Railings removed on Brockley Road


Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.
Jean Jacques Rousseau

The broken, functionless, potentially dangerous railings on Brockley Road, opposite the Brockley Barge, have been removed.

Credit due to Lewisham Council, they have taken the action promised by former Cllr Heidi Alexander following her Brockley Cross walkabout.

Already, the pavement area looks far better, although we hope that the action will be followed by improvements to the paving stones themselves.

This is one of our key high streets. By hemming in pedestrians, the railings sent a message that Brockley Road belonged to drivers, encouraged speeding and discouraged spending. With work underway on La Lanterna and a planning application to rennovate two more shops on the stretch, this part of Brockley Road could soon be vastly improved.

With the new tube line running, the Brockley Station planting complete, the Brockley MAX banners flying and the railings removed, this part of Brockley is beginning to look lovely.

Although of course, as Lou and Tamsin would be quick to point out, it's easy to look good while the sun is shining, but let's see how Brockley Central feels about it on a freezing wet winter's day, when we've just trodden in dog poo, our wife has left us, we've lost our job and we've just been diagnosed with Becker's Nevus. Perhaps we should just reserve judgement until then.