Stoney Street: Lib Dems call for rethink of closure plan
Borough & Bankside councillors have called for a rethink of plans for a permanent traffic ban on Stoney Street in Borough Market.
The southern end of Stoney Street - between Park Street and Southwark Street - has been shut to traffic since the 2017 London Bridge terrorist attack. We reported in 2022 on plans to make the pedestrianisation of this space permanent:
Last December Southwark's cabinet signed off £900,000 of capital spending for new fixed barriers to protect the street from a terrorist vehicle attack.
According to the December council report: "In response to the terrorist attack at London Bridge in 2017, measures were put in place to improve the security at Stoney Street which included the installation of concrete blocks at either end of the street.
"Advice from counter terrorism security advisers is that the measures should be replaced with PAS68 (publicly available specification used for impact testing and rating hostile vehicle mitigation products) rated barriers.
"It is proposed to install fixed barriers as this will remove all risk from the use of vehicles as weapons. This capital funding is needed to supply and install the security rated barriers."
Last week - as part of their suggested amendments to the council's revenue budget - opposition Lib Dem councillors proposed to discontinue this spending.
"Local residents and businesses are unanimously opposed to the permanent closure of Stoney Street," said Cllr David Watson, Lib Dem member for Borough & Bankside.
"The current system of limited vehicular access for deliveries is the pragmatic approach and closure doesn't address the more pressing issue of sometimes dangerous overcrowding.
"The council needs to work with Borough Market, residents and other local stakeholders to find a workable solution.
"In the meantime, they can use that money to help Southwark go greener, faster by investing in a Climate Emergency Community Fund."
Southwark Labour was invited to comment but did not offer a statement.
Last month Southwark's planning department formally closed a planning enforcement complaint about "large visiting numbers to Borough Market" in Stoney Street, ruling that there had been "no breach" of planning control.
The identity of the complainant is not in the public domain.
As part of linked works to the Stoney Street scheme, the council has recently widened the pavements on nearby Bedale Street.
