After Transform Tulse Hill’s meeting with Transport for London (TfL) last month, and lots of our own research and your stories, we’ve sent a detailed letter to TfL asking for clear action on the gyratory along with a series of questions.
Importantly, the letter was also signed by Norwood Forum, Station to Station BID plus:
- All 3 MPs for the area (Helen Hayes, Bell Ribeiro-Addy & Steve Reed – who’s also Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government)
- Marina Ahmad, London Assembly Member for Lambeth & Southwark
- 4 local councillors, Leader, & Deputy Leader of Lambeth Council
We cannot recall another issue that has united different political parties and every level of our local elected representatives in this way. It tells TfL something simple: this community is not willing to see further delay on the critical issue road safety, and neither are those we have elected to represent us.
Why we have written
The letter follows Transform Tulse Hill’s meeting with TfL on 22 May, following which senior officers including from Lambeth Council walked the gyratory with us and saw first hand what residents, bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians face every day.
That meeting produced genuine commitments, and we have strongly welcomed them: new VivaCity traffic sensors to be installed this summer, a review of pedestrian crossing timings, coordination with Lambeth Council on bus priority measures and the wider issues around the gyratory, and openness to continued engagement with the community.
But the meeting also revealed something troubling. On the timeline TfL described – sensors installed this summer, six months of data collection, then data analysis taking up to 12 months followed by a feasibility study taking up to a year – physical transformation of the gyratory could not begin until the early 2030s.
The then Mayor of London first promised £5 million for this junction in 2013. Two decades of waiting is not something this community is prepared to accept, and the letter says so plainly. Just last week, a member of our community was hit by a car on the gyratory which left the scene without stopping – and there appear to be no functioning cameras int his key location to allow the authorities to investigate this serious incident. Luckily on this occasion, serious injury or death was averted – but more delay means more injuries and risk to life.
The letter follows Transform Tulse Hill’s meeting with TfL on 22 May, following which senior officers including from Lambeth Council walked the gyratory with us and saw first hand what residents, bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians face every day.
That meeting produced genuine commitments, and we have strongly welcomed them: new VivaCity traffic sensors to be installed this summer, a review of pedestrian crossing timings, coordination with Lambeth Council on bus priority measures and the wider issues around the gyratory, and openness to continued engagement with the community.
But the meeting also revealed something troubling. On the timeline TfL described – sensors installed this summer, six months of data collection, then data analysis taking up to 12 months followed by a feasibility study taking up to a year – physical transformation of the gyratory could not begin until the early 2030s.
The then Mayor of London first promised £5 million for this junction in 2013. Two decades of waiting is not something this community is prepared to accept, and the letter says so plainly. Just last week, a member of our community was hit by a car on the gyratory which left the scene without stopping – and there appear to be no functioning cameras int his key location to allow the authorities to investigate this serious incident. Luckily on this occasion, serious injury or death was averted – but more delay means more injuries and risk to life.
The case we have made
Our case rests on clear evidence. Analysis of TfL’s own collision data, carried out with the support of an independent academic researcher in road safety, shows the gyratory makes up just 0.12% of Lambeth’s roads but accounts for 1.19% of the borough’s casualties over the past decade – making it ten times more dangerous per metre than the borough average, with 18 serious injuries and one death in ten years. New government figures published this week show Lambeth among London’s worst boroughs for people killed or seriously injured, with excess speed a factor in 57% of the capital’s fatal collisions last year.
TfL’s own newly published Walking and Wheeling Action Plan identifies road danger, hostile pedestrian environments and insufficient crossings as the main barriers to walking in London. Every one of those describes the Tulse Hill gyratory. This is TfL’s road, on TfL’s network, failing against TfL’s own standards.
The letter also challenges the suggestion that Tulse Hill must wait for external third-party funding to make any progress. We understand that comparable junction transformations that have taken place across the city including Highbury Corner, Waterloo City Hub, Lambeth Bridge — were funded primarily or largely from TfL’s own budget. We have asked why a deprived inner-London neighbourhood with no major development pipeline on the horizon is being held to a different standard, and how that squares with TfL’s own published commitments on equity.
Our case rests on clear evidence. Analysis of TfL’s own collision data, carried out with the support of an independent academic researcher in road safety, shows the gyratory makes up just 0.12% of Lambeth’s roads but accounts for 1.19% of the borough’s casualties over the past decade – making it ten times more dangerous per metre than the borough average, with 18 serious injuries and one death in ten years. New government figures published this week show Lambeth among London’s worst boroughs for people killed or seriously injured, with excess speed a factor in 57% of the capital’s fatal collisions last year.
TfL’s own newly published Walking and Wheeling Action Plan identifies road danger, hostile pedestrian environments and insufficient crossings as the main barriers to walking in London. Every one of those describes the Tulse Hill gyratory. This is TfL’s road, on TfL’s network, failing against TfL’s own standards.
The letter also challenges the suggestion that Tulse Hill must wait for external third-party funding to make any progress. We understand that comparable junction transformations that have taken place across the city including Highbury Corner, Waterloo City Hub, Lambeth Bridge — were funded primarily or largely from TfL’s own budget. We have asked why a deprived inner-London neighbourhood with no major development pipeline on the horizon is being held to a different standard, and how that squares with TfL’s own published commitments on equity.
What we have asked for
The letter and its detailed appendix ask TfL to commit to specifics rather than generalities. Among the key requests are:
- A regular liaison arrangement to be agreed between TfL, Transform Tulse Hill, councillors and Lambeth Council officers, with a single named TfL day-to-day contact, so engagement is sustained rather than sporadic.
- A written project timeline with real milestones, from sensor installation through feasibility work, community consultation and option selection.
- Transparency on prioritisation: the scores that TfL has given Tulse Hill against its own criteria in its publication on options for the gyratory (which we have seen only following a Freedom of Information request), which other TfL-led projects) ranked above it, and what it would take to move this scheme which TfL has rated as ‘Amber’ into a funded position.
- Confirmation of what the “stepping stone” approach mentioned in the meeting actually means, and reassurance that the optimal outcomes established by TfL in 2023 – two-way working, better pedestrian provision, improved cycle connectivity – remain commitments.
- The collision data behind TfL’s position that the interim works on Hardel Rise have reduced casualties, and an honest assessment of the risk on the three arms of the gyratory that have received no safety works at all.
- Support for the gyratory’s nomination for TfL’s rollout of the next phase of RedSpeed Sentio Shield 4D radar and 4K cameras, at a junction where residents regularly report vehicles travelling at dangerous speeds.
- Answers on the new SL6 and SL15 Superloop bus services – which we have strongly welcomed – start dates, and what will be done about inadequate bus stops and pavements before passenger numbers around the gyratory rise significantly.
- Immediate improvements to pedestrian crossings, including countdown timers, which TfL indicated could be investigated without waiting for the longer feasibility process mentioned.
We have asked for written responses within ten working days, in line with TfL’s own commitment to respond to councillor and MP enquiries within that period.
The letter and its detailed appendix ask TfL to commit to specifics rather than generalities. Among the key requests are:
- A regular liaison arrangement to be agreed between TfL, Transform Tulse Hill, councillors and Lambeth Council officers, with a single named TfL day-to-day contact, so engagement is sustained rather than sporadic.
- A written project timeline with real milestones, from sensor installation through feasibility work, community consultation and option selection.
- Transparency on prioritisation: the scores that TfL has given Tulse Hill against its own criteria in its publication on options for the gyratory (which we have seen only following a Freedom of Information request), which other TfL-led projects) ranked above it, and what it would take to move this scheme which TfL has rated as ‘Amber’ into a funded position.
- Confirmation of what the “stepping stone” approach mentioned in the meeting actually means, and reassurance that the optimal outcomes established by TfL in 2023 – two-way working, better pedestrian provision, improved cycle connectivity – remain commitments.
- The collision data behind TfL’s position that the interim works on Hardel Rise have reduced casualties, and an honest assessment of the risk on the three arms of the gyratory that have received no safety works at all.
- Support for the gyratory’s nomination for TfL’s rollout of the next phase of RedSpeed Sentio Shield 4D radar and 4K cameras, at a junction where residents regularly report vehicles travelling at dangerous speeds.
- Answers on the new SL6 and SL15 Superloop bus services – which we have strongly welcomed – start dates, and what will be done about inadequate bus stops and pavements before passenger numbers around the gyratory rise significantly.
- Immediate improvements to pedestrian crossings, including countdown timers, which TfL indicated could be investigated without waiting for the longer feasibility process mentioned.
We have asked for written responses within ten working days, in line with TfL’s own commitment to respond to councillor and MP enquiries within that period.
What happens next
We will publish a summary of TfL’s response here as soon as it arrives, and share it with our petition signatories, elected representatives and the wider community. The Commissioner of TfL and the Deputy Mayor for Transport have both committed in writing to genuine, proactive engagement with this community. This letter is the first real test of those words.
Thank you to every one of our 1,192 petition signatories. This momentum belongs to you – but we still have time to get more local people signing the petition before it is submitted to the Mayor of London by the end of June – so please do sign at Petition: a call on the Mayor to fix the dangerous Tulse Hill Gyratory
Please share this link with friends, neighbours and local Whatsapp groups, school newsletters – the more exposure the petition gets the more traction this campaign can achieve.
Transform Tulse Hill is keen to hear from people who would like to get more involved in the campaign, either with supporting with administration, event organisation, design and bluesky thinking – or just to help distribute posters and leaflets, of which we have a large stack printed and ready to go out.
If you are interested in helping out, please drop us a line at info@transformtulsehill.org.uk
We will publish a summary of TfL’s response here as soon as it arrives, and share it with our petition signatories, elected representatives and the wider community. The Commissioner of TfL and the Deputy Mayor for Transport have both committed in writing to genuine, proactive engagement with this community. This letter is the first real test of those words.
Thank you to every one of our 1,192 petition signatories. This momentum belongs to you – but we still have time to get more local people signing the petition before it is submitted to the Mayor of London by the end of June – so please do sign at Petition: a call on the Mayor to fix the dangerous Tulse Hill Gyratory
Please share this link with friends, neighbours and local Whatsapp groups, school newsletters – the more exposure the petition gets the more traction this campaign can achieve.
Transform Tulse Hill is keen to hear from people who would like to get more involved in the campaign, either with supporting with administration, event organisation, design and bluesky thinking – or just to help distribute posters and leaflets, of which we have a large stack printed and ready to go out.
If you are interested in helping out, please drop us a line at info@transformtulsehill.org.uk
