Cobbs Corner Roundabout

[mosy]

Ah yes, but there are markings now - well until they wear away Seriously though, I hope it's coordinated so that everywhere is not dug up and left in heaps restricting pavements then nothing happens for a few days, or many days as along Silverdale where Skanska is/was replacing the street lights recently. We live in hope.

[Rachael]

Given that the roadworks are scheduled to last for a year, I think there should be some proper signs, attached to lampposts, giving the schedule, but also giving the scheme a title - Sydenham Road Regeneration or something like that and directing people to the info on Lewishsm's website. People might moan a lot less about things like temporarily losing zebra crossings if they were aware of the bigger picture. And people driving through (or stuck in the traffic) would know this is an area being invested it. At the moment we have a couple of free- standing 'advanced warning' signs on the pavement that tell people to expect disruption for a year without saying why. Councillors - any thoughts?

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[Eagle]

Perhaps it may encourage people not to drive through Sydenham. This is a residential area not a motorway.

Maybe the devolopment will hand back the area to the residents , who are pedestrians , rather than the outsiders.

[Pat Trembath]

One of the empty shops - 24A, I think it will be, as I understand it, a permanent base for Rineys - I'm sure Chris will confirm details

At the recent Traders' meeting we were told that Steve Clarke, Project Manager, will be permanently based in Sydenham during the work and available on a mobile number 24/7 to deal with problems as, and when, they arise. along with another guy, but I'm afraid I have forgotten his name and phone number- again, I'm sure Chris will supply.

We are all using the "closed off crossings" as the only sensible way to cross the roads - this needs to be regularised as I'm sure we all agree, but traffic is acknowledging existence of pedestrians on the current zebras - it is so slow so it cannot do otherwise, as far as I can see.

This is the start of what many hope to be a regenerated Sydenham in conjunction with the recent successful Portas bid, which hopefully will attract new businesses into our area. But this will only happen if we accept some pain in bringing the high street up to a reasonable standard. The current state of the high street inflicted with gas and water main replacement over the past 3 years has certainly done little to attract new businesses up till now.

What is needed is for the local community to buy into a new road scheme which has pedestrian safety at its heart. Sydenham Road has the inevitable statistic as one of the high streets with the most accidents in the borough This, alongside a major £3.5m investment by TfL and Lewisham into our road/pavement basic infrastructure, must be something which brings benefits to our area generally.

We also need to buy into the success of the Portas bid, only slowly unfolding, but exciting nevertheless.

There is so much investment happening in and around Sydenham - Portas, Pedestrian Improvements to Sydenham Road, Forest Hill Library and Pools, Sydenham Library, The Greyhound (and all is not lost there, either), Bell Green and much, much more including the funding for the new Pavilion Mayow Park and the new Youth Club in Wells Park Road.

It is time we as a community started talking this area up. I do - what about you?

[Eagle]

Well said Pat.

Can only be good news. Hopefully Sydenham will become a good place to live in as it was before the 70's.

[Rachael]

Pat -I agree, and it's good to hear there will be a physical point of contact for the management during the scheme. Will there also be some more prominent and informative signage? That will really help people 'buy in'.

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[stuart]

The northern end of Lawrie Park Road is now closed for an estimated two weeks.

Traffic, including 176 &197 buses are being diverted via Lawrie Park Gardens & Lawrie Park Avenue rather than the usual diversion of straight up Crystal Palace Park Road. This is so they can serve the Hospice.

AFAIR when buses inadvertantly used Lawrie Park Avenue some years ago they caused serious road subsidence. TfL assure me this diversion has been approved by Lewisham Council. I hope they did a proper fix last time.

Stuart

[Pat Trembath]

Spoke to Steve Clarke, Project Manager, this morning. Crossings have to be closed when they are working close by because of H&S. However there are gaps in the crossing on Kirkdale, although Westwood Hill appears to be closed.

One year Lease on 24A (ex-hairdressers) due to be signed this week, after which they will be moving in and working from this unit during the duration of the contract.

[Chris Best]

Riney are going to provide a regular update and the on site team is led by Steve Clarke. The first week was extremely busy with the carriageway reconstruction works which as expected have the highest impact in terms of traffic flows.

The existing roundabout at Cobbs Corner was demolished in a single day with over 50 cubic meters of waste material (6 tipper lorry loads) removed form site and taken to Riney's recycling centre, where it will be reconstituted into construction material for road base.

The majority of the carriageway reconstruction is flexible which means it is made up in compacted layers of dense bituminous material (tarmac), the advantages of this type of construction is that it allows to clear the carriageway most evenings which allows the morning peak time traffic to flow freely.

In this first week of construction Riney have already installed in excess of 100 tonnes of dense bituminous material for carriageway reconstruction which is in accordance with the programme of works.

In addition to the carriageway reconstruction works Riney have also began installing some new drainage and are in the early stages of kerb installation at the Kirkdale section of the scheme.

Next week they will be continuing with carriageway reconstruction works, drainage, ducting and kerbing at the Cobbs Corner area of the Project.

To further explore the opportunity of reducing the impact on peak time traffic flows Riney are discussing the possibility of Sunday working with the LB of Lewisham which would allow them a great opportunity to complete high impact carriageway reconstruction works, whilst the road network is at its least congested.

Whilst Riney complete the negotiations for the shop premises the contact details for Steve Clarke are mobile 07720 092485 or you can e-mail him at Steve.Clarke@jbriney.co.uk. Steve is based permanently on site and will assist you in whatever way he can. Riney are at the early stages and wish to thank everyone for their patience and co-operation and give reassurances that they will work to reduce the impact of the works whilst maintaining their commitment to deliver the highest quality on programme.

[stuart]

AFAIR when buses inadvertantly used Lawrie Park Avenue some years ago they caused serious road subsidence. TfL assure me this diversion has been approved by Lewisham Council. I hope they did a proper fix last time.

The subsidence in LPA appears to be re-occurring. Its quite dangerous if you are on two wheels. Who will be responsible for the cost of repairs? Lewisham, TfL or the last contractor?

Stuart

[alywin]

The northern end of Lawrie Park Road is now closed for an estimated two weeks.

Traffic, including 176 &197 buses are being diverted via Lawrie Park Gardens & Lawrie Park Avenue rather than the usual diversion of straight up Crystal Palace Park Road.

Is this related to the roundabout works, or just incidental to them? (I couldn't see anything obviously wrong when we diverted the other day).

[Andwar]

I tend to agree with Pat that we need to buy into the Sydenham regeneration scheme. With the improvements to the pavements and road the local council needs to address the occupation of the retail premisses and make sure that Sydenham gets the quality of retail establishments that it needs to regenerate the area.

Sometime ago I was looking at the old NatWest bank and turning it into a specialist wine bar and restaurant but the rent was far too high for a start-up business and so it has turned into another estate agents.

Perhaps we as residents should have more a say in who and what occupies our high street. Should the council put a maximum number on certain types of shops so that we don't get inundated with nail bars, betting shops and fast food outlets. If there was some sort of rent subsidy then there might be more independent retailers opening so we get a diverse High street which would be a joy to walk down. East Dulwich is a reasonable example, what are they doing right which Sydenham is getting wrong?

Once one or two major retailers move in, Waitrose, M&S, Costa, Nicholas, etc then others might follow. That would bring in the smaller independents to get a share of the footfall. All of this is speculative but there needs to be a kick start from the local authority to bring the quality of our high street up.

I shall stop waffling now and let someone else do a little rant.

[Chris Best]

Just to update you on progress as we are now in week 2 of the Sydenham Town Centre project. This week has seen further progress with the reconstruction of the carriageway. This has inevitably had a high impact on traffic flows, which Riney's regret, but is unavoidable. We know that these works will produce long term gains for the high street and greatly minimise carriageway maintenance works for many years in the future.

Yes there is inconvenience caused by the temporary closure of pedestrian crossings and, whilst the temporary traffic signals are in operation, again is unavoidable. If you are experiencing difficulties in crossing the road whilst the pedestrian crossings are out of action, then please contact J.B. Riney’s Site Agent, Steve Clarke on 07720 092485. Steve will be able to provide assistance, if required. Alternatively, you can e-mail Steve at Steve.Clarke@jbriney.co.uk to arrange assistance in advance.

The main focus of the work this week has been centred around the junction of Westwood Hill and Kirkdale. Apart from the carriageway reconstruction work, good progress has been made on installing new rainwater drainage. In addition, approximately 200 metres of new, silver grey, granite kerb has been laid.

In the coming week Riney will be completing the carriageway reconstruction work around Cobbs Corner and will continue into Kirkdale, towards the railway bridge. Also, next week, Riney will be digging trial holes along Sydenham Road to accommodate the infrastructure for street lighting, new traffic signals and CCTV.

I think Riney's are off to a good start and want to thank you everyone for their continued patience and co-operation through the early stages of the Project.

In answer to Andwar the Council does set a lower limit 75% A1 retail units in the core area of the high street from Cobbs Corner to Mayow Road to ensure that the vast majority of shops are use class A1 retail units. As a Councillor I have recently objected to the change of use from A1 retail to A5 fast food takeaways as I think we need to retain a high level of retail use. Of course A1 retail covers a wide range and our challenge from the Mary Portas pilot is to bring diversification to the high street. I hope with the opening of our community hub we will be able to demonstrate a wide range of goods that could be sold but we also need to test that there is sufficient footfall for speciality shops to open and sustain their trade.

[Tim Lund]

In answer to Andwar the Council does set a lower limit 75% A1 retail units in the core area of the high street from Cobbs Corner to Mayow Road to ensure that the vast majority of shops are use class A1 retail units. As a Councillor I have recently objected to the change of use from A1 retail to A5 fast food takeaways as I think we need to retain a high level of retail use. Of course A1 retail covers a wide range and our challenge from the Mary Portas pilot is to bring diversification to the high street.

Can you say, Chris, what the percentage of A1 use in the Forest Hill Town Centre is?

[biscuitman1978]

In answer to Andwar the Council does set a lower limit 75% A1 retail units in the core area of the high street from Cobbs Corner to Mayow Road to ensure that the vast majority of shops are use class A1 retail units. As a Councillor I have recently objected to the change of use from A1 retail to A5 fast food takeaways as I think we need to retain a high level of retail use. Of course A1 retail covers a wide range and our challenge from the Mary Portas pilot is to bring diversification to the high street.

Can you say, Chris, what the percentage of A1 use in the Forest Hill Town Centre is?

It will depend on whether it's measured by number of units, frontage or total floorspace.

The last publicly available data of which I''m aware is in Table A.17 of http://www2.lewisham.gov.uk/lbl/documen ... ndices.pdf, where the measure is number of units.

[Tim Lund]

Thanks for that biscuitman1978. I'm not at a machine where I can do easy cut and pastes from the what appears on my screen (anyone who wants to know how, Jing is totally cool ...) but what this tells us is that the the maximum percentage of A1 by units in 2009 - assuming all vacant properties were A1 - was 62%, a decline from 73% in 1999. Before posting my question, I asked someone who should know for a ball park figure, and he suggested a bit over 50%.

Is it just conceivable that insisting on 75% A1 hinders the revitalisation of our High Street? To the members of our local Portas Pilot peeps - other than Chris - agree with Mary herself that these planning restrictions should be done away with?

[Rachael]

Thank you for the regular updates, Chris. One of the most frustrating things about the gas mains works is that they seemed to go on and on, overrunning deadlines, with little information. Any disruption is more bearable if you know what is happening and why.

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[fishcox]

I think they have done a pretty decent job so far, and really cracked on with it. Given the incredible number of vehicles that use the junction, I think they have also dealt with the traffic control pretty well too.

I know very little about the usual method of how new kerbsides are created, but does anyone know why the new stones appear to have been initially secured in place by a rough tarmac - is this replaced by a neater, permanent, method in due course? Why is it done this way - does anybody know?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[biscuitman1978]

I know very little about the usual method of how new kerbsides are created, but does anyone know why the new stones appear to have been initially secured in place by a rough tarmac - is this replaced by a neater, permanent, method in due course? Why is it done this way - does anybody know?

From another thread on this forum:

Spoke to Steve Clarke, Project Manager, and asked him directly about the pavement finishing in the Kirkdale/Westwood Hill area.

Currently Riney is dealing with road matters - roundabout, kerbs and making good the highway. They want to get this done as soon as possible in order to minimise inconvenience to traffic flow and to open up the crossing points to pedestrians.

Pavements can be dealt with in due course. The intention is to pave all the way up to, and including, the first bus stops in Westwood Hill and Kirkdale.

Hope that helps.

[fishcox]

Thanks biscuitman.

Looks like someone had struck a water main today - when I walked past this evening, there was a veritable fountain of water gushing out of the ground, and forming a river outside Payless.

Oddly, no one was trying to fix it.