Dear Malcolm
I wanted to reassure you that the views expressed at last week’s meeting have been relayed to me, and I understand the concerns and priorities of your members and others who attended the meeting.
I believe we share the same goals for Vauxhall – to make it a thriving district centre and the gateway to Nine Elms on the South Bank, underpinned by excellent transport connections. This is the Council’s adopted planning policy. The question is, how is this achieved?
Transport for London,(TfL), is responsible for managing and maintaining the capacity on this strategic part of the road network in London, so the traffic interchange has to work, especially for buses. No changes can go forward at the expense of the transport interchange. There is considerable technical analysis underway to establish whether the gyratory can be made to work two way and to understand the consequences of achieving this, if this is what is ultimately agreed. The programme for this work was shared with KOV last week. There will be no final decisions in relation to this for several months.
TfL have advised the Council that the traffic modelling results, that will assess whether or not two way working is possible, will be available at the end of February. If it is possible, then we will look further at what that will mean for the design of the district centre and the interchange arrangements, including the bus station. As part of this process, we will be preparing a design framework for the district centre that takes the policy within the Vauxhall Supplementary Planning document to a more detailed level of implementation. Things are changing within the Vauxhall area, as we have seen from the new shops and restaurants that have come, now
that there is a wider awareness of the Council’s ambitions. This change will continue with the implementation of Vauxhall Square and other exciting developments that the Council has supported.
The workshop next week, (29th January), will provide a useful starting point for this conversation and will help shape future consultation. At the workshop we will be sharing the results of the traffic modelling thus far, what the volume of users by mode has been, and discussing the issues and opportunities that the district centre and two-way working present.
It is essential that full and meaningful consultation follows this first stage of technical investigation, and the council passed a motion to this effect at the beginning of last week. There is clearly a challenge to TfL, and the Council, to demonstrate that any options or proposals will improve the existing situation, and not make it worse. However, I would also ask that you keep an open mind about the potential benefits that change might bring. These need to be articulated through the process so that everyone can come to a view.
Yours sincerely
Councillor Lib Peck
Leader, London Borough of Lambeth
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