Give New Cross the streets it deserves
Tomilyn Hannah Rupert calls for immediate action to transform the Amersham junction from a deadly highway into a healthy street.
New Cross Road and the Amersham Gyratory are dangerous, polluted streets, with the famous ‘Take Courage’ sign at the Amersham Arms an apt instruction for those navigating the junctions around it.
But it doesn’t have to be this way: by making short term improvements to Amersham Road, such as more planting, street trees and pedestrian crossings or even, in the longer term, removing the gyratory, this neighbourhood I love could have healthy, sustainable streets for all.
Nearly three years ago I got a letter through my door, letting me know that Transport for London (TfL), which owns nearby Amersham road was planning on resurfacing and refreshing the paint, and to email with any concerns.
As someone who each day walks through this intersection, past broken bollards, dodges dangerous traffic crossing the street, and has several times called for ambulances after witnessing collisions, I had a lot of concerns.
After a letter-writing campaign and a petition, and other outreach including a site visit in July 2024, we’ve gotten no traction from TfL or Lewisham council on designing, let alone implementing, changes. The streets have been resurfaced, and lines repainted, but the cars haven’t slowed at all.
The junction as it is now, wide and desolate .. and as it could be, envisaged by Amersham Gyratory Group. Credit: lhs Tom Noble, rhs Tom Noble with AI tools.
Lewisham council's new Active Travel strategy maps ignore the gyratory altogether.
Although we were happy to see a mention of Amersham Road in the new St Johns and Tanners Hill Healthy Neighbourhoods Plan, we believe it neglects Parkfield Road, and doesn’t go far enough.
There are several nurseries in this area, and Goldsmiths University. It’s a route that connects Brockley residents to New Cross station, and which cyclists use to get home.
Many of them might take the long way round to avoid the dangerous intersection, but others, like me, walk their bike a block until it’s safe again.
This isn’t the vision of a healthy, inclusive, and thriving London that the London mayor and Lewisham council say they aspire to.
And it’s not the vision of London that my neighbours and I deserve.
It is a far cry from the mayor’s Transport Strategy, and the ambition for walkable, safer and greener streets outlined in TfL's Healthy Streets for London.
Ultimately, New Cross Road should not just be a place for moving through as quickly as possible. With the right vision and ambition, it could be transformed from a ‘traffic sewer’ into a safe and healthy city street.
We’re asking for a plan for immediate, short, medium, and long term fixes, from TfL and Lewisham council.
Nearly three years of email chains with zero action is too little, and too long, to deliver the kinds of streets the people of Lewisham deserve.
We want a plan that's not tied to the unfunded Bakerloo Line Extension possibility, but realistically addresses the problems of the area right now.
Immediate change
- Paint a bike box, also known as an advanced stop line, on the west-bound traffic lane coming from New Cross Road to give cyclists greater separation from vehicles.
- Install a speed camera to discourage speeding.
Short term
- Take space back from cars and give it to people and nature. The carriageway is as wide as a three lane motorway - wider than is needed. TfL could:
- Green up the street - Adding street trees and beautiful rain gardens to narrow the carriageway thereby increasing biodiversity, reducing flooding and calming traffic.
- Where painted hatching already indicates cars aren’t allowed, expand the pavement to calm vehicle speeds and give space back to pedestrians.
Medium term
- Install two new crossings on Amersham road: one at the junction with Parkfield Road, and one further south.
- Install segregated bi-directional cycle lanes on Amersham Road and Parkfield Road.
- Further carriageway narrowing to promote slower, more considerate, driving.
Long term
- Remove the gyratory and return Lewisham Way and New Cross Road to two way streets, and install a modal filter on Amersham Road to prevent rat runs.
- Commence a wider programme of pavement widening and tree planting on New Cross Road.
Take action now:
- Sign our petition
- If you want to get involved with our advocacy group, email AmershamAction@gmail.com.
- Email healthyneighbourhoods@lewisham.gov.uk and Haveyoursay@tfl.gov.uk with our four levels of requests, and ask for a timeline for implementation.
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