Yesterday evening saw a second well-attended Lambeth Community Forum for the Vauxhall-Nine Elms- Battersea project.
The Forum is the place for Lambeth community groups and residents to engage with the work of the VNEB Strategy Board, which is coordinating the redevelopment of the area stretching from Lambeth Bridge to Battersea Bridge.
Cllr Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council, introduced the event. He is now representing Lambeth on the Strategy Board, ensuring the Lambeth point of view is represented as strongly as possible.
There was a presentation on the proposed extension to the Northern Line. A consultation is underway - events will be held for residents at the following times:
- Friday 20 and Saturday 21 May from 10am to 6pm at The Long Room, TheOval, SE11 5SS
- Thursday 26 and Friday 27 May from 10am to 6pm at Sainsbury’s Nine Elms,
62 Wandsworth Road, SW8 2LF
The discussion about the Northern Line Extension was lively. The biggest concern is that money from new Lambeth developments will be siphoned off into the NLE, instead of paying for vital infrastructure needed at Vauxhall Cross. Councillors present confirmed they were well aware of this issue and were continuing to press Lambeth's case in negotiations.
1 comment:
An excellent post has been made (not by me) on Vauxhall Cross at http://www.cyclechat.net/topic/83626-vauxhall-cross/page__pid__1669430#entry1669430
- I copy part below:
"Vauxhall Cross has always been a bit of a mess, and it's got worse in recent years.
A rational, if eccentric layout was changed to a preposterous gyratory system at the same time as Shoreditch went from gyratory to 'high street'. Some bright spark came up with the idea of a bus station which involves buses doing up to three 180 degree turns to make their way across the junction, and, having placed this in the centre of the new gyratory/racetrack, they then completed the modal segregation by putting (unused) cycle lanes around the gyratory. Grimshaw probably thought that Christmas had come early.
This has left us with the kind of place that is perfect for S+M fetish clubs (seriously) but lacks any kind of conviviality. It is a traffic scheme, and only a traffic scheme; if you wanted to make the case that traffic 'engineers' are the very last people one would want to design a junction, then this is the bunny.
Ten years on, and TfL have revisited it. They commissioned a report from Burns and Nice who came up with about seven alternatives - link here, http://urbandesign.tfl.gov.uk/Content/VNEB-PR-HM-Study-Final-Report__Final-V4.aspx but please bear in mind that this is a 78Mb pdf. The first four options were for two way streets. Ah-ha! I hear you say! Wonderful stuff! Making a street do what streets are supposed to do. Sadly, Burns and Nice neglected the obvious and didn't consider selling off the bus station for development, which would, by my not entirely inexpert calculations, have paid for any of the seven options.
Be that as it may - TfL ignored three of the four options that involved two-way streets and are, apparently about to plump for one of the three options that keep the gyratory (and the bus station) in place. http://urbandesign.tfl.gov.uk/Content/Copy-of-LBL-Members-presentation---Gyratory. aspx Not good news."
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