5 key takeaways from Lewisham's Active Travel Strategy
The goal is to create "a safer, more accessible borough where everyone can easily walk or cycle to their destination." New Cross writer, cyclist and road safety campaigner Tomilyn Rupert shares the toplines.
Lewisham Council have released their Active Travel Strategy for consultation (open until July 20).
If you don’t fancy reading 58 pages, here’s a few key takeaways:
1. Where TfL goes, Lewisham will follow
Of the 6 identified ‘quick wins’, fully half would be on streets that feed into Cycleway 4, the Evelyn Street Corridor.
Similarly, the inclusion of Deptford Church Street on the list of proposed "Active Travel Corridors" also feeds into Cycleway 4.
But where TfL has failed to act, such as on prioritising the dangerous A2 Amersham Gyratory for improvements (beyond repaving), the Lewisham strategy follows.
At Amersham Gyratory, the A2 briefly turns into a one-way road and westbound traffic diverts onto Amersham Road, Parkfield road, and then Lewisham Way for a block each.
The proposed New Cross to Blackheath active travel corridor appears to not even include this section on the maps in the consultation.
Analysis from road traffic statistics shows that although cyclists make only 3.83% of journeys here, they are involved in 19.49% of incidents and 18.75% of serious or fatal incidents.
2. Of 8 previous active travel targets, Lewisham is only ‘ahead of track’ for one
The % of residents travelling using sustainable modes was at 77.9% in 2022/3, ahead of target of the 72% goal for 2021.
However, the seven other goals either were unknown (3) or behind target (4).
Most alarming might be the figures for Vision Zero, the target to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries from road collisions by 2041. The figures barely moved in the five years that data was collected, beginning at 120 deaths in 2017, and 114 deaths in 2022.
A new proposed target is for Lewisham to crack the top 10 London boroughs for Healthy Streets, an improvement from the current rank of 15, but not exactly a bold and ambitious vision. Given the above however, this may be pragmatic.
3. No sign of Santander cycles, but a doubling down on dockless
In 2022 there was a petition to bring docked Santander cycles to Lewisham.
The council responded that although they had met with Tfl to seek an expansion of the Santander hire scheme into the borough, they did not have the resources for the work. "Any decision between TfL and Lewisham will be dependent on many factors including available funding.”
This was still the case in 2023. Although the new strategy references dockless bikes, and the possibility of including special designated parking for cargo bikes, there’s no mention of Santander bikes.
It could be in the last two years demand has ramped up more for dockless cycles, such as Lime and Human Forest, and that the some of the pain points with their introduction, like regularly blocked pavements, have gone away as the council advanced policies on designated parking zones.
But the price point between the two is significant - Santander cycles are half the price for users but more expensive to install. And Santander cycles have not been plagued with the same safety issues as Lime.
4. Lewisham Spine changes could reach the most people, if prioritised
The Lewisham Spine active travel corridor would cut across most of the borough from north to south: from Deptford Church Street (already being worked on) to Lewisham centre, onto Lewisham High Street, through Catford Bridge, Bellingham and then Bromley Road.
Though expensive per person, it could bring the biggest increase in safety and comfort scores - by 7.15, a full point ahead of the next closest proposed corridor.
It would also reach the most people, with an estimated 19k residents whose daily journey would be affected, of which 14k are from deprived households.
Through the different weighting factors the council chooses to use, the Lewisham Spine is currently ranked down the prioritisation list at number 8. The proposed number one ranked segment would have a score increase of 1.19 and improve just 9k daily journeys.
Construction is already ongoing on Deptford Church Street to make things better for active travel users - it is unclear how this has fed into the ranking for Lewisham spine.
- Bakerloo Extension isn’t a factor
Though the report was released before the latest government spending review, showing no funds for a proposed Bakerloo Extension, it appears this strategy wasn’t factoring it in regardless.
Two of the identified ‘quick wins’ are near Lewisham Station, which would have seen an extension, but none are near New Cross Gate.
Similarly, the Hatcham Park identified corridor is marked as an estimated 7.3k daily residents journeys. Had the Bakerloo extension gone ahead the number of journeys could have been much higher.
The cancelled plans to redevelop the large Sainsburys at New Cross Gate would have seen the addition of 1.5k homes, for example. That project was called off to protect the site for works needed to extend the Bakerloo, but similar levels can be presumed to be in the works at the site if the extension of the Bakerloo to New Cross Gate were given the green light.
Conversely, the long dormant Convoy’s Wharf development which has sat vacant with planning permission since the 90s, is surrounded by existing active travel corridors.
The consultation is open until July 20th. This includes how they’ve prioritised different factors in weighting, and deciding the prioritisation of the proposed new active travel corridors.
Tomilyn Rupert is a New Cross based writer, campaigner for safer streets and co-founder of Amersham Gyratory Action Group.
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