Ambitious plans to improve health and safety in our community are being unveiled by Lambeth Council.

If approved, the scheme — for a ‘healthy route’ on Loughborough Rd — will include protected cycle lanes, upgraded crossings and cycle traffic lights. The council is launching an online consultation event on Thursday, 17 March from 6pm.

Our Labour team have welcomed the initiative which, it’s hoped, will help deal with long-standing concerns about road safety and the environment at the junction with Akerman Rd in Myatt’s Fields. But, they say, further action is needed over a wider area, and other issues — such as congestion and speeding traffic — need to be addressed to make the neighbourhood a “safer, greener and cleaner” environment.

The Healthy Route proposals include:

• Continuous cycle lanes (1.7m wide) on each side of the road of Loughborough Road leading to Akerman road (see pdf of proposed route here). Each lane will be protected with light segregation using traffic wands. The cycle lanes will be located between the kerbside and the bus lane
• New bus stop islands
• Upgraded crossings along Loughborough Road
• New pedestrian and cycle crossings to be added at the Fiveways Junction
• Cycle traffic lights to be added at Akerman Road and Loughborough Road at the Fiveways Junction
• A slight reduction in car parking spaces

To help shape these proposals, residents can attend the event or give their views online at the council’s commonplace here. Residents have until 20 March to submit their views.

Local councillors Annie Gallop and Paul Gadsby said:

“We do welcome the council’s focus on this area as residents have the problems with poor street layout on Loughborough Road. We would certainly encourage residents to take part in this consultations and feedback to Lambeth their views.

“However, we are pushing, with local residents, for further measures and funding to address congestion along the section of Loughborough Road leading to Brixton Road and the wider issues with speeding vehicles around Myatt’s Fields Park, Akerman Road and the Lothian estate.

“The Conservative government’s cuts to Transport for London and local councils have left budgets tight. But we will continue to campaign for wider improvements across Myatt’s Fields that deliver a safer, greener and cleaner environment.”