Council plans improvements to 'Brockley Corridor'

Lewisham Council has launched a consultation about their plans to improve the "Brockley Corridor" - a long stretch of road from Brockley Cross to Stansted Road in Honor Oak. They say:

We have secured funding from Transport for London through the Local Improvement Plan to develop proposals for improving the public realm along various sections of the ‘Brockley Corridor’ - the main north-south route between the South Circular and Brockley Cross. We are now consulting with local stakeholders in order to gain a better understanding of issues within the Corridor and potential for improvements, in order to inform more detailed designs.

Putting aside the fact that the Council shares our vision of a Greater Brockley, in which all points in the borough are defined in terms of their relationship to Brockley, this is a welcome plan, which will give greater priority to cyclists and pedestrians, narrowing the road and calming traffic as it travels through high street areas.

The proposed changes include improvements at key locations along the route, to make junctions easier to navigate and the high streets more attractive, with wider pavements, more trees and fewer barriers. Particularly good is the plan to remodel the "St Andrew's Parade" junction (where Wickham Road meets Brockley Road), which is horrible to cross and the only people who want to stop and linger are motorists, who have a tendency to park their cars up on the middle of the pavement. As the Council put it, this is currently a "cluttered highway and an unpleasant public realm."

The scheme also proposes to create a "sense of arrival" as you exit Crofton Park Station towards the Rivoli (just getting to Crofton Park Station after a snaky journey from Blackfriars creates the sense of occasion they may be looking to achieve) and to create a public space outside the Chandos.

The plans could be accused of being too modest in their ambition, but we'd rather the Council do a few things really well - with high quality materials, attention to detail and close supervision of the contractors - than bite off more than they can chew and do it all in a half-arsed fashion. It's notable that none of the 'Exemplar Schemes' listed in the document is from Lewisham - please let this be a turning point for Lewisham road improvements and an exemplar for all future schemes.

With thanks to Monkeyboy.