Attendance Representing
Neil Salt (NS) Streatham Action Transport Chair
Jeremy Clyne (JC) resident SW16
Chris Baron (CB) InStreatham BID
Keith Smith (KS) resident S Wells
Sue Walmsley-Smith (SWS) resident S Wells
Jane Wroe Wright (JWW) resident SW16
Nikhil Patel (NP) resident SW16
Jim Bennett (JB) resident S Wells
Sam Jennings (SJ) local accessibility activist
Mark Crick (MC) resident LCRd
Jeremy Bourke (JB) resident Tierney Road
Penny Garcev (PG) resident S Wells
Stephen Norris (SN) GTR Southern Manager
Jonny Nesbitt (JN) Network Rail
Katerina Makolova (KM) GTR Southern local
Cllr Scott Ainslie (SA) Green Party, LB Lambeth
Emma Elliott (EE) Streatham Action Transport Secretary
Anthony Gilmour (AG) Lambeth Cyclists
Robert Hill (RH) Chair, Streatham Action
Robert Doyle (RD) Streatham Action
Cllr Martin Abrams (MA) Labour Party, LB Lambeth
Bell Ribeiro-Addy (BR-A) Labour MP, Streatham
Kate Leith (KL) (via Zoom) resident S Wells
Helen Bird (HB) minute taker
1. Welcome from Chair, apologies, introductions and declarations of interest.
Apologies
Apologies received from Cllr Malcolm Clark, Cllr Donna Harris, Philip Loy and Donna Lister
Introductions
Declarations of Interest: there were none
2. Approval of minutes from our meetings previously circulated.
(i) Minutes of meeting held on Tuesday 18th October 2022 were approved
(ii) Minutes of meeting held on Tuesday 10th January 2023 were approved
Update from JC
● Reported crash on corner of Garrad’s Rd and Woodfield Ave, which destroyed JC’s front wall; road markings should have been prioritised by Lambeth Council.
● Polycarbonate crash bollards at corner have been smashed twice; alternative bollards being considered, but not protecting JC’s wall.
● JC suggests a borough-wide audit of road markings and other TfL issues.
● RD suggested that the two neighbouring councils of Wandsworth and Lambeth, in co-operation with the police, should try to tackle the speeding problems associated with such incidents.
ACTION: Cllr SA and NS to write to Simon Phillips to obtain explanation as to the choice of bollard construction materials.
Other hazards
● SJ raised issue of dangerous potholes local to her and KL referred to the loose paving slabs on Greyhound Lane.
● Unclear in many cases whether it is LBL or TfL who is responsible for maintenance and repair.
● Cllr SA suggested that everyone use the TfL online reporting portal for any known road damage problems on or around TfL red routes.
(iii) Minutes of meeting held on Tuesday 7th March 2023 were approved
3. Matters arising from the minutes not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
There were none.
4. Preparation for upcoming discussion relating to improving Streatham’s rail infrastructure (5 mins)
No time left for this, so the meeting proceeded straight to item 5.
5. Discussion on Streatham’s rail infrastructure with representatives from Network Rail, GTR, alongside Streatham’s MP
Jonny Nesbitt, Network Rail Southern representative
A copy of the slides that accompanied his presentation for the meeting are attached to the accompanying email.
Summary:
● The London to Brighton line is part of the Sussex route.
● Of the £750m invested in the Sussex route, the Victoria resignalling programme is one of the key infrastructure improvements.
● Of this £750m, £60m has been invested in signalling and track work in the Streatham area, with all centred upon a state of the art signalling centre at Three Bridges.
● The fact that signalling here dates back to the 1970s and 80s means that the work has been desperately needed.
● Key benefits to come from this new signalling:- improved reliability and performance of trains;- fewer faults and fewer delays on the back of trains being able to realign to time much quicker after an incident occurs.
● On the back of the £340m allocated to track and junction improvements, line speeds should increase as a consequence.
● The new signalling will come in to use during the February half-term period in 2024, although this will be accompanied by “an extended closure of the railway” over a 9-day period.
● There have been gate line improvements as part of Victoria station upgrades.
● Confirmation that the Access for All £5m investment project at Streatham station should be fully up and running as from this autumn.
Stephen Norris, GTR representative
Summary:
● GTR’s goal is to deliver more reliable and improved rail infrastructure - the stations are old - with improved signal visibility and safety.
● Downside to carrying out works - railway lines have to be closed.
● Extra works being carried out during signal renovation.
● Staircase improvements at Clapham Junction and congestion planning have been done during closure.
● Ongoing issues of overcrowding on Metro trains and subsequent delays to commuters’ journeys.
● SN acknowledged that there was a limited amount of detail that he would be able to provide in his representative capacity at this meeting.
● KL – there is an ever greater focus on the trains, given Lambeth Council’s strategic initiative to encourage us to get out of our cars.
● SN – reiterated GTR’s goal of improvement to the railway infrastructure as a whole.
● NS referred to problems with trains being cancelled, not only during the working week, but also at weekends.
● SN advised GTR is continuously monitoring and mapping train use across all 3 Streatham stations and all relevant routes.
● SN confirmed that additional trains are being timetabled where possible, given the fact that some existing services are not made up of enough coaches to meet demand during the morning and evening peak times.
● Cllr M Abrams offered speculative comments about any possible change of Government next year and the likely impact that this would have. SN unable to comment on any of those aspects.
● In answer to NS’s question, SN confirmed GTR’s contract with the UK Government is until 2025.
● NS asked SN what SAT group could do as a lobbying group to assist GTR in making its concerns known at the highest level that greater monies will need to be allocated in order to allow them to increase rolling stock (ie the number of carriages on trains).
● SN suggested SATG take issues up with Secretary of State/Rail Minister.
● SN reiterated that, despite lobbying efforts, GTR cannot lay on any more trains than currently, without cutting some services to increase other ones; NS questioned as to whether or not more trains would be possible on the GTR lines once Network Rail’s infrastructure improvements are concluded, although there is no additional Government financial provision for this at present.
● NS asked BR-A what she would aim to achieve in terms of lobbying both with, and on behalf of, SATG.
● BR-A stated her serious concerns that all hopes of improvement appear to be solely pinned on the current rail infrastructure improvements providing increased delivery.
● BR-A stated that the train operating companies continue to profit from their privatised contracts, but she does not see the train services working well enough for the travelling public, including Streatham residents;
● BR-A acknowledged the traffic reduction schemes in progress in Streatham, which should serve to strengthen Streatham’s case for the prior Turning South London Orange proposal from TfL; she noted, however, that Streatham has still missed out on all new route planning up until now;
● She agreed that there is developing concern in relation to A23 pollution and accompanying detrimental environmental evidence.
● BR-A concluded that Streatham needs new overground rail lines and gave her commitment to focus on this demand.
● BR-A stated her support of Crossrail 2 and hoped this plan would yet be revisited;
● BR-A advised that statistically there is less investment per head in Streatham than is the case for other areas.
ACTION: BR-A to work closely alongside both Streatham Action and Lambeth Council to make Streatham’s case for rail infrastructure improvements both directly to the Rail Minister, Huw Merriman, and to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
● KL – raised the whole issue of population increase, on the back of the increase in planned housing developments.
● BR-A agreed and confirmed that Streatham is anticipating more housing developments in future; she evidenced Lambeth’s strong growth in population on the back of the Boundary Commission having recently created a whole new constituency within the borough (Lambeth Central).
● She acknowledged the huge strain on infrastructure, which was adding to existing environmental issues.
● During the pandemic, Streatham was revealed as an area supporting many key workers.
● BR-A highlighted suggestion of an Orange Line (Overground) route starting at Crystal Palace, which could then run via Streatham in to Central London;
● It is a well-known issue in this part of South London that there are unreliable train services / difficult connections.
● NS asked JN for his best estimate as to what greater capacity could be achieved once the current Network Rail works have been completed.
● JN reiterated that the current works are purely about ensuring the resilience of the existing infrastructure; the works will not build capacity.
● SA suggested pre-emptive agreement of a strategy, in the event of a change of Government and/or London Mayor.
● MA noted that the Orange (Overground) line is run by Arriva Ltd
● NS suggested that BR-A, SATG and Lambeth Council come together to schedule a meeting with the Rail Minister.
● SN advised that GTR’s funding is directly linked to Government; it includes performance-related bonuses and an under-performance charging system.
● SJ noted that she has a meeting planned in the near future with Huw Merriman, Rail Minister; she kindly offered to liaise with SATG and BR-A’s office to try to ensure that each of us would be able join her at that meeting.
● RD queried the exact nature of SATG’s vision to replace the current franchise; he proposed SATG consider pursuing a greater ‘common cause’, with the involvement of other commuter groups and MPs in the Metro area; how can greater priority be given to Metro services?
● SJ stated that, given the increasing problem of pollution, rail is the only viable solution to pursue.
● NP asked what SATG can do to incentivise commuters to change at Streatham; could some sort of accessible interchange be considered?
● SN advised that existing train services are at full capacity; as a consequence, making any changes to routes or timetabling would have huge detrimental impacts in terms of delays, equating directly to increased costs; SN cited recent football fixtures and the problems encountered as a very tangible example of this.
Cycle Hangar at S Hill Station
● EE queried developments with the cycle storage facilities improvements at Streatham Hill station.
● KM confirmed that she has been allocated money to fund improvements, BUT she requires a written case (user testimony) to support this and validate the case; she urged that this needs to happen promptly.
● NS asked that users of the facility volunteer to write to KM with their first-hand testimony. Cllr MA nominated himself in that regard and Alex Yedigaroff, in his absence, was suggested as an additional volunteer for this.
ACTION: Cllr MA and AY to co-ordinate with NS in providing personal testimonies for NS then to forward to KM as soon as possible.
● MA added a suggestion that hire bike parking facilities also be provided, as no parking zones are available.
● SN advised that Network Rail doesn’t own the land including the pavement area and advised MA to work with Lambeth Council accordingly.
ACTION: with SJ’s assistance, SATG and BR-A to meet with Huw Merriman.
GTR and Network Rail to support this meeting by supplying relevant evidence.
6. Latest update subsequent to Streatham Wells LTN design stage consultation
● NS advised that no update was available at this meeting; the anticipated response has been slightly delayed.
● As Cllr Rezina Chowdhury had not been able to attend this evening’s meeting due to a prior commitment, there was no further opportunity to discuss this.
● EE confirmed that, on behalf of residents on Leigham Court Road, she had emailed to chase up Luuk van Kessel, and cc’d Cllr RC on 24 April. She had received no response by the date of the meeting.
● A question was raised as to where the c.1,800 air quality monitoring stations are located; EE advised that SATG have been provided with a map showing the various locations.
7. Update on Lambeth healthy route through and beyond Streatham Wells
● 8th March Teams call between NS and Ali Angus of Streatham Action and representatives from Lambeth Council to discuss alternatives to implementing a fully-fledged LTN, with a view thereby to keeping Valley Rd open.
● NS reported that he and AA were advised that an alternative scheme put forward would not be pursued, not least because no accommodation was provided in that alternative scheme for cycle lane capacity, so as to fit in alongside the provision of a pre-existing healthy route.
ACTION: NS to respond to LVK and others, with further information from KS about the capacity for a cycle lane between Streatham Common North and Sunnyhill Road
● NS advised that SATG’s petition of 1,371 signatures received a fairly standard response that reiterated why Lambeth Council was pursuing the idea of a further LTN and with some accompanying further detail.
● Following the SA public meeting in Dec 2022, SA’s actions were to hold the above mentioned meeting and, where possible, put forward any counter-proposal shared with them.
● NS advised that SATG have heard nothing further from Lambeth Council since the 8th March meeting.
● PG noted that Streatham is an area ripe for development; she proposed that it capitalise on developers’ interests by ensuring that developers make financial contributions to public transport routes and incentivising the use of public transport.
● NS agreed with this proposal and cited Section 106 monies and with JC citing CIL monies.
● SA cited the Tesco Extra site and accompanying Ferrer’s Triangle improvements as prime examples, and agreed that cases made by lobbying groups should give extra weighting to this.
● NS agreed SATG could bring this into the equation in the planned discussion with Huw Merriman and that it would be a question for BR-A or RC to ask the Minister.
● RD queried if priority should be with short to medium term projects, such as floor repairs at Streatham Common Station; he suggested compiling a list of such works needed – and without delay.
● Widely acknowledged and agreed that Streatham cannot accommodate many newer residents needing to travel to-from Streatham or cross-borough.
ACTION: NS to press Lambeth further for an update on the S Wells LTN.
8. Updates so far received from LBL on SAT group’s request for feedback on Leigham Court Road issues, as part of the Streatham Hill LTN analysis:
● The state of potholes on Leigham Court Road was referred to, as the state of the road is not currently fit for purpose as a LTN boundary road.
● The point was raised that many potholes have developed on the back of tarmac replacement over the many Thames Water repair works not being of sufficiently strong long-term quality.
9. Further update on Lambeth Council’s Kerbside Strategy
● NS advised that parklets would be going ahead, as announced in Lambeth Council publicity; each parklet is approx.1-2 parking spaces in size
● SWS was concerned that trees and shrubs are not being maintained by TfL on Red Routes. Who will maintain the parklets?
● RD advised that the application form states that the resident/s applying for a parklet are required then to agree to maintain the parklet.
● KL had serious concerns re. antisocial behaviour and street drinking likely being encouraged once these parklets were put in place.
● EE suggests strategy of having fewer parklets to maintain.
ACTION:
SATG will not make any proactive applications in regard to parklets.
10. Update on timings for CPZ implementation across remaining central Streatham wards
● A document was sent out about this some months ago with timings contained on a phased map. This will be shared with SATG members once found.
11. AOB
● Anne MacArthur, the representative present from SYCT, circulated a survey for attendees to comment on the proposed Wellfield Centre rebuild; she explained the rationale behind improving Wellfield Centre facilities and that a fundraising campaign will be launched very soon.
12. Date and time of next meeting
TBC
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