The future of Long Lane

Guy's street wrote:

I've also seen traffic absolutely fly over the zebra crossing down towards Tesco.
I remember once a year or so ago a pleasant chap doing at least 50mph in a land rover hammering on his brakes as a mother with buggy and small child very nearly stepped in to the zebra crossing. He clearly didn't notice their brightly-coloured presence until the last moments.

That particular crossing can be a lottery for everyone sometimes. Once motorists leave the lights at the junction by St Georges, they speed up around the chicane into Long Lane and seem unprepared for another potential stop light within such a short distance on the crossing with Tabard St. Some drivers appear to relish the opportunity to catapult around that curve, and then get the red mist once they see the inviting 'straight' past Tescos and beyond.

That particular crossing is further complicated by the cyclists who cut across to join Long Lane from the 'pedestrianised' bit of Tabard St. I don't wish to divert this thread on to yet another debate about cycling on pavements, but I have seen a number of close calls between pedestrians encountering cyclists shooting across the pavement from Tabard St onto Long Lane at that crossing. In that respect the conversion of Tabard St into a mixed pedestrian / cycle only zone has made the junction with Long Lane more hazardous, imo.

I see they are proposing to remove the railings around the island there, so it it will be interesting to see if this changes the patterns of bahaviour in any way.

I'm actually talking about the zebra crossing a little further along, the one by the kebab shop and little green-grocer type place. But yes, I agree with everything you say on those traffic lights.

Guy's street wrote:

I'm actually talking about the zebra crossing a little further along, the one by the kebab shop and little green-grocer type place. But yes, I agree with everything you say on those traffic lights.

My mistake, but as you say, dodgy. Vehicles have built up speed down the wide 'Tesco Straight' by the time they encounter that one.

spartacus wrote:

Guy's street wrote:

I'm actually talking about the zebra crossing a little further along, the one by the kebab shop and little green-grocer type place. But yes, I agree with everything you say on those traffic lights.

My mistake, but as you say, dodgy. Vehicles have built up speed down the wide 'Tesco Straight' by the time they encounter that one.

I'm a big fan of the way you talk about Long Lane as if it is part of a Grand Prix circuit, by the way.

You should change your name to Martin Brundle.

The traffic comments have been noted along with the other non-traffic points.

Is there anything else that people want to propose, comment on or otherwise contribute to the Localism effort in the area?

I think one thing worth saying maybe is that Southwark Council's insistence on having commercial units at ground level in all new developments has not been a success.

Longlaner. No it hasn't. What's with that?
Boarded up unused shops to let all over the place.
I appreciate they won't make good flats with the current trend of building right up to the property line so there is no forecourt area but please no more pointless unused shops.

I agree with longlaner's comments re empty ground floor commercial units.

There needs to be some degree of central coordination so that a range of complementary retailers are encouraged to move in. Marylebone High Street is a good example where the Howard De Walden Estate control most of the property and have very strict rules about the kind of retailers they want.

On a related note, I noticed that a Nisa Local opened on Grange Road right next to a Premier Foods. A few weeks later, the Premier Foods shut. Why the council thought it was a good idea to have two identical stores next to each other is beyond me. Hopefully the Premier Foods' owners' new venture of turning it into a wine shop will be a success.

This is a great initiative to improve the quality of Long Lane, especially to upgrade the quality of the shops and resolve the issue of empty shop fronts.

However one of the proposals is to build shops/residential units on the small triangle of land at the corner of Long Lane and Weston Street. I take the opposing view as this is one of the only green spaces directly on Long Lane which provides an attractive break along a built up road. This garden should be protected and upgraded with flowers, shrubs and trees.

Also the report mentions that the site of the brown business units on the opposite corner of Weston Street and Long Lane has recently changed hands. Are we to expect a huge City Walk style development on this site? Does anyone have any further info on this?

Completely agree with you robhutchuk, how about the council get on with tearing down the squatter magnet that used to be Valentine's pub.
I know it's mentinoed in the doc, but how about they just get on with tearing it down or securing it properly whilst they await an outcome?

It infuriates me, as someone on the housing waiting list, there's plenty of derelict sites ripe for development yet get left to bring the area down.