DLR upgrade works completed this weekend

This weekend is the last scheduled closure of the DLR service to Bank. Services have been disrupted by engineering works to upgrade the line to allow it to handle three-car trains, delivering a 50% increase in the line's capacity.

Transport for London explained in a recent press release:

Three-car operation will be introduced gradually on the Bank-Lewisham route following the completion of the engineering works. DLR has also used the Bank closure to enhance and improve the platforms, lighting and signage at the station.

The investment means that commuters from Lewisham should find their journeys a lot more comfortable and of course allows for greater density of housing in Lewisham, a crucial plank in the Council's regeneration plans.

In other DLR news, Greenwich Council has agreed to a feasibility study for an extension of the service to Kidbrooke and Eltham, although it's most likely that this would be from Woolwich, rather than Lewisham.

Is Boris waging war on us?

Simon Jenkins uses his Evening Standard column today to suggest that the Mayor is at war with South London. He says:

This spring no fewer than five crossings are to close, a sure sign of revolution in the air. South London must have had enough and is on the brink of independence. The Mayor, Boris Johnson, means to seal it off.

Odd that it's a few roadworks that have set him off, rather than the cancellation of the Thames Gateway bridge, the cross-river tram, the Greenwich Waterfront Transit scheme or the Rotherhithe bridge. But then these were all east London projects.

While he namechecks Greenwich, Blackheath, Woolwich, Dulwich and Crystal Palace as he goes, he's really thinking about south west London. The giveaway is that he complains about the cancellation of a project (which was never really on the cards) to link north london to Battersea by tube, arguing that the project was sacrificed in favour of things that did nothing for south London, like the DLR extension (to Lewisham), the Jubilee Line (to Greenwich) and Crossrail (to Woolwich). He forgets about the East London Line entirely.

Still, the overall narrative that north and south London are too disconnected is one that we agree with and one that we've written for South East London in the past.

But then when he says that the 'South' has lost its temper with Boris, does he mean us? Or the good people of Wimbledon?

With thanks to Darryl at 853.

Revitalising civic societies

Doing Civics in the 21st Century
February 18th, 8pm
Golden Lion Pub, 116 Sydenham Road, London SE26 5JX

We recently met with Tim Lund, the Chair of the Sydenham Society, who has just announced that he is stepping down after two years in the role. Listening to him talk about his experiences in the organisation, there were clear parallels with Brockley’s various civic societies.

Members are too few, the demand on time is high and the Society doesn’t always have access to the skill sets and experience that it needs to properly campaign on what can often be complex issues of planning and transport. Engagement with the wider public and local authorities is not all that it could be.

At least part of the solution has to be better and closer co-operation between different civic societies, who can share knowledge, skills and best-practice on issues that they often have in common.

In Lewisham, a perfect example is the Council’s Local Development Framework consultation. The LDF plays a major role in shaping the Borough’s future. It’s an area in which many local civic societies would find common ground and by providing a high-quality collective response they could expect their views to carry greater weight.

Tim is helping to organise a meeting designed to encourage closer co-operation between civic societies, not only in Lewisham but across the country. He writes:

A revitalised civic society movement can champion the millions of local people who care about where they live and want to make a difference.

Just over 50 years ago a grass roots movement was born, and hundreds of local groups across the country sprang up to help improve the general quality of urban life. Today, many Civic Societies have ageing and declining memberships, and their former umbrella body has been wound up.

Now established organisations such as the National Trust, Royal Institute of British Architects and CPRE want to help redevelop a national voice for such community activists, and Tony Burton, former Director of Strategy and External Affairs at the National Trust is leading this initiative. Will his ideas work? What do you think should be done?

Tony will be presenting his case at the Golden Lion pub, Sydenham High Street. All are welcome, admission is free.

Brockley Central assimilated by the Guardian

The Guardian has begun to aggregate stories from selected London blogs, ahead of this year's elections. Brockley Central is the first blog to succumb to the Guardian website's technological superiority.

The aim is to create a London blogging gestalt, which makes the Guardian the first port of call for London coverage and drives traffic out towards the individual sites.

We've written a few times about the contribution hyperlocal blogs can make towards local news coverage and political debate, so it's an honour to be the first blog included in the Guardian's experiment, even if our primacy is the result of nothing more than Brockley's place in the alphabet.

The Guardan's London blogger, Dave Hill, has written about the project here. Brockley Central will be doing its best to cover the Lewisham elections, especially now the Guardian has raised the stakes.

Railings contribute to Brockley cyclist's death

The South London Press reports that the tragic death of a Brockley woman has prompted Southwark Council to consider the removal of 'safety' railings in Rotherhithe.

It says Nga Diep was killed "when a skip lorry pushed her into railings at the junction of Ilderton Road and Rotherhithe New Road, Rotherhithe. After hitting the railings, the 33-year-old fell under the lorry’s back wheels and suffered massive head and chest injuries."

Local MP Simon Hughes is also quoted as saying:

“I hope the council is positive and speedy in doing something at this junction to remove this danger to cyclists. The railings should be moved to make sure cyclists can leave the road in emergencies.”

Brockley Central has argued for years that similar railings on Brockley Road should be removed after studies have shown that these safety measures can actually make our roads less safe, trapping cyclists and pedestrians, encouraging people to vault them and drivers to speed up because they send the signal 'this road belongs to you.' Across London, Councils are ripping out safety railings in response to the mounting evidence against their use in many situations.

When Council officers and the Deputy Mayor recced the area with us in 2008, they acknowledged that the railings wouldn't be installed today if they didn't already exist. On a recent follow-up visit with the Brockley Cross Action Group, the Deputy Mayor reiterated her view that the question of their removal should be a priority.

Our sincere condolences go to the family of Nga Diep. We hope that Lewisham Council takes action to improve the safety of the roads around Brockley Cross as soon as possible.

Our Future's Orange: Surrey Quays, Canada Water, Rotherhithe

This is part two of our preview of the East London Line, profiling many of the stops along the new route, ahead of its opening in May.

The course of the East London Line will carry us through Surrey Quays, Canada Water and Rotherhithe stations along the base of the Surrey Quays peninsula, an area of dockland that was redeveloped by the London Docklands Development Corporation in the 1980s. Many of the old docks were filled in and thousands of new homes built.

Today, the area is still littered with artefacts from its days as a working commercial dock and is home to the Brunel Museum, which commemorates Isambard Kingdom Brunel's first and last projects - the Thames Tunnel that the East London Line will run through and the Great Eastern steamship as the first modern ocean liner.

Like Canary Wharf, much of the early 80s development has aged badly. Surrey Quays shopping centre is a dismal spot, its scale and facilities too mean for teenies consumers. The neighbouring leisure park provokes an existential crisis in us every time we see it. But Surrey Quays rewards the persistent. Press on past the dross and you'll discover stunning waterside development and parkland, as well as one of London's greatest views from the top of Stave Hill.

Greenland Dock was one of the few to survive and is now one of London's most important centres for water sports, with sailing and kayaking among the sports played on the 1km-long expanse of water. The Surrey Docks Watersports Centre is undergoing the final stages of its refurbishment to include a gym and fitness studios.

Russia Dock enjoyed a different fate and became a woodland nature reserve after it was filled in. Home to a number of rare species, its beauty is captured in exquisite detail on this blog. The park is also home to a 30-feet-tall decapitated cone called Stave Hill, an artificial construct, made from rubble from the construction works. It serves as a unique viewing platform for the dockland on both sides of the river.

Perhaps in the mistaken belief that a 'Fatty Arbuckles' next to a bowling alley constituted all you could wish for from a good night out, the eighties master planners neglected to include much in the way of eating or drinking establishments and the area can sometimes feel spookily quiet as a result.

The Wibbly Wobbly, an eccentric little pub on a barge parked in Greenland Dock is about the only show in town. Even so, it's not as packed as the number of homes surrounding it ought to merit. Formerly owned by Up the Creek's Malcom Hardee, he drowned rowing back to his houseboat from it in 2005.

On the western bank, near Rotherhithe Station, The Mayflower pub stands on the site of the Shippe pub that dates back to around 1550. It was renamed in 1957 and it was from the nearby landing steps to this pub that the Pilgrim Fathers set sail. Today, its prices suggest that its target market is their more fortunate descendants.

Southwark is trying hard to inject more life in to the Surrey Quays waterside and the area is home to one of London's biggest regeneration programmes, including a major project underway at Canada Water. Centred around a major new library, designed by Piers Gough, the new development aims to create a waterside town centre, including 2,700 new homes (35% affordable) and new retail, office and leisure facilities arranged around a new civic square.

The Decathlon store (much loved by everyone we know because it has the distinction of being the only sports shop which gives priority to sports equipment rather than trainers and embraces natural light rather than fluorescent posters) is to be expanded and will become the company's headquarters in the UK. The site will provide 430 flats together with new retail and community space and café, restaurants, bars along the waterfront. It will also create a new "boulevard" connecting it to the Surrey Quays shopping centre.

Even the soul-crushing Surrey Quays Leisure Park has been given outline planning permission for 500 residential units and 123 units for students, a new cinema complex and leisure building that will include restaurants, commercial floor spaces and public and private open space.

Click here to read about Dalston.

I Spy: Architectural heritage edition

Yes, I Spy is back for 2010 and here's (hopefully) a puzzler to start you off. Whereabouts is this architectural detail?