Vision For Camberwell

[Jezza]

Following all your comments about my posting - Improving The Town Centre - here is an attempt at a vision for SE5 that hopefully incorporates some of the comments that people made and also could go on to be the start of an agreed manifesto for change and the basis of a bid for funding to TfL with the support of local Councillors, the Community Council and the Executive.

The aim of this what follows below is to set out a clear and simple vision for the public realm in Camberwell in terms of an overall vision, the principal changes that are needed and the process by which it could evolve into policy and action.

Vision.

The overall vision of this work is…

To enable Camberwell to flourish as a destination in its own right.

While acknowledging Camberwell’s role as an important thoroughfare to and from London, our aim is to:
•   create a flourishing town centre which is pleasant for local residents and those who work in it to move around, shop in and to spend time in.
•   protect and support the local shops and communities both in and outside the town centre itself in the ways that they need to be able to service those who live close by in a sustainable way.

The Changes.

To realise this vision, we require the public realm to develop as follows:

•   To create a far better balance between pedestrians and vehicles in the centre of Camberwell. At the minute people are pushed into the margins of the main roads on the Green, on Camberwell Church Street and on Denmark Hill. Pavements need to be widened and improved on these main streets.
•   People need to be and feel safe. People need to be able to cross roads and streets safely and to feel safe as they do so. To do this vehicles need to be moving far more slowly, crossings need to be shorter and the crossing points need to be much safer.
•   Motor traffic needs to move through the area at no more than 20mph. This speed limit needs to be enforced by average speed cameras rather than physical measures such as humps.
•   Camberwell needs to accommodate cycling far better. Safe routes are needed for bicycles through the creation of protected cycle lanes on the main routes north, south, east and west. Much more cycle parking is required.
•   The transport bottleneck needs to be addressed. This needs to involve:
-   the creation of at least one form of mass transit into Central London. This will depend, in the medium term, on the proposed tram and on removing bus bottlenecks, such as at Albany Road; and in the longer term, on the creation of a tube or train station.
-   addressing the issue of bus movements in Camberwell Green. Space needs to be freed up for public realm improvements (eg wider pavements) and this cannot occur while the Green principally serves as a bus garage.

The Process.

What needs to happen:

•   Local groups need to agree on a vision that they can broadly share.
•   Buy in is needed from the Councillors in the three local wards and the Camberwell Community Council.
•   Local groups and Councillors need to lobby the Executive with this shared vision.
•   The Executive and local Councillors need to incorporate these changes into their vision and Southwark’s for Camberwell AND begin the process of sharing this vision with TfL and bring them on board to bring this vision about. The aim should be for a bid in summer 2008 to TfL for funds to begin the realisation of the vision in 2009/2010.

[Greenenvy]

Sounds good to me.  I wonder why this Forum, after two years or so, hasn't come up with such a clear vision to get on with.  I read with slight humour the recent Camberwell Renewal magazine stating how the Forum is meeting soon to celebrate all their projects from the year.  What projects?

I say you start your own group.  I'll join!

[Mark Dodds]

You have a point Greenenvy, perhaps you have skills, ideas or enthusiasm for Camberwell that could be put to good use if you were to become involved with the Forum.

The SE5 Forum's agm is 23 January 2008. Why not put yourself forward and stand for the new committee line up?

[Regeneguru]

Jezza - your vision may have received a welcome boost with this recent announcement by Hazel Blears that the planning laws will be changed to protect town centres from out of town supermarkets, whose megashed distribution networks and tendency to oversupply lower quality goods are beginning to be recognised as unsustainable.  Transposed into our situation, Old Kent Tesco and Sainsbury's Dog Kennel Hill would be categorised as out of town supermarkets for these purposes. 

It's still one step short of recognising the needs of inner city trading infrastructure outside the town centre, but going in the right direction.  As more local, hand-to-mouth shopping is done, so less food will be sent to landfill with less methane gas created from wasteful shoppers who miscalculate their needs, easily done if on a fortnightly basis.  The Prime Minister is right to criticise those who B.O.G.O.F., and right to encourage more specialist shopping destinations which simply sell you what you need, rather than as much as they can.

With central government sympathetic, is it now time to probe our local government for its stance on local shopping?