Southwark has approved new e-bike and e-scooter bays on streets from Bromar Road to Elm Grove, each in a former car parking space. Formal notices come next.

Southwark Council plans new parking bays for hire e-bikes and e-scooters on 28 streets in Dulwich, Peckham and Camberwell. Each bay would go on the road, in what is now a car parking space.

The leader of the council approved the plan on 5 November, according to the decision notice published on 11 November. Across the borough it covers 90 locations for new bays and 12 existing bays to be made longer.

Why the council wants them

The council’s report says hire bikes and scooters left outside bays are blocking pavements. More bays, it says, will give riders somewhere to leave them, “particularly in areas with higher levels of use”.

Up to 4,500 hire e-bikes can be deployed in Southwark under the council’s agreements with three operators. Operators must remove badly parked bikes and scooters within 24 hours.

The report says no disabled bays will be removed. It accepts there will be fewer car parking spaces, but says the borough has 23,284 parking bays on more than 2,000 streets, so the loss of a small number “is not expected to have a significant overall impact”.

The streets near you

The locations below are from the report’s two tables, with its own descriptions.

East Dulwich, Dulwich and Herne Hill

  • Albrighton Road, west end, near Dog Kennel Hill
  • Bromar Road, west of No. 7
  • Pytchley Road, outside Gatcombe House
  • Muschamp Road, near Ondine Road
  • Cyrena Road, near Silvester Road
  • Fellbrigg Road, opposite Nos. 63 and 65
  • Burbage Road, replacing the Zipcar club bay or beside it
  • Extended: Champion Hill, and Croxted Road south of Thurlow Park Road

Peckham and Nunhead

  • Elm Grove, a double bay opposite Rye Lane Mini Market
  • Amott Road, near Gowlett Road, outside the Gowlett Arms
  • Soames Street, outside No. 2A
  • Sandison Street, outside Nos. 55 and 57
  • Cross Road, west end
  • Bournemouth Road, beside the motorcycle bay
  • Lugard Road, opposite No. 1
  • Astbury Road, two bays: opposite No. 1, and south of the business park entrance
  • Kimberley Avenue, opposite Nos. 5 to 9
  • Limesford Road, outside No. 1
  • Gibbon Road, outside No. 48
  • St Asaph Road, opposite Bonita Mews
  • Goldsmith Road, two bays beside cycle hangars
  • Bonar Road, two bays
  • Friary Road, opposite Breamore House
  • Blakes Road, opposite Innes Street

Camberwell

  • Grove Lane, beside the cycle hangar
  • Vicarage Grove, beside the disabled bay
  • Parkhouse Street, east end near Wells Way

What happens next

The decision can be called in by councillors until 18 November. If it stands, the council must publish a traffic order for each bay and hold a statutory consultation. Anyone can object at that stage. If objections come in, an Executive Member decides whether to go ahead.

The decision also hands officers the power to add more hire bike bays in future without a fresh decision by a councillor, through the same traffic order process.

What it means for you

  • If one of these is your street: you will be able to object when the council publishes the traffic order. Southwark’s traffic notices appear on the Public Notice Portal.
  • If you drive: each bay takes a car parking space. The report does not say how many spaces will go in total.
  • If you find a hire bike blocking a pavement: the operator has 24 hours to move it under its agreement with the council.

Sources