Side train gates
Side train gates
Cheese and grapes
Last edited by raymondus on 22 Aug 2007 06:22, edited 1 time in total.
I heard they were padlocked on Monday - someone told me it was "unofficial", whatever that means?
Anyway they're very much open again.
I hope there are no plans to close them again - although I think the dropped kerb etc that have been put in place suggest it should be permanant. I believe we have the Sydenham Society to thank for this?
Anyway they're very much open again.
I hope there are no plans to close them again - although I think the dropped kerb etc that have been put in place suggest it should be permanant. I believe we have the Sydenham Society to thank for this?
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Pat Trembath
- Posts: 613
- Joined: 2 Oct 2004 10:54
Whatever the reason Platform 1 was padlocked on Monday, I can confirm that the intention is that it remains open - this ensures the station, at least, is DDA compliant. Getting on to a train is another matter altogether!
Plans are being drawn up so that the station is accessed by Oyster Card machines on both sides of the tracks (with the station manned whilst it is operating) from March 2008, according to the last infomation we have.
On Platform 1 this will entail removing a tree to widen the entrance and providing a weatherproof structure to keep the machinery dry.
Needless to say Sydenham Society is pressing for some weatherproofed structure to keep the customers dry, as well!
Plans are being drawn up so that the station is accessed by Oyster Card machines on both sides of the tracks (with the station manned whilst it is operating) from March 2008, according to the last infomation we have.
On Platform 1 this will entail removing a tree to widen the entrance and providing a weatherproof structure to keep the machinery dry.
Needless to say Sydenham Society is pressing for some weatherproofed structure to keep the customers dry, as well!
I hate to be a killjoy when people are so delighted with the gate at the end of Peak Hill Gardens being open so that passengers can access the up platform to London Bridge. However for residents of PHG the resulting problems of trying to park even remotely near to their own homes, it is a nightmare.
What with comuters parking all day and LA Fitness patrons day and night we rarely get a look in - in the parking stakes.
We have also noticed that particular corner is fast becoming a bit of a place for hoodies, drug dealers and the like to hang out. This creates noise and disturbance, litter dropping (from comuters and youths hanging around)
Can The Sydenham Society suggest a way around this presumably unforeseen problem? I am certain that members would not be so pleased if this happened in roads where they resided.
That said - it was definitely not me who chained the gate up. However it would not surprise me if it wasn't a nearby resident a little miffed at never getting a parking space near their own home.
What with comuters parking all day and LA Fitness patrons day and night we rarely get a look in - in the parking stakes.
We have also noticed that particular corner is fast becoming a bit of a place for hoodies, drug dealers and the like to hang out. This creates noise and disturbance, litter dropping (from comuters and youths hanging around)
Can The Sydenham Society suggest a way around this presumably unforeseen problem? I am certain that members would not be so pleased if this happened in roads where they resided.
That said - it was definitely not me who chained the gate up. However it would not surprise me if it wasn't a nearby resident a little miffed at never getting a parking space near their own home.
I sympathize gillyjp.
Hate to suggest this but surely the only solution is a residents parking scheme in your area.
Unfortunately groups/organisations (including Sydenham Society) try and press a head with improvements and changes to things but don't always realise what impact it has on residents nearby. Personally having that gate open is very convenient to me and hundreds of others, but I am certain your once quiet clean little square is no longer
Hate to suggest this but surely the only solution is a residents parking scheme in your area.
Unfortunately groups/organisations (including Sydenham Society) try and press a head with improvements and changes to things but don't always realise what impact it has on residents nearby. Personally having that gate open is very convenient to me and hundreds of others, but I am certain your once quiet clean little square is no longer
As far as I can see those residents of Peak Hill Gardens are right to be annoyed. That street was never designed to be a thoroughfare to the station, and there was never meant to be a gate to the platform there.
The 'London bound' platform and entrance used to be way down on the other side of the bridge as I understand it.
If I had my way the whole station would be majorly restructured (and the bridge widened) so that there would be an entrance on the right hand side of the bridge and a platform there, like there apparently used to be once upon a time. This new entrance would surely inconvenience no-one as there is currently just an unofficial rubbish tip where the old entrance used to be.
I get laughted at whenever I suggest this so I assuming there is a good reason why this can't be done. I presume this is because the whole bridge would have to be widened to allow both platforms to go under it? and the upheaval would be too much and cost way too much.
When I first moved to Sydenham I couldn't get my head around the hilariously bad station access and I still can't, but other than knocking down the whole area and starting again it seems we're stuck with it.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
The 'London bound' platform and entrance used to be way down on the other side of the bridge as I understand it.
If I had my way the whole station would be majorly restructured (and the bridge widened) so that there would be an entrance on the right hand side of the bridge and a platform there, like there apparently used to be once upon a time. This new entrance would surely inconvenience no-one as there is currently just an unofficial rubbish tip where the old entrance used to be.
I get laughted at whenever I suggest this so I assuming there is a good reason why this can't be done. I presume this is because the whole bridge would have to be widened to allow both platforms to go under it? and the upheaval would be too much and cost way too much.
When I first moved to Sydenham I couldn't get my head around the hilariously bad station access and I still can't, but other than knocking down the whole area and starting again it seems we're stuck with it.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
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Pat Trembath
- Posts: 613
- Joined: 2 Oct 2004 10:54
Firstly, the Sydenham Society sympathises with jillyjp re car parking, particularly all day commuter parking. As far as I recall people in the Peak Hill Gardens and environs came down against a CPZ when there was an area wide consultation some two years ago.
I think, if there are sufficient residents shown to agree with jillyjp in the local area, that this discussion could be re-opened via local councillors (and the Sydenham Society, if invited) to see if there is some way of resolving non-resident parking problems in this area. I doubt that this problem will go away with increased train services, whether Platform 1 is open or closed.
With regard to the "wrong" sort of people hanging around, this is plainly a police matter and contact should be made accordingly. This problem may exist whether the gate is open or not, and maybe improved with a better manned station, when Oyster cards are accepted.
Access directly onto platform 1 is surely desirable for families with buggies or luggage returning from Croydon and Gatwick or going up to London Bridge and beyond, also for the less active in our community?
Secondly, Julwz, without the East London Railway coming in 2010 and the station coming under the auspices of TfL no station improvements would be being considered at all. Sydenham station was part of Network Rail's many stations, and was in the bottom third of the list of all stations owned by NR countrywide for improvement to DDA access and for any other considerations for refurbishment.
There are far more important and much busier stations needing urgent improvements up and down this country. For example, in London, Clapham Junction is one of the busiest staions but has no DDA and there are massive gaps on most platforms to be leapt by the fit and able to access trains, and this station has far greater priority over little old Sydenham for major capital funding.
In an ideal world (and incidentally floated by Sydenham back in 2004) a rebuilt station with a concourse parallel to the Sydenham Road railway bridge, East Croydon style, is really not practical as the Greyhound car park embankment would be extremely difficult and extremely expensive ( and would include knocking down a house in Peak Hill Gardens) to provide a ramp like-structure on to Platform 1 to comply with DDA requirements.
Likewise there really is no chance of a new station building on the up-line on the other side of the road. Funding is simply not justifiable, when the overall state of our national transport infrastructure is taken into account. We, in Sydenham, have to make do with what we have and improve as best we can.
An improved access to platform 1, with an Oyster Card facility, and a station manned whilst open would hopefully make the Peak Hill Gardens side of the statioin feel more secure during the dark hours and may well chase away undesireable elements.
I think, if there are sufficient residents shown to agree with jillyjp in the local area, that this discussion could be re-opened via local councillors (and the Sydenham Society, if invited) to see if there is some way of resolving non-resident parking problems in this area. I doubt that this problem will go away with increased train services, whether Platform 1 is open or closed.
With regard to the "wrong" sort of people hanging around, this is plainly a police matter and contact should be made accordingly. This problem may exist whether the gate is open or not, and maybe improved with a better manned station, when Oyster cards are accepted.
Access directly onto platform 1 is surely desirable for families with buggies or luggage returning from Croydon and Gatwick or going up to London Bridge and beyond, also for the less active in our community?
Secondly, Julwz, without the East London Railway coming in 2010 and the station coming under the auspices of TfL no station improvements would be being considered at all. Sydenham station was part of Network Rail's many stations, and was in the bottom third of the list of all stations owned by NR countrywide for improvement to DDA access and for any other considerations for refurbishment.
There are far more important and much busier stations needing urgent improvements up and down this country. For example, in London, Clapham Junction is one of the busiest staions but has no DDA and there are massive gaps on most platforms to be leapt by the fit and able to access trains, and this station has far greater priority over little old Sydenham for major capital funding.
In an ideal world (and incidentally floated by Sydenham back in 2004) a rebuilt station with a concourse parallel to the Sydenham Road railway bridge, East Croydon style, is really not practical as the Greyhound car park embankment would be extremely difficult and extremely expensive ( and would include knocking down a house in Peak Hill Gardens) to provide a ramp like-structure on to Platform 1 to comply with DDA requirements.
Likewise there really is no chance of a new station building on the up-line on the other side of the road. Funding is simply not justifiable, when the overall state of our national transport infrastructure is taken into account. We, in Sydenham, have to make do with what we have and improve as best we can.
An improved access to platform 1, with an Oyster Card facility, and a station manned whilst open would hopefully make the Peak Hill Gardens side of the statioin feel more secure during the dark hours and may well chase away undesireable elements.
Thank you for responding to my cry of woe re the car parking in PHG. I think it may be worth another bash at residents parking only around this area. When this was first suggested a few years ago I was all for it. However, no other residents agreed with the concept so, as you say, it was shelved.
Another idea that got shot down in flames by most of the surrounding residents was the closing off of the roundabout end of Spring Hill. Again I was all for it, but for some reason locals didn't see the wider advantages, one of which would have been that PHG and Spring Hill would have been harder to access for casual and commuter parking. I believe this was a proposal from the Sydenham Society and I recall some residents actually demonstrating on the corner of Spring Hill about it one Sunday. Do we know what happened to this proposal in the end?
I am sure that now things have changed somewhat and PHG is becoming flooded with commuter parking the residents may take a different view.
Incidentally - I too take advantage of the gate being open and hop over the bridge daily to catch the train to Croydon! It isn't the gate being open I object to - just the resulting car parking problem.
Another idea that got shot down in flames by most of the surrounding residents was the closing off of the roundabout end of Spring Hill. Again I was all for it, but for some reason locals didn't see the wider advantages, one of which would have been that PHG and Spring Hill would have been harder to access for casual and commuter parking. I believe this was a proposal from the Sydenham Society and I recall some residents actually demonstrating on the corner of Spring Hill about it one Sunday. Do we know what happened to this proposal in the end?
I am sure that now things have changed somewhat and PHG is becoming flooded with commuter parking the residents may take a different view.
Incidentally - I too take advantage of the gate being open and hop over the bridge daily to catch the train to Croydon! It isn't the gate being open I object to - just the resulting car parking problem.
Will the Oyster Card Facility 'only' give you access to the platform/station if you purchase a ticket (or platform ticket if that still exists?)Pat Trembath wrote:An improved access to platform 1, with an Oyster Card facility, and a station manned whilst open would hopefully make the Peak Hill Gardens side of the statioin feel more secure during the dark hours and may well chase away undesireable elements.
Am I missing something heregillyjp wrote:
Another idea that got shot down in flames by most of the surrounding residents was the closing off of the roundabout end of Spring Hill. Again I was all for it, but for some reason locals didn't see the wider advantages, one of which would have been that PHG and Spring Hill would have been harder to access for casual and commuter parking. .
Surely if you blocked off the top of Spring Hill the whole of that area would not be accessible by any vehicle (Ambulance/Fire Engine) it would be a pedestrian area.......thus people with cars having to park outside someone elses home!
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Pat Trembath
- Posts: 613
- Joined: 2 Oct 2004 10:54
"Will the Oyster Card Facility 'only' give you access to the platform/station if you purchase a ticket (or platform ticket if that still exists?)"
Sydenham station will be accessed by the type of ticket barriers found at all tube and main line stations - so, as far as I know, a ticket will be required.
With regard to blocking off Spring Hill at the roundabout. This was one of the suggestions made by the Sydenham Society a part of its "Sydenham Gateway" ideas. Residents and services would enter Spring Hill from Peak Hill. As gillyjp says local residents in Spring Hill were not at all happy at this idea!
However, Lewisham Council took our Gateway ideas and worked them up into the recent Sydenham Road pedestrian improvement scheme and successfully bid for funding from TfL to take some of these ideas forward. This includes improving crossing points in Sydenham Road, decluttering the pavements and looking at how to improve Cobbs Corner roundabout (maybe even removing it altogether - it wasn't there in the 1960s)
To date, this has resulted in a consultation leaflet delivered to 5000 homes in the area and a further public consultation exercise last March. Designers were appointed to work up a draft scheme and we wait a further round of consultation sometime this autumn when residents will have an opportunity to comment on what the designers suggest
Sydenham station will be accessed by the type of ticket barriers found at all tube and main line stations - so, as far as I know, a ticket will be required.
With regard to blocking off Spring Hill at the roundabout. This was one of the suggestions made by the Sydenham Society a part of its "Sydenham Gateway" ideas. Residents and services would enter Spring Hill from Peak Hill. As gillyjp says local residents in Spring Hill were not at all happy at this idea!
However, Lewisham Council took our Gateway ideas and worked them up into the recent Sydenham Road pedestrian improvement scheme and successfully bid for funding from TfL to take some of these ideas forward. This includes improving crossing points in Sydenham Road, decluttering the pavements and looking at how to improve Cobbs Corner roundabout (maybe even removing it altogether - it wasn't there in the 1960s)
To date, this has resulted in a consultation leaflet delivered to 5000 homes in the area and a further public consultation exercise last March. Designers were appointed to work up a draft scheme and we wait a further round of consultation sometime this autumn when residents will have an opportunity to comment on what the designers suggest