffic order you want to comment on:
send an email to traffic.orders@southwark.gov.uk, with ‘Dulwich Streetspace Statutory Consultation’ and the traffic order number in the subject line, beginning ‘I/we object to [one of the seven orders above – give the name and reference number] and these are my/our grounds for objection’;
number your objections if there is more than one; and
give your name and address at the end.
Grounds for objection
Your objections should focus on the harm the traffic order is causing you, your family or your neighbours, especially in terms of health, road safety, work, or caring for others.
To do this, you might want to take any of the bullet points below and add a further explanation that is personal to you. Make as many points as you wish.
It cannot be judged in isolation, but must be considered in the context of all the Dulwich Streetspace permanent and experimental traffic orders. Taken together, across the area as a whole, the traffic orders do not achieve any of the Council’s stated ‘Streets for People’ aims (see pages 1 and 2 of the Dulwich Streetspace Review recommendations report), including the improvement of road safety and air quality, and making active travel (walking and cycling) easier.
It displaces traffic and pollution on to residential roads where children walk and cycle to school.
It displaces traffic on to major bus routes causing unacceptable delays in an area with poor public transport.
It discriminates against older people and those with disabilities who must take longer and more circuitous routes on roads with increased traffic to reach their healthcare providers (GP surgeries, health centres, hospitals).
It delays healthcare providers (GPs, community nurses and midwives), carers and family who need to visit vulnerable residents at home.
It damages the viability of local shops and businesses, causing closures and job losses.
It is not making active travel (walking and/or cycling) safer or easier.
It is not improving road safety
In addition, for no. 1, the central junction in Dulwich Village i.e. Dulwich Streetspace: Calton Avenue area (TMO2122-015_DS Calton Avenue area) - which is closed 24/7 to all but emergency vehicles - please consider any of the above bullet points, plus:
The 24/7 closures of Calton Avenue and Court Lane disrupt the connectivity and resilience of the road network, affecting a very wide area, contrary to the Council’s network management duty under the Transport Management Act 2004.
The proposed layout goes against the advice of the London Ambulance Service, especially: “In addition to the needs of the emergency services, wider consideration is needed for non-emergency health and social care community providers/responders that work extremely hard caring for and treating patients in the community.”
There is no vehicle access at any time through the junction for healthcare providers, carers, Blue Badge holders, or those with disabilities.
Vulnerable road-users have expressed anxiety about feeling less safe on the closed junction, and there is no guarantee (given the way the Council has ignored community feedback from the consultation so far) that a redesign of the space in 2022 will meet their needs.
More than 95% of local shops and businesses oppose the closure, but their views have not been taken into account.
Please send in your objections by Thursday 11 November 2021.