Brockley beach furniture
The remodeling of Brockley Cross is nearly finished, with only a couple of zebra crossings to install and a one way system around the island of houses formed by Geoffrey and Upper Brockley Roads to implement.
The effect of the work (and the police action that took place recently) has been to normalise a lawless mess. It has also created a large swathe of (so-far) unspoiled paving, like a sun-baked stretch of urban beach.
Whilst we're delighted with what's already been done, we think it's worth asking now what can be done here to prevent it becoming a car park and to get best use from it.
In previous discussions, BC readers suggested that bike racks could be added. Back in 2008 (yes, we've been wittering on about this place for that long) we suggested that the old parking bay (now paved over) could have been turned in to a little patch of green. We'd like to re-propose that idea - some giant planters could help to soften the streetscape and deter dodgy parking.
What would you do with this blank sheet of paper?
63 comments:
Hold a market
How about a nice bronze statue of a badger?
I would actually love a bronze badger :)
Just anything to stop cars getting in there. More tress and flowers would be my preference, or some big weird sculpture with clematis growing all over it.
free car park
Why can't they put more trees in? It's going to look harsh and concretey now with no greenery. What a shame and a waste of an opportunity.
Tickle Me should take it over as an outside dining area
Take a tip from Trafalgar Square, have a rolling exhibition of monumental artwork from Goldsmiths.
Shrubs or Trees in big planters would be OK but I suspect they would find their way onto the back of lorry within a week or am I being too cynical?
One of those black obelisks from 2001. It would symbolise the evolution of brocklyites to the next developmental plane.
Nice bronze badger, worth about £500 down the local scrap metal dealer.
Maybe the trees are on order awaiting delivery. When they did the stretch in front of City Noodles there was paving initially. It was not until the trees were ready for planting (early spring) that the holes were dug. Perhaps they will appear in autumn at the cross (suspect summer is not the best time to plant saplings).
Some nice benches for tramps to sit on maybe?
What Tickle Me could be:
http://bit.ly/LC6Rck
I'd like for it to actually be a car park - you know, for people to park cars on. Like normal people.
There is actually a second tree spot, I think (near the one pictured but to the other side of the crossing)... not much better but still...
Dead space; this should have been properly considered at the planning stage. Will become a trouble spot no doubt (already has been if I am not mistaken).
are they going to resurface the road around the area as part of the work? the lovely new pavements have made the road look a mess!
Nick you took the words out of my mouth... definitely on the planters. And I would happily look after them as Im nearby
sorry, i digress about resurfacing the road. in answer to your question, the more trees the better!
I really think it would be a great spot for some bike racks. It would be really great if we could encourage more locals to walk/cycle to Brockley Cross, but at the moment there's v little incentive to do so, what with the two/three racks by Costcutter and the complete removal of the rather handy covered bike parking outside the station.
And perhaps with some greenery chucked around it for the best of both worlds? Or even better - a collection of plant locks that you sometimes see around central London.
Like this: http://www.frontyardcompany.co.uk/products/plantlock.html
I'm in for a £10 donation, broca being the old English for badger.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150272138276403&set=a.10150272135526403.330261.7692246402&type=3
Build a large container for a flower bed. Then stick a bronze badger in the middle of it.
That would be a cracking spot for a Boris Bike station. Shame the mungs wouldn't let it in, purely for partisan reasons.
A nice spot for people going to the rehab centre to go and reminisce about the good old days
@TM - I walked past the new blocks being built in Loampit Vale at the moment. Large trees in large planters in a potentially vulnerable spot in Lewisham. If they're heavy enough, they're not much of a theft risk, surely?
@Anon - "Will become a trouble spot no doubt (already has been if I am not mistaken)."
Not that I'm aware of. It is much quieter since Nat's Bake and Juice was raided.
Outdoor gym? With a bronze badger thrown in somewhere and of course a few more trees.
I think my dog just pricked its ears up...
Judging by the amount of bikes missing wheels and saddles by the station, don't think I'd be leaving my bike locked up round here for hours at a time.
Swimming pool
Bike racks would be more use by the station (no reason not to have both I suppose).
Pavement cafe/bar would be nice. Might need some greenery round the edge to stop it returning to a carpark in winter though.
Make a paper airplane?
they can't leave it like that.
It will a dirty mess of cars in a year
A few unobtrusive wooden bollards would prevent pavement parking. Trees would of course be better though.
Again the question of traffic wardens, or lack thereof, must be asked. I've not seen one anywhere near Brockley or Crofton Park stations for ages. There's some shocking parking going on, e.g. a red Dodge at Crofton Park is always blocking the dropped kerb, and the lack of wardens dishing out tickets just encourages bad / lazy parking.
Trees and raised beds would be a big improvement.
surely a bollard, by it's very nature, is obtrusive, but the obtrusion could be 'artistic' rather than abrupt, not that I'm advocating those dreadful Gormley bollards - they are a load of old bollards and no mistake
I walked past the Mounment at the weekend and noticed the pleasant, weathered wooden bollards surrounding the base and remarked upon their blunt phallicism to my wife, who agreed.
Why are we not getting the trees that were shown in the original sketches?
Trees - large planted raised beds ,planted with mixed borders - plenty of evergreens - have Brockley cross action group been consulted- it's a huge opportunity for some much needed greenery .
Some flower beds, like in Lewisham Way, would present a nice, relaxing, welcome to the area for pedestrians and car users.
A clock tower, surrounded by bluntly phallicist bollards, of the type to which ones wife might not take exception, sounds just the thing.
Really, isn't it a great opportunity for individual street furniture, Gormley's not to everyones taste okay, wouldn't it be good to find a local artist or designer whose work met with some approval.
How is it done?
How was the Bellenden Road street furniture funded?
Needle bin?
More trees, or at least a flower bed!!
Should residents really have to second-guess what is going to go there? Shouldn't this have been decided before earth was removed?Otherwise this is just consultation after the event.
A very sloppy way to go about things indeed.
It looks positively barren, Sharon. Definitely needs some more trees!
another vote for more trees, how disappointing, I assumed there would be lots there.
the plans show 4 trees there and 2 opposite side of road and 3 diagonally opposite (timber yard side. why are they not being provided?
A flower bed with some nice black chains would be nice.
Huge bronze badger statue surrounded by CCTV please.
Explanation here, as well as a lot of news:
http://brockleycrossactiongroup.com/
And so to sum up.
Trees 1. Ambition 0.
A giant Dog toilet? Might stop the streets of Brockley being covered in (literally) s***
Brockley Nick suspended in a perspex box
Perspex? I'm not sure that's organic. How about hessian?
Please stop. You are not funny.
They've been filming Still Life on Malpas Road all day today. Eddie Marsan has been walking up and down the street with a briefcase and using the zebra crossing outside No. 74 a lot. Location trucks parked in Cheshire Close too... Brockleywood sign for the open space at Brockley Cross?
That sounds like a fun film
As I write a couple of bike racks are being installed. I also now see space for 2 trees to be planted here on the South side. No sign of proposed uplit 14ft bronze badger as yet. Come on Don Draper (Brockley Nick). Work your magic!
Borisbike stand? Or have the mungs blocked it again?
When has a Borisbike stand ever been blocked by anyone?
They get blocked quite a lot actually. Usually by 'community groups'... there's an arduous planning process that can be appealed against, and of course you know what happens... throw in a Conservative association and it puts the mungos in full-on NIMBY mode.
Last night someone got run over on the crossing near the bridge. Why the hell weren't these the priority, rather than the pavements? They've been a death trap for years as the markings have faded away completely. You'd have thought with all the health and safety regulations these days it wouldn't have come to this.
I always noticed one thing that when we think to buy household items, there is lots of thing in our mind like its quality, cost, and delivery charges.
furniture delivery service
Post a Comment