Fury over TfL plans to spend £650,000 moving pedestrian crossing just 50 yards down road after 21 collisions in three years

Residents living on a busy south London high street have blasted plans to move a pedestrian crossing 50 yards at an apparent cost of more than £650,000.

Transport for London, which is chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan, is plotting to make the changes on Streatham High Road - which forms part of the A23 - over safety concerns.

They say that the crossing must be moved from near Woodbourne Avenue to just off Gracefield Gardens junction after there were 21 collisions there in three years.

But furious critics have hit out at the cost of the plan and warned that the closure of the side street will push traffic onto neighbouring roads and block access to a health centre.

It comes after a controversial low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme in the same area was scrapped after being blamed for causing huge traffic on the A23.

TfL plans to close Gracefield Gardens at the junction with Streatham High Road and create a 'staggered' pedestrian crossing across the main road.

They hope it will make it safer for pedestrians to access the northbound bus stops on Streatham HIgh Road.

But opponents are furious at the amount of money that could be spent on moving the crossing about 50 yards further south, The Standard reports.

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Councillor Donna Harris, leader of the Lib Dems on Lambeth Council, described TfL's consultation as a 'sham'.

She told The Standard: 'This really is ridiculous. There are so many local problems on which £650,000 could be better spent.

'Transport for London say too many people are crossing 'informally' but it was they who - with local support - removed the central barrier from Streatham High Road a decade or more ago.

'The whole idea then was to enable people to cross where they wanted, not just at the lights, because Streatham is a town centre not a motorway.'

In a post on X, she added: 'People are becoming exhausted with consultations that seem to be worthless because results are simply ignored.'

Councillors were told in a TfL briefing that the number of pedestrians crossing Streatham High Road 'informally' has increased since 2009, when a railing was removed from the central reservation.

TfL said the existing pedestrian crossing was 'not on the key pedestrian desire line'.

It cited figures that there have been 68 collisions in the last decade, of which 38 were pedestrians and six of them serious.

Under the proposals, motorists would only be able to access Gracefield Gardens via Leigham Avenue and Pendennis Road. The busy health centre, the Exchange Surgery, is on Gracefield Gardens.

The Standard reports that the month-long project was set to start on Monday, but has been delayed by TfL until Wednesday after concerns were flagged to TfL commissioner Andy Lord.

His office told Hina Bokhari, leader of the Lib Dems on the London Assembly, that 'all objections will be fully responded' before any work begins.

In a TfL consultation between December 2021 and January 2022, 49 per cent of respondents said the existing junction is 'very safe' or 'safe', while 50 per cent said it was 'very unsafe' or 'unsafe'.

Just over half thought the changes would make the junction safer, but a similar level felt the knock-on impact would be negative.

The Exchange Surgery were among those to oppose the proposals, arguing that its 300 staff required access. They also raised concerns that disabled patients would have limited access due to the loss of a disabled parking bay.

A TfL spokesperson said: 'We're determined to reduce danger on roads across London and this scheme at A23 Gracefield Gardens has been carefully designed to tackle the high number of collisions here.

'A full public consultation into the scheme was carried out previously and a decision was taken to proceed with the scheme.

'Recently, we consulted on the traffic regulation orders (TRO) needed to deliver the scheme, and all objections raised prior to the TRO deadline have been fully considered and responded to.'