Focus of work
In 2017, FIT funded Dr Peter Wood, an independent researcher and campaigner with expertise in sustainable transport governance, advocacy and behaviour change, to run a project supporting local community organisers in South London to develop the tools, information and skills more effectively advocate for integrated transport.
The project provided practical assistance to local residents who were new to advocating in favour of integrated transport, supporting them to take action by co-developing a better understanding of the barriers to change. By using community organising methods, it developed a resilient groundswell of support for integrated transport, combining socially inclusive community forms with support for all types of sustainable transport improvements.
The project conducted a review of existing amenity groups, tenants and residents associations, business networks, and business improvement districts, inviting groups interested in conducting more substantive work to partner with the project. Eighteen groups or individuals initially came forward, and all were provided with initial advice relating to their interests. This tended to focus on better making residents’ demands visible to local authority officials or councillors. Three groups were more substantially supported as part of this project: Bankside Residents’ Forum, residents around New Kent Road, and residents north of Elephant and Castle.
Impact
Bankside: The Bankside Residents’ Forum was supported to take action focused on air quality, giving them the expertise to become a partner with the Better Bankside Business Improvement District, with the respective projects awarded £200,000 by the Greater London Assembly and £17,000 by Transport for London. The residents’ forum committed to working on producing walking routes that reduce exposure to air pollution and support public transport use and interchange by reducing crowding around key bus routes and train stations; targeted planting; and support for efforts to consolidate freight for both businesses and residents.
New Kent Road: An experimental width restriction was installed on Harper Road from January 2018 to July 2019. This was predicted to remove 8% of the total number of vehicles, but with a significantly greater benefit as it meant the removal of all HGVs. This move supported walking, cycling and feeder journeys to the local public transport interchanges in a central London location with extremely low car ownership. Furthermore, it generated a stronger sense of place around the area’s school, mosque, and shopping parade. The improvements were also cited as a key link in the ‘Southwark Spine’ walking and cycling route, supporting the London Mayor’s Healthy Streets Strategy. Through planning campaign tactics, the local residents’ groups developed further plans to use the experimental traffic order to formally record significant support for the width restriction, and call for it to be upgraded to filtered permeability (full motor traffic restriction). The changes made have been retained, beneftting all residents and the local environment.
Elephant and Castle: Residents on roads to the north of Elephant and Castle were supported to evidence the level of opposition to increased traffic volumes. Southwark Council responded by proposing to make Lancaster Street one way for motor traffic, with traffic reduction achieved by preventing the dominant flow of motor traffic (south to north), whilst maintaining contraflow for bicycles. The local authority argued that available budgets made more substantial changes, such as filtered permeability, infeasible in the short term. Ward councillors allocated £8,000 of discretionary ward funding (Cleaner, Greener, Safer fund) to a feasibility study for the further traffic calming, including formal pre-consultation engagement with residents to develop the formal evidence base for a larger scheme. During COVID, the Great Suffolk Street Low Traffic Neighbourhood was implemented, containing Lancaster Street. This has removed motorised-through traffic across the wider area.