SYDENHAM STATION APPROACH IMPROVEMENTS

[leenewham]

At the last assembly Cllr Best said that the improvements had been shown at the previous assembly (which I was unable to attend) and were available online but I haven't seen them since and I can't find them online.

Potentially these £300,000 worth of improvements are some of the most important improvements to our area. Does anyone have any links or information about them?

I know the toilet block is being demolished and undercover bin storage provided but what else. Anyone got any visuals?

[bensonby]

Are the public toilets being replaced? Or are they a loss?

If it's the latter it can hardly be called an "improvement" can it?

[Eagle]

I agree there seems to be a dirth of public conveniences compared with years ago.
I seem to recall a Gents on the station at one time , may have been the former up side.

[Tim Lund]

It's worth having a look on the SydSoc site here



The basic idea I think is excellent - to allow members of the public to use toilets which are there anyway, and supervised automatically by the people managing premises. I don't think it's unreasonable to pay shop keepers for being part of this scheme, although for some businesses it could also have a value as a way of attracting customers.

The problem with the toilets being removed was that there was nobody who around all the time whose responsibility they were, so inevitably they became a hang out for our friendly local street drinkers / heroin, methadone users. So their loss is not such a loss.

It was one of the projects voted on at the last Sydenham Assembly, and I'm pleased to say it came top. I wrote about it at the time - see here.

I still have the same questions about sustainability

Will the participating shops be paid £800 annually if this is to keep going? Will this become a regular call on Sydenham Assembly funding - or might Lewisham Council find resources for it elsewhere? Alternatively, is it possible that participating shops derive other advantages which mean they don't need to be paid £800 - such as getting valuable goodwill, or more directly getting customers into their shop? One way of answering this question would be to know if other local authorities have tried haggling on this. Does anyone know?

[leenewham]

Agree, I hope the toilet scheme is a success. I can't say I've ever used the public toilets outside the station and having seen inside one once I can't believe anyone else does either. They remind me a scene out of trainspotting.

So has anyone seen the plans, designs or visuals for the improvements?

[Chris Best]

Hello Lee - Here is the link on Lewisham's web site showing the proposals and there will be some extra parking bays in Silverdale to compensate for the loss of parking in Station Approach -
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/SiteCollecti ... proach.pdf

Chris

[leenewham]

Thanks Chris, I was struggling to find it on the Lewisham site (which is much improved by the way).

Option 2 looks good, option 3 wont make much, if any difference in the long run. Has any particular route gone through? Is it possible to add provision for a cafe outside the station in the piazza. The guys who run the coffee van outside of Crystal Palace station were interested in having another one there when I spoke with them some time ago. They were a bit put off by the place in the station, but as that's no longer there is seems a good option. Especially with the planned improvements.

Just out of interest, regarding the parking bays in Silverdale, will these be made in an area where cars can't park (i.e. on double yellow lines) or does this mean that long term parking will be changed to short term 30 minute parking?

The link for the station approach designs says that Network Rail will have the final say. Is there anyone we can write to so they can see local people support the changes (or just post here and we can send them a link so they can see it)?

[leenewham]

Here is a closer look:

[richpickings]

I'm not a fan of losing the toilets in favour of the community scheme, because are any of the local businesses going to stay open until the last train arrives at Sydenham? That toilet has been a life saver (or at least trouser saver!) on numerous occasions when travelling back late at night

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[davegr]

I was using the toilets once when the doors just decided to open of their own accord. Glad I was just having a pee. Could have been quite a sight...

They are like the train spotting toilets though. What is so difficult about providing and maintaining decent public toilets? They do make the approach look like a dump. It kind of matches the crack den-like Sydenham Surgery on the other side of the road.

[Tim Lund]

Yesterday's Pensioners' Forum had a lecture on toilet facilities yesterday about which I had intended to write to you.

Researchers at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design are working on TACT3- a project concerning public toilet facilities in London.

One lives in Wandsworth and one in Lewisham. We saw the various facilities available in Wandsworth, and these seemed to be quite numerous.

Lewisham came in for considerable criticism - more about lack of facilities than otherwise - (it was noted, among other things, that Mcdonald's toilets were clean).

I pointed out that there had been a toilet block at Sydenham Station, now closed, and the only toilet in Mayow Park was locked, and I had no idea who had access to the key.

There were also criticisms concerning the conversion of the toilets at Forest Hill and Brockley and the replacement of the facilities at the junction of Broadway and Bromley road with trees (which are much prettier, but only dogs would benefit).

I have a newsletter "The Toilet Paper" Spring 2011, Vol.2.issue2, which seeks help from members of the public to make a Great British Public Toilet Map, and perhaps this is something that our local assemblies might like to take part in.

May I just, as an aside, point out one experience, I have personally witnessed a woman voiding on the pavement outside a cafe on Sydenham Road, - not a pretty sight, and no-body complained!!!!

It is not uncommon for mothers to hold children over the kerb for the same reason. It was concluded that lack of public accessible safe robust toilets meant that people stayed home - not only was this a bad thing - but was likely in the long run to create more expenditure sooner, because people declined more quickly for lack of exercise and contact with other people.