Brockely Cross Crisis Point

Here is a photo of Brockley Cross, taken today. With the exception of the white van, all of these cars are 'parked'. Some are parked by the kerb or in the little bay which provides legitimate parking for two rows of cars. The rest are squeezed on to pavements or double-parked in the middle of the road. This is an entirely typical day. It's as though Operation Stack has been orgainsed in SE4.

In total, this arrangement creates five lanes of parked cars plus two lanes of moving cars - a seven lane nightmare that endangers lives and dooms this part of Brockley to crapiness and exhaust until the Council sorts it out.

And the problem is getting worse. TickleMe takeaway is proving to be a success, which is great, except that its customers are the ones double-parking on its side of the street. Nats's Bake and Juices' customers double park on the other side. Meanwhile, a self-hire van rental company has moved in to an office in Brockley Cross and the managers allow their vehicles to be parked on the pavement - we have seen people with pushchairs forced to steer in to the road just to get down the street.

The tale of Brockley Cross' aborted redevelopment is a long and depressing one and the only long-term solution to the traffic problems at this junction is to properly address the awful layout. We must sustain the pressure on the Council to do what they have been promising for years and fix Brockley Cross, for good.

However, until that happens there is the immediate question of what to do about the daily parking abuses that blight Brockley Cross. It should not require new legislation, restrictions, studies, consultations, funding or any of the other usual reasons why things don't happen. Fixing the problem could even be revenue-generating.

What we need is traffic wardens. Ruthless, efficient traffic wardens, incentivised to punish transgressors. Traffic wardens who circle Brockley Cross like jackals. A few weeks of this treatment should sort the problem out. It could be done tomorrow, if the will was there.