LREF 2016: Transport is “absolutely key” to keeping up with the development map in Southwark, according to panellists at a briefing on the borough.
With new homes, offices and public realm improvements in the offing for Canada Water, Elephant & Castle, Old Kent Road, and Peckham, Southwark councillor Mark Williams emphasised the importance of increasing the capacity and the number of trains as well as securing the Bakerloo Line extension.
“If we don’t get a Bakerloo extension for the Old Kent Road, we can do 5,000 homes, but if we do we can deliver up to 20,000 homes, which is bigger than the town I grew up in,” he said.
Roger Madelin of British Land added: “Transport evaluation in a science but we don’t quite know what’s going to happen elsewhere. It is a bit like a waterbed. Crossrail will have a big impact and we can probably boost cycling to Copenhagen levels.
“We’ve got a certain number of tools but we need to combine these.”
Encouraging alternative modes of transport was essential, according to Rob Heasmen of Lendlease.
He said: “At Elephant & Castle we have more buses here every hour than Tube or rail, but improvement of the facilities is key. We are trying to encourage different modes of transport. It is about influencing new behaviours, and maybe developers could be braver in that respect.
“Southwark encourages alternative modes of transport, but there needs to be a level playing field around the rest of London.”
Delegates also agreed that although having a big balance sheet was advantageous to deliver a huge development pipeline, there were some challenges to financing.
Madeline said: “The removal of the housing grant is most stupid thing this country has ever done in its recent and social economic history. It is complete nonsense.
“The crisis will get worse unless we can finance housing from general taxation. It is difficult to finance proper affordable housing for a vast sector of society and the current policies are not going to work.”
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