Longer Term Issues
Camberwell Traffic Campaign is calling for the bridge to remain closed. 

Camberwell Grove is too narrow for the volume and type of traffic that want to use it. 

Camberwell Grove is also about to become part of Quietway 7 (see map here) which will allow cyclists to avoid the dangerous junction at Camberwell Green, where so many have died over the years.

Now that more people live and work in Camberwell, the Grove needs to be improved to encourage more people to walk and cycle safely between schools, workplaces, shops and other local facilities.  We do not need a dangerous bridge to be re-opened.

Our Campaign started as a call for the bridge to be kept closed.  After talking to other local residents, we now see Camberwell Grove as a key part of the wider call for the exclusion of non-local traffic and the introduction of traffic calming across the roads of east Camberwell. 

We hope that Southwark Council and TfL will take this ideal opportunity to return Camberwell Grove and other local streets affected by diverted traffic to quiet, safe residential roads. It can be done and has been in other boroughs, using traffic filtration to allow only local traffic to access the area. 

Please join our Campaign. We need all streets to join together to pressure Southwark Council to make it happen. It is not fair to push traffic from residential street to residential street across the area. It is time to address the real problem.

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Further Details on the Campaign’s plans for Camberwell Grove and local residential streets

The map below shows the area, bordered by main roads, to help to put our more detailed discussion in context.
















To keep Camberwell Grove bridge closed without pushing traffic onto other narrow residential roads we need residents of key roads along the route to join us.  A first step is to include McNeil Road and Lyndhurst Grove.  To quieten the wider area, we need support from Lyndhurst Way, Bellenden Road, Chadwick Road, Grove Park, the Malfort triangle and Grove Hill Road, plus any we may not be aware of! 

Parents, carers and any others who take young children to Lyndhurst or Dog Kennel Hill Schools or local nurseries are also very important in expressing the need for Safe Walking and Cycling Routes to Schools.   Children travelling alone must not be forgotten.  Our residential road network should not be designed for drivers to save a few seconds by avoiding main roads - they should be safe for children to use and cross on foot.

Our aim is to work with the wider community to solve the problem of non-local traffic in our area.  Preventing the reopening of the bridge can bring us together.

Southwark Living Streets and Southwark are supportive of our campaign.

Our Proposals:
1.  Keep the bridge closed to motor traffic.

2. Exclude non-local traffic from the wider area using, for example, traffic filtration by mode which aims to keep out through traffic but not pedestrians or cyclists.  We must not just move it around from road to road.

This could include for example:

Removing the right filter from Dog Kennel Hill into Grove Hill Road

Stop motor traffic crossing between Champion Hill and Grove Hill Road but have a right turn from Grove Hill Road.  This was supported in a public consultation but refused by TfL on the grounds of possible small bus delays due to the amount of through traffic to and from Camberwell Grove and Grove Hill Road.

3.  Build pedestrian crossing points along the road at pavement level installing build outs and ‘raised tables’.  This would improve visibility and reduce pedestrian and cyclist conflict and reduce crossing distance.

4. Stop speeding down the long, straight hill with effective controls

Overall keeping the bridge closed costs nothing, but that decision must be made in November.  We then want these additional measures to be designed into the proposed Quietway that will run along the Grove. 

These changes will improve Camberwell Grove for everyone. They will help local residents. They will help pedestrians, cyclists and people walking or cycling to public transport or local shops and businesses and other facilities.  But they will also benefit car owners because they will make the road quieter and safer to drive along. 

This approach is not new!  It can be done and has been done in other boroughs, using traffic filtration to allow only local traffic to access the area.  Look at the Hackney Scheme.    Look at  Van Gogh Walk.

Problems if the Bridge Re-opens without proper traffic management:   

Camberwell Grove was not built for this many cars and heavy vehicles, horse drawn carriages only in the narrow carriageway!  Traffic is only going to get worse if the bridge re-opens as it is and this is now dangerous. 

1.  The pinch point uphill from the bridge will be more and more regularly gridlocked, as cars are getting wider and sat nav means that more traffic is trying to use narrow residential roads.

2.  There is no space for a turning circle above the bridge for vehicles too wide or heavy to cross the bridge.  These should not be allowed to continue to turn in Grovelands Close and Grove Crescent, both private access roads which should not be subject to this use.  Turning vehicles are also a danger to cyclists.

3.  Online shopping means that there are more goods vehicles - many will be heavy enough to damage the bridge but narrow enough to fit through the proposed width restriction. Goods vehicles damage the bridge by ignoring weight limits or more than one drives through the lane at once. This is why the bridge is currently shut.

4. Ill health caused by air pollution and physical inactivity is becoming increasingly understood, and it is no longer appropriate to allow large volumes of motor traffic down residential roads.

5.  The current traffic lights and pedestrian facilities are an inappropriate permanent solution for a narrow residential street. Bringing them up to standard will cost extra. With only local traffic they could be turned off and with the bonus of Camberwell Grove seen once more as a long tree lined avenue.

6.  If the bridge re-opens then the crossing points may need to be formal zebra crossings, increasing the cost and requiring the removal of many car parking spaces. If the bridge remained shut crossings could be less-disruptive build-outs and informal crossing points.

Reopening the bridge conflicts with the Southwark draft Kerbside strategy (see it here) and the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (see it here).

Why is this fair? 

Stopping rat runs will restore our residential roads to quiet, pleasant places to live and work, benefiting everyone.

Tackling non-local traffic will bring huge benefits to the whole area, encouraging people to walk and cycle and specially for children and less spritely people to feel safe and go out more.  This improves sociability and interactions with neighbours. Local car users may find driving routes will take a few minutes longer but their routes will be less congested.

If the bridge re-opens as it was without tackling the real traffic problem in the whole area, then residents of Camberwell Grove must pay the costs of air and noise pollution.  Pedestrians and cyclists from the wider area are exposed to the dangers of congestion above the bridge. 

If we let the Council simply reopen the bridge, we do not have confidence that anything will improve for many years - it never has, this is a neglected area.

A decreasing proportion of Southwark’s residents have cars, and car-owners are driving less often. The Government is also committed to reducing the numbers of diesel polluting delivery vans. The way to deliver the greatest benefit to the greatest number of Southwark residents is to make the whole area better for people on foot or on bike, including people walking to the train or bus. 

Other streets around Camberwell Grove have already seen similar improvements. To the west, Grove Lane, Daneville Road and Windsor Walk are almost traffic free. To the east, improvements have been made to Dagmar, Oglander, Copleston, Ondine Roads, and to the roads off Rye Lane.  These changes have forced more traffic into the few remaining through roads, such as ours.

We support the residents of Camberwell Grove and other local streets to get similar improvements and enjoy the benefits.