TfL propose wide-ranging road changes in Plumstead and Thamesmead
Transport for London are to undertake road changes across a wide area of roads in Thamesmead and Plumstead.
According to a consultation launched today, areas covered include Western Way, Central Way and a spot outside Plumstead station.
Other ideas include bus lanes and modest street changes.
Mention of the area near Plumstead station is odd as Housing Zone funds from a decade ago were supposed to be spent there. Nothing has happened on that front.
Funds from that Housing Zone allocation have recently been spent on a grotty underpass while the Plumstead stretch was included in that very consultation from Greenwich Council.
The underpass has had a lick of paint recently and very nice that looks too (though other areas are still far from good) but it’s no real solution for improving links to nearby stations from new homes.
The one-way system is key as this project’s scope revealed today doesn’t include the three lanes of traffic heading between 2,000 proposed homes.
That means residents moving into 2,000 homes have the underpass or narrow footway beside three lanes of traffic to reach bus stops and Plumstead station.
Superloop
Today’s launch of a consultation is partly due to the impending launch of Superloop route SL11 (which isn’t actually any quicker than the 472 between north Thamesmead and Plumstead) before a Bus Rapid Transit scheme announced in 2023 starts in 2029.
A total of £23 million was allocated by the Conservatives with a 2026 start date. That isn’t now happening until three years later.
As for this consultation it seems all a bit wishy wash. Some new crossings and short cycle lanes are about it.
TfL talk of new bus lanes speeding up journeys but Thamesmead’s extensive dual carriageways never really gets that congested anyway. They were built for a town that in the 1960s and 1970s was expected to be bigger and see far more cars. Back then major road projects were the plan almost everywhere.
Whilst this didn’t happen in much of built-up London after opposition, few objected in the marshes of Thamesmead. When Thamesmead’s housing plans fell away most of the roads were already there and would now be perfect for a tram network.
Thus it’s not really delays or slow bus journeys that are the issue along these roads but public transport vehicle capacity. A bus lane on the road seen above is not transforming anything if roads are clear even in peak times.
Speed limits are also set to be reduced.
To enable thousands of new homes in Thamesmead what’s really needed is high capacity transport modes (i.e. more people than can fit on a bus) to shift people from new homes to the Elizabeth line. This doesn’t address that.
And as stated they’re also managing not to do very much with the area that’s most in need of improving; the one-way system beside 2,000 new homes at Lombard Square.
Revising past changes
One change proposed nearby is for eastbound traffic to again head directly straight towards Plumstead High Street when approaching from Woolwich as was the case before a “bus improvement” project 20 years ago. Boy was that a stinker.
For about a year my bus journeys to work extended from 15-20 minutes to an hour due to daily roadworks. But I was a bus user and surely I’d benefit? Well it finished, lasted all of two days and half the elements they’d spent a year building were permanently dropped. They’d reduced westbound traffic lanes around Plumstead station with one for buses and one for other vehicles – which was down from two.
Miles of queues on approach come opening day much like seen during works the prior year. Buses held up before they could ever reach the bus lane (which existed before the “improvement” works). It was such a colossal failure TfL and Greenwich quickly allowed all vehicles to use the westbound bus lane after Plumstead station on a permanent basis.
The bus improvement scheme offered no improvement.
On the other side of the road eastbound traffic was forced all the way around the one-way system. That’s now being reverted back. They also put in a bus priority light which was and is beyond hopeless. It’d go red as buses pulled away from the adjacent stop slowing buses down yet further. Buses would often try to avoid using the bus lane so as not to trigger the hopeless lights.
But if having to stop, then you can be sure the bus-only lights would be red when leaving.
Just a lamentably shit project from start to finish with some parts now being overturned. Every time I now read “bus improvement project” I think back to that year of one hour bus journeys for a project that lasted two sorry days and watch plans like a hawk.
So yep, when TfL are now highlighting improvements with this scheme once again it’s one to keep tabs on.
Western Way
As feared it seems much of any available funding is to be spent on relatively small scale changes while ignoring the areas that’d make a difference such as the car-centric and hostile roads between 2,000 new homes.
On Western Way it means tinkering and altering with all the central reservations.
Really? That’s the best use of money?
The area can’t have substantive transformational changes a tram would provide as the DLR sucks up funding but as something “must be done” given the sheer scale of housing in the area just piss about with the kerbs a bit?
Let down
The more you look at plans for Thamesmead be it transport or housing the less it appears that those who should be its strongest supporters seem to really know or care about the town.
Here we have TfL ignoring the main area in need of improvements at the one-way system beside mass new housing, messing about in areas to the north that are already fine while also shortly cutting buses serving numerous parts of Thamesmead when the 472 is entirely replaced by limited stop SL11.
As often said on this site, this is the only place in London where a new Superloop sees an existing route cuts in its entirety. Why Thamesmead?
As for Greenwich Council they didn’t object to those bus cuts during the consultation. Nor did Peabody. Then again and as covered just yesterday Peabody never responded to a survey from Greenwich councillors drawing up a new Thames Path strategy to improve walking and cycling links. With friends like that…
How many failings can Peabody offer the town? If not pushing the flawed DLR plan in north Thamesmead to the detriment of better projects that could serve all of Thamesmead by linking to the Elizabeth line then they’re building new homes at a crawl seconds from Abbey Wood station in south Thamesmead.
DLR
As for that DLR plan, well my views can be seen here. It’s of limited benefit to almost all of Thamesmead’s existing residents.
While peanuts are being spent on areas nearby that could truly improve the lives of many and facilitate tens of thousands of homes from Erith to Greenwich and all towns between, the DLR to just one part of Thamesmead gets big bucks. It should be noted total homes for areas like Woolwich, Charlton and Greenwich all keep getting bumped up with the latest draft Local Plan adding more major development sites.
New homes in north Thamesmead are welcome but what would be far preferable is a tram linking thousands of new homes in north Thamesmead along the Bus Rapid Transit route seen in this consultation and onwards to growth areas, and not the DLR under the Thames via an expensive tunnel to Beckton and a slow meandering route west.
Creating high capacity links to nearby Elizabeth line stations at Woolwich and Abbey Wood would crucially also pass Thamesmead Central with new housing potential and west Thamesmead to boot. The DLR will not.
A tram could run along the route this consultation announced today covers. What a shame the extent of funding then appears to be some paint and a few crossings while the DLR cost is £1.7bn.
Misplaced priorities
What we’ve seen today with both the DLR announcement and this consultation on the road network sums up the bigger problems. Helping all of Thamesmead and nearby growth areas to any great degree? Not really. Misplaced priorities.
There’s no high capacity transport link from thousands of homes in Thamesmead to the Elizabeth line and no improved high capacity services towards 2,000 homes in Plumstead, 5,000 in Woolwich then east to Charlton’s 8,000 proposed new homes and 25,000 in Greenwich.
Instead we see minor changes ignoring the most pressing areas of need beside new homes in this consultation while pissing about with moving the central reservation a few centimetres on roads that are fine on a bus.
For organisations that claim to want to support Thamesmead, the trilogy of TfL, Greenwich and Peabody seem very keen to push measures that help few (except selected landowners in one corner of Thamesmead) and actively hinder the wider town and its residents.
It’s transparently obvious when many in those organisations speak about Thamesmead they havn’t the foggiest. Maybe visited once or twice but lived there? Worked there? Read about the town’s history? Aware of all those strategy documents and future housing plans both in the town and nearby areas?
Thamesmead has had poor leadership for so long and now those three are keeping that sorry record going. As Thamesmead’s DLR plan helps relatively few takes up much of any scarce funds, other areas of mass growth are left with scraps.
Click here to view and comment on TfL’s plans drawn up with Greenwich Council.
Weak stuff really isn’t it. Hard not to see the DLR as taking all the focus and funding while other areas of substantial development across SE London are overlooked.
This one way system is one of two of the worst traffic designs in greenwich (the other being the dangerous ‘roundabout’ under the blackwall approach near Ikea snaking traffic all the way back into the carriageway).
Glad they are changing this but I wonder if cars going back towards woolwich will need to use the current loop to return. One of the more absurd repercussions of this setup is using the parking lot at the elizabeth line, or waiting nearby at Arsenal way and needing to drive 1.5 miles back towards woolwich via this loop.