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The Dulwich Estate have confirmed that they have signed a lease on the Half Moon with pub operator Fuller Smith & Turner Plc (Fullers) It is hoped that the pub will re-open in the late summer of 2016.
Dear Andy
Townley Road Junction:
There has been a variety of correspondence on the matter of the outstanding safety concerns at the Townley Road junction since its redevelopment. The current situation has been discussed in some detail at recent Dulwich Society Transport Committee meetings and the Society is now looking to Councillors to take action on behalf of the local community to remedy the ongoing safety issues.
We are aware of the communications between individual Councillors, Southwark and TfL since the junction re-opened in September but, so far, this has not resulted in a commitment from TfL and Southwark over a clear timetable for the work to be completed. These issues continue to be observed by users of the junction and are specified in Southwark's own Safety Audit reports.
Deficiencies:
- There is an apparent random functioning of the traffic light filter controlling vehicles turning right from East Dulwich Grove into Townley Road. This leads to vehicles being stranded in the middle of the junction when the lights turn red and has led to potential conflicts with vehicles and cyclists. This danger was highlighted in the Interim Stage 3 road safety Audit; problem 3.6, page 15. This dangerous situation has already been allowed to continue for almost 3 months. See monitoring observations in December under point 1 below.
- Matt Hill of Southwark Council stated in October that "the UTC/Scoot signalling system will be commissioned on 3 November. We will be following up with TfL this week about implementation of ‘early release’ phasing for cyclists". There has been no update from Officers, Councillors or at the last DCC on the status and/or success of this commissioning. See more detail at point 2 below.
- There is a known conflict of large vehicles, such as coaches, turning left at Townley where they penetrate the Advanced Cycle Lane on the east bound side of East Dulwich Grove. This is predicted and reported in the series of the Safety Audit Reports and there is no clarity on when this will be remedied.
- The exposure of cyclists heading south from Greendale to Townley Road remains due to lack of clear signage. A collision of a young cyclist with a car has been reported to Southwark previously.
Given the time elapsed and the safety issues that remain, we ask our Councillors to take appropriate action to ensure that TfL and Southwark remedy the situation with urgently.
Yours sincerely
Ian McInnes
Chair Dulwich Society
The planning application for the new shopfront and signage was submitted to Southwark just before Christmas. The application references are 15/AP/2020 & 15/AP/2021. There is still some local concern over whether the proposed shopfront design, and particularly the colour of the lettering, is appropriate for a conservation area like Dulwich Village. If you have a view please go to the Council’s website and comment.
There is no further news to report on the new tenant although the Society was told that it would be before Christmas. In the meantime the application to Southwark to register the pub as an Asset of Community Value was successful.
There is still no confirmation on the date when the new cycling facilities to be operational and Southwark has yet to respond to concerns raised in a recent safety audit.
The Charter School East Dulwich (TCSED) will now open in September 2016 on the former Lewisham and Southwark College campus on Southampton Way SE5 7EW. The site will serve as TCSED's temporary home until September 2018, when the school will move into its permanent home on the Dulwich Community Hospital site. This is a positive change from the original plan which was to develop temporary school facilities on the hospital site while the new main school buildings were being constructed on the adjacent site.
It was confirmed at the public Quietway consultation meeting on 4 November that, from October 2016, the 42 bus route would be extended along East Dulwich Grove as far as Sainsbury’s at Dog kennel Hill. This will finally offer direct access from Dulwich to Kings College Hospital.
The final meeting of the initial public engagement phase was held on 4 November. The Society had arranged for Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s Cycling Commissioner to speak, and well over 100 people attended. Sustrans are now writing their report which should be on the Southwark website within 2-3 weeks. It will be discussed at the next Dulwich Community Council meeting on 2 December.
The preparation of the New Southwark Plan has now reached the ‘Preferred Option’ stage. The confirmed dates for the public consultation are Monday 26 October 2015 until Friday 12 February 2016. All responses must be received by 5pm on Friday 12 February 2016. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/856/planning_policy/3315/the_new_southwark_plan
TfL were supposed to have finished adjusting the traffic light phasing on 4 November. There is, as yet, no confirmation on the date that the cycling facilities will be operational - there was a report of an accident between a young cyclist and a car in the middle of October. There have also been complaints over long queues on East Dulwich Grove coming from East Dulwich.
The initial transfer of hospital land has been made to the school and it has been confirmed that it will open in temporary buildings in September 2016.