The plan includes a major upgrade for the local centre on Elm Park and permanent upgrades to traffic filters throughout the neighbourhood. The improvements on Elm Park were made possible by the 73 per cent drop in traffic on the road brought about by the area’s low traffic neighbourhood.
Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, cabinet member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, said: “We are determined to make our neighbourhoods safe and pleasant. With these changes to the Tulse Hill LTN scheme, I’m confident that the area will be a great demonstration of our vision in practice.
“We know from evaluating the scheme and monitoring its transport effects that traffic across the area has significantly reduced. Speeding is much less of an issue and anecdotally, I’ve heard from residents that they are less stressed and prouder of their local neighbourhood.”
Public realm improvement works on Elm Park, which began in September, will enhance the shopping parade as part of the wider Tulse Hill Low Traffic Neighbourhood. This stretch of Elm Park has been made one way to provide more space for people walking, wheeling and cycling locally and to enhance the public realm.
The scheme will see pavements widened, additional greening, seating, cycle parking and bin stores to remove street clutter and improve the attractiveness of the area. In addition to this, short term parking for visitors to the businesses has been provided on Leander Road.
Work will be substantively complete in the next couple of weeks with finishing touches early in the new year.
Monitoring of Tulse Hill LTN during the trial period showed that traffic across the neighbourhood including internal and boundary roads reduced by 2,000 vehicles per day. There was a 31 per cent reduction in motor vehicles on internal roads while cycling increased by 107 per cent and air quality across Lambeth continues to significantly improve.
After introducing an experimental traffic order for the Tulse Hill Healthy Neighbourhood in 2020, the council moved to make the scheme permanent in 2022.
The council now intends to upgrade temporary traffic filters into permanent features, adding greenery, enhancing the public realm and continuing to reduce road danger and improve conditions for those walking, wheeling and cycling.
The council will replace temporary wooden planters at key Tulse Hill junctions with biodiverse planters and raised platforms, enhancing the street landscape.
The permanent changes across six traffic filters are set to be rolled out following statutory consultations and new traffic orders. The locations for filter upgrades are:
- Elm Park / Craster Road
- Leander Road / Helix Road
- Arodene / Helix Gardens
- Roupell Road
- Cotherstone Road
- Upper Tulse Hill / Claverdale Road
Lambeth Council’s 2030 Borough Plan emphasises the dual goals of climate and social justice, with Healthy Neighbourhoods prioritized in areas with higher deprivation levels to improve quality of life and create climate-resilient neighbourhoods.
Further improvements to local streets will be delivered when funding becomes available.
