Camberwell Station Road

Update summer 2023

Over the past couple of years, we've been working with local residents and businesses and with Sacred Hearts School to produce designs to improve Camberwell Station Road. We've knocked on every door on the street, listened to the big and small businesses along the street, hosted walkabouts, and attended local meetings. The feedback we received has been valuable and has been fed into the following strategic ambitions for the road:

• a street for all - how we can look at making everyone welcome and for the street to be accessible, including recommendations from the women and girls safety walkabout
• connecting Camberwell – as a centre to wider areas
• making good impressions – how we can establish a feel for Camberwell Station Road that is reflective of the types of activity that take place on the road

We've secured enough funding to improve two key areas. These are the northern section of the road on the junction with Camberwell New Road and outside the old Camberwell Station.

The northern section of the road

Our plans to invest in this area have already boosted the business case for ArchCo’s investment in the 5 northernmost arches on the road which have recently been refurbished and advertised to let. See the artist's impression below of what the street will look like once our project is complete alongside the arches.

Improvements we are making to the northern end of the road to complement the renovated arches will include:

• one raised table at entrance to Camberwell New Road to slow vehicles down
• removing the traffic island, widening the pavement and narrowing the road so people can cross safely; we've double checked that buses, fuel tankers and post office lorries will have sufficient room to turn
• enrich the street with Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems on both sides of the road; these systems are a type of rain garden where the rainwater runs off the street and into the underground water table through a filtration system that waters the plants and alleviates flooding risk
• softening the landscape by greening and planting 11 trees which creates a welcoming environment and helps to cool the street in the summer
• providing accessible pavements with sufficient dropped kerbs
• introducing bespoke beacons with artwork to create a sense of identity and belonging to draw people into the street
  • the beacons have been designed with students from the nearby Sacred Heart School and their quotes will be engraved into the stone base
  • the base of the beacons will also include the Camberwell logo which forms a C to represent the well in Camberwell
  • this logo was designed by the local Camberwell Identity Group; you may have seen the logo elsewhere in Camberwell including on lamp post banners in the town centre
• installing beautifully designed bollards and carefully placed boulders to deter pavement parking and to protect the planting
• we're also hoping to introduce electric vehicle charging on Knatchbull Road

Outside the old Camberwell Station building

Improvements we're making to the outside of the old Camberwell Station building include:

• creating a plaza outside the station building
• relocating the pavement on the west to improve sight lines following feedback about women and girls in particular feeling unsafe in that location.
• narrowing the road to one lane with a give way to the north. We've double-checked that there is ample room for buses to enter and exit the bus garage
• installing segregated cycle lanes going north with cycle priority in both directions
• installing a speed table to slow traffic and help people cross the road safely
• removing concrete from the bases of two mature trees
• removing the one dying tree
• surrounding the remaining trees with planting and greenery
• painting the station building
• installing street furniture including a beacon in line with the designs for the northern section of the road, described above

In both areas, we've tried to achieve a fine balance between reducing anything that gets in the way of pavement such as badly positioned bins and posts alongside making the street welcoming, installing measures to stop cars from being stored off the highway, and highlighting the character of the street to make it a more welcoming environment.

We're continuing to work with ArchCo to open the old station building which will help activate that section of the street. This will take time and money due to the substantial investment required to reopen the building.

Artwork on Camberwell Station Building

During early engagement, we worked with some very talented students from Sacred Hearts School and with Southwark Young Advisors who prepared an inspirational tour sharing the issues and articulating the vision for the road beautifully. They developed four themes which were:

• green spaces
• an inclusive and diverse street
• Camberwell station
• mechanics and industry

The work on these themes was used to form a brief to choose an artist to produce artwork to be placed in the window recesses of the old Camberwell Station building. In December 2022 the Camberwell Identity Group worked with a student and the art department from Sacred Heart School and Southwark Council to appoint an artist via an open process. Local artist Diana Zrnic was appointed and she has worked with local residents and businesses to create her artwork. We've had a sneak peek at the designs in progress and we can’t wait to share them with you when they are finalised and approved which will be in the autumn 2023.

Timeline

• start on site - winter 2023
• finish on site - summer 2024

Please bear with us. Getting all the logistics in place is very challenging. We don’t want to hold up the 250 buses a day that use the Go-Ahead bus garage, or delay the thousands of parcels being delivered via the Royal Mail Delivery Office. We strive to get works on site whilst keeping disruption to businesses and residents to the absolute minimum. Traffic may need to be rerouted for a few days as we may need to close the road for some of the works. We're planning things very carefully to keep traffic and services running as smoothly as possible during this period.

Some background

Over the past couple few years, we've been speaking with and listening to hundreds of local people who have given us lots of great ideas to improve Camberwell.

As part of this, we looked at ways of unlocking the potential of neglected areas in Camberwell, like along Camberwell Station Road, including:

• how to make the road more inviting and make people feel safe and welcome
  • the road is currently very wide and does not encourage pedestrian travel; instead, the road can be difficult to navigate and is dominated by buses, cars and vans
• how to encourage more local businesses and jobs to move into the area; this will help to activate “dead frontages” (boarded up, shuttered, derelict or empty ground floor premises) by working with landlords to secure tenants
  • through this opening up the businesses to the road, generating activity and supporting jobs
• how to provide pleasant spaces to relax so people can connect with others and create a stronger sense of community
• how to improve air quality and public health in the vicinity
  • this includes providing opportunities for electric vehicle charging and encouraging people to walk or cycle along the road
• how to make the road greener
  • this includes supporting existing mature trees, introducing new planting and supporting biodiversity
• how to capture the area’s character with its rich history and heritage
  • this helps to engender a stronger sense of pride
• how people move through the area, not just now but in the future
  • for example, there's strong local support for the Camberwell railway station to reopen, and people will need to be able walk from the high street to the station without having to walk a long way around
  • designs being developed now must address this

A huge thank you!

We're so grateful to everybody who has and who is sharing their views with us. There's a wealth of precious local knowledge and valuable expertise in the area which is pivotal to us getting this right.

If you have any queries or feedback in relation to Camberwell Station Road only, or if you wish to be included in future consultations, email CSR@southwark.gov.uk.

For all other queries relating to area improvements, email Regen.Info@southwark.gov.uk.

Page last updated: 12 July 2023