Street lights in Rockingham Street / Arch Street alleyway

Hi all,
I moved in Albert Barnes House recently and I have noticed that the alleyway between New Kent Road and Rockingham street is very dark at night. The area does not feel safe at all and, despite of the lights poles been present, all of them are not working. Former tenants told me that they were mugged with a knife in September and personally I never feels safe when I am coming back home after midnight.

I wrote several times to the council, but they always replied saying that those lights are managed by TFL. TFL said me that they are not managing those lights. All the situation is absolutely nonsense.

Do you have any suggestion? Should I write to local concillors?

Hi mickybar

Councillors already on the case...

I have reported this to the head of street lighting at Southwark Council. Turns out that some of the lights are the responsibility of Network Rail, some of the Housing Association that owns the new Arch Street development and some are Southwark Council. They were meeting together onsite to agree a plan to get these all working.

I went down there on Thursday night and saw that there was now some additional lighting working - some on the garages, one on Arch Street and one on one of the railway arches - but it was still quite dark in many places; given how many people now use this as a cut-through to the Rockingham this needs solving and we are on the case.

regards

Tim

Cllr Tim McNally
LibDem Councillor for Chaucer Ward
020 7525 7157 / 07903 967 809
[email protected]

Great, thanks for the information. Hope the issue will be sorted out soon!

And the lights are finally on! :-) Thanks to the councillor McNally for having followed the case.

Hi

I moved into Arch Street at the weekend and had exactly the same thoughts/concerns about the street lights as Mickybar. It looks like you found a solution back in March but I wondered if anyone knows the current situation? Admittedly I have only been there a couple of days but on Saturday night none of the lights down the cut through were on, neither those on the side of the railway bridge or on the side of the buildings. I have mentioned it to our landlord too.
Thanks.

Hi NaomiH, the lights were working good until the end of August, then... dark again! :-(

I already wrote a couple of times to the councillor Karl Eastham who forwarded the request to some other councillor, but still had no feedback. I'll chase him again.

The more we complain, the bigger chance we have to being listened, before something bad happens!

Hi all,

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Just to say that I have chased this a couple of times, and I'm still waiting for a response, but will chase again now.

Thanks

Karl Eastham
Labour Councillor, Chaucer

Hi Mickybar and Karleastham

Thanks both for the quick reply. Yes, would be great to know a response asap, especially with darker nights approaching. Seems a no-brainer to keep the area lit to improve safety and deter people using it as a toilet.

Many thanks.

There have been a range of issues with the maintenance of this 'street' - planting, parking etc - since it was built.

On a happier note the Costa Azul restaurant along there is well worth visiting, with or without street lights!

I've never been there honestly, I remember though that everyone was very worried when they requested a license until late in the night. Well, usually they close not that late and anyway I never had any problem with noise or clients or anything related to the restaurant, usually I see families especially on Sat evenings / Sundays. It's good to hear positive comments, I'll definitely try to visit it soon.