Streets for People Project

Information

We are a project which aim to make our community (Liberty St, Morat St, Hackford Rd, Isabel St, Caldwell St) a safer, nicer and greener place to live.

Location: SW9
Members: 5
Latest Activity: Aug 16

About us

Guiding Principles
We have a few guiding principles on what we want to achieve for our community.
1. Isabel Street to be converted into a vehicle-free community space/park.
2. Caldwell Street to be the focus of traffic calming measures - particularly at its junction with Hackford Road.
3. The entire neighbourhood to be the focus of a ‘greening’ initiative.
4. The entire neighbourhood to have physical measures introduced to slow traffic and create a speed restricted ‘home zone’, with a 20mph speed limit throughout.
5. Infrastructure to be introduced to encourage cycling and walking throughout the area – particularly in relation to the cycle superhighway, and to/from the schools.

A bit of background info
BACKGROUND
• As part of the Freemans redevelopment (Liberty Street/Clapham Rd), £135,000 of Section 106 money has been secured to enable the following Traffic and Highway improvements :
1. Safer routes to school.
2. Walking routes between Freemans site and Brixton Road.
3. Traffic management on roads in vicinity of site, including Liberty Street and Durand Gardens.
4. Planting of street trees on Liberty Street.
5. Any works the council deems appropriate in connection with the development.
• The £135,000 was due to the council in February 2009, and was finally released by the developer end of September 2009.
• The neighbourhood to the rear of the Freemans site already faces a relatively unique set of challenges (see map below). A small area of grid-style streets, it is bounded by two major arterial routes (Clapham Rd and Brixton Rd) and contains two schools in close proximity as well as accommodation for the elderly and mobility impaired.
• The introduction of a large number of new residents and vehicles from the Freemans development has the potential to create further problems for the area.
• The local community has long held aspirations with regards the need to introduce traffic calming and more greenery into their neighbourhood.
• This S106 funding from the Freemans scheme presents a rare opportunity to address existing and future problems, and to help deliver residents’ aspirations for that neighbourhood.
• This proposal outlines a broad-scale programme of public realm works designed to create an exemplar project within Lambeth/London for the rebalancing of public space between motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

OUTLINE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD
• As listed below, that neighbourhood has a number of defining characteristics :
GENERAL AREA : (Liberty St, Morat St, Hackford Rd, Isabel St, Caldwell St).
 The streets to the rear of the Freemans site are characterised primarily by tall multi-occupation Victorian properties containing 3-6 flats each.
 Only the flats on the ground floor have access to outside space, and this is generally of a low quality (e.g. small sections of tarmac).
 The buildings have a mixture of freeholders – primarily housing associations
(London & Quadrant, Hyde Southbank Homes and Lambeth & Southwark).
 There are also a small number of privately owned freehold houses (Bakery Close and Hackford Rd).
 The general area has a very ‘bricky’ feel – with a lack of greenery and no safe play space for the many local children.
 An active residents group for Liberty St, Morat St and Hackford Rd (‘Streets Ahead’) has existed for some years now. They have organised events such as traffic-free street parties and surveys of what residents would like to see done to their area.
 There is a Lambeth-owned estate either side of Caldwell Street (Caldwell Gardens) with 165 flats. This is the only part of the neighbourhood that contains greenery.
 A new TRA (Tenants & Residents Assoc.) exists on the estate.

1. HACKFORD RD :
 Has two primary schools located at either end, within a quarter of a mile of each other (see map).
 As a result, the roads around the schools tend to be very busy in the morning and afternoon school runs.
 Durand School operates a split site, with pupils transferred daily by foot across the busy Brixton Rd (see map).
2. LIBERTY STREET :
 Currently only has buildings on one side of the street – with the Freemans development introducing houses along the other.
 Is currently a quiet road, with little through-traffic and plenty of available parking space at the bottom (to the rear of Durand school).
 As the completed Freemans site will be operating a one-way traffic flow, all vehicles leaving there will be forced onto Liberty Street.
3. CALDWELL STREET :
 Joins the two major arterial routes of Brixton Rd and Clapham Rd directly.
 As a result, it is part of a well known rat-run across south London, and is particularly busy in the rush hours.
 The street also divides Caldwell Gardens estate in two.
4. ISABEL STREET :
 A ‘non strategic’ road that no-one lives on and which is used primarily by learner drivers and pay and display visitors to the area.
 One side of the street comprises entirely of a long section of high barbed wire-topped wall to the rear of the school, which adds to the ‘bricky’ feel of the area.
5. DURAND GARDENS :
 A conservation area comprised largely of properties with private outside space
 Has a communally-owned central area that is maintained as a wild garden.
6. DURAND AND REAY PRIMARY SCHOOLS :
 Reay sits at the corner of a busy junction between Caldwell St and Hackford Rd. The lack of a secure crossing point is often raised as an issue by parents and residents.
 Durand is the largest primary school in Lambeth, and operates a split site across the busy Brixton Rd.
7. CYCLE SUPER HIGHWAY :
 One of the Mayor of London’s two pilot ‘cycle superhighway’ schemes will run along the A3 Clapham Rd in front of the Freemans development.
 This will present both opportunities and challenges for the safe flow of vehicles, pedestrians & cyclists through the area to the rear of Freemans (esp. Caldwell St).

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Comment by Elaine Kramer on August 4, 2010 at 10:04pm

Sunflower spectacular...not quite

As a result of the efforts of many unfriendly passers by many of our planted sunflowers on Hackford Road did not make it to maturity, but this little beauty located near van Gogh's former residence did - pic 1. And thanks to the efforts of our neighbour Flo we have a lovely show on the corner of Morat Street. Many thanks Flo.

Grass Routes update
The cuts are starting to take effect and one unfortunate outcome has been the cancellation of a proposed pedestrian crossing which was to be installed (prior to the grand plans being instigated) near the junction with Hackford Road and Caldwell Street where the children cross to Reay school. The reason being that we have a financially well supported traffic calming scheme to come.

Grass Routes final local consultation

This took place last Friday outside the local shop on Caldwell Street. To date we have got feedback from up to 150 people using the Planning for Real models made by local schools. Many thanks to Lambeth Council and Gill Hutchinson and local schools for helping us with this very accessible and important consultation which will add so much local input to the Grass Routes plans for the area.
We have also had a reasonably good return rate from the questionnaires which were sent out in May - over 10%, which is considered the average.
Many thanks to all neighbours who have taken part in the consultation. I will be keeping you informed of progress on the outcomes of the consultation, later in the year.

Comment by Sue on June 7, 2010 at 5:55pm: This all looks amazing.. I think using Section 106 funding is a great opportunity, but for areas that don't have this you could try DIY Streets. This is also about rebalancing the relationship between car and pedestrian/cyclist. http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/liveable-neighbourhoods/diy-streets
Has anyone accessed this at all in Lambeth does anyone know?

Comment by Elaine Kramer on June 7, 2010 at 9:16am: Here's a few pics of our recent Sunflower Spectacular. Streets Ahead worked with Caldwell Gardens TRA to launch the Grass Routes neighbourhood project. Gill Hutchinson worked on Planning for Real models - made by Reay and Durand schoolchildren, these help people to see the neighbourhood in 3D and allow them to pinpoint areas that need improvements etc. We also pimped the pavements with sunflowers and marigolds along Hackford Road - former home of Vincent van Gogh

Comment by Elaine Kramer on June 7, 2010 at 9:06am

Comment by Elaine Kramer on May 17, 2010 at 3:27pm: Grass Routes is an exciting new neighbourhood project in Vassall which will transform the area behind the new Freemans development on Clapham Road. Local residents from Streets Ahead and Caldwell Gardens, Lambeth Council, Reay and Durand Primary Schools, have teamed up and are working on plans which will improve and green the neighbourhood, create play streets and calm the traffic.

To celebrate the first phase of the Grass Routes project a Sunflower Spectacular is being held on May 23rd from 2-4pm. Green fingered residents will be planting sunflowers into the street tree pits, to commemorate former resident Vincent van Gogh, Lambeth Play will be coming along to provide a car free play space on Caldwell Gardens estate, and the first of a series of Planning for Real events will be taking place. As part of the Grass Routes - Streets for People project, a 3D model has been made by local children to enable neighbours to take a bird’s eye view of where they live and suggest where they think improvements could be made. Also Philip O’Keeffe and the team from Lambeth's Sustainable Waste Management department will be giving lots of free advice about recycling.

By the end of 2010 the Galliard housing development will be home to 260 new households, housing up to 900 new residents and 140 cars. This will have a huge impact with yet more traffic and pedestrians needing to walk or drive along the neighbourhoods busy streets.

Comment by Jean Brown on May 13, 2010 at 12:20pm: Hi Kees

Interesting to note just how many ''Streets'' there are in that area. Most of it is listed as being in a conservation area and even Vincent Van Gough lived in the area for while too - hence the English Heritage Blue Plaque, which can be seen on one of the buildings near Durand Primary School.

Many English placenames derive from a position on or near a Roman road, usually denoted by the element -street (also strat-, strait-, streat- and other variants). Thus, for example, Stretham means "homestead or village on a Roman road" and likewise Stretford means "ford on a Roman road". [Source: Wikipedia}

Comment by Jean Brown on May 13, 2010 at 11:52am: Hello Kees

I lived on Morat Street for more than 15 years and set up the first TRA (M.A.C.S.R.A. - Morat & Caldwell Street Residents Assc) for people whose Landlord was London & Quadrant Housing Trust. I live in Camberwell now but get regular updates from Elaine. I'm really proud of the tremendous efforts being made by Elaine, yourself and local residents to improve the area.