A row has broken out over plans to move a pedestrian crossing 50 yards at an apparent cost of more than £650,000.
Transport for London wants to make the changes to Streatham High Road – which forms part of the A23 - in a bid to improve safety.
It says changes are needed in the wake of 21 collisions in three years near the Gracefield Gardens junction. Ten involved pedestrians, including two of the three that resulted in serious injuries.
But opponents warn that the closure of the side street will displace vehicles onto neighbouring roads and impede access to a health centre.
TfL plans to close Gracefield Gardens at the junction with Streatham High Road and create a “staggered” pedestrian crossing across the main road, to make it safer for pedestrians to access the northbound bus stops on the west side of Streatham High Road.
This would involve moving the pedestrian crossing on the eastern side of Streatham High Road about 50 yards further south.
Lib Dem councillors say “townscape” works previously carried out TfL were designed to enable shoppers and bus users to cross Streatham High Road without waiting for pedestrian lights.
Councillor Donna Harris, leader of the opposition Lib Dem group on Lambeth council, described the TfL consultation as a “sham”.
She said: “This really is ridiculous. There are so many local problems on which £650,000 could be better spent.
“Transport for London say too many people are crossing ‘informally’ but it was they who - with local support - removed the central barrier from Streatham High Road a decade or more ago.
“The whole idea then was to enable people to cross where they wanted, not just at the lights, because Streatham is a town centre not a motorway.”
The same part of Streatham was subject to huge controversy earlier this year when Lambeth council axed a low traffic neighbourhood that was blamed by critics – and mayor Sadiq Khan - for causing massive bus delays.
According to a TfL briefing to councillors, there has been an increase in the number of pedestrians crossing Streatham High Road “informally” since the railing was removed from the central reservation in 2009.
TfL said the existing pedestrian crossing, just south of Woodbourne Avenue, was “not on the key pedestrian desire line”.
It said that, over the last 10 years, 68 collisions have occurred in the area, of which 38 involved injury to pedestrians, six of them serious.
Under TfL’s proposals, vehicles would only be able to access Gracefield Gardens – where a busy health centre, the Exchange Surgery, is located - via Leigham Avenue and Pendennis Road.
Work was due to start on Monday and take a month. But this has been delayed by TfL until Wednesday after concerns were raised with TfL commissioner Andy Lord.
His office told Hina Bokhari, leader of the Lib Dem group on the London Assembly: “All objections will be fully responded to before the start of any construction works.”
We have had an immediate response to our urgent letter to the Commissioner of TfL. There will be a slight delay to the proposed works to respond to objections. pic.twitter.com/sVXPowO85f
— Hina Bokhari AM 🔶 (@HinaBokhariLD) December 13, 2024
Ms Bokhari said: “Local residents need time to have their say and TfL need to consider local objections in a meaningful way. It’s not too late for TfL to pause and stop what could be a serious and permanent mistake.
“The mayor has had to intervene before when wrong decisions were made and he will be urged to do it again here.”
A consultation conducted by TfL in December 2021 and January 2022 found that 49 per cent of respondents regarded the existing junction to be “very safe” or “safe” while 40 per cent regarded it to be “very unsafe” or “unsafe”.
Just over half of respondents believed the proposed changes would make the junction safer but a similar number felt the knock-on impact would be negative.
The Exchange Surgery responded to the consultation by opposing the proposals. It said that 300 staff required access and expressed concern that disabled patients would have reduced access, due to the loss of a disabled parking bay.
A TfL spokesperson said: “We’re determined to reduce danger on roads across London and this scheme at A23 Gracefield Gardens has been carefully designed to tackle the high number of collisions here.
“A full public consultation into the scheme was carried out previously and a decision was taken to proceed with the scheme.
“Recently, we consulted on the traffic regulation orders (TRO) needed to deliver the scheme, and all objections raised prior to the TRO deadline have been fully considered and responded to."
