To the Vauxhall Community Centre!

…on Saturday morning for the first TfL / Lambeth Council drop in session to discuss the architectural vandalism that both organisations are pushing through for Vauxhall.

If that sounds like a pretty loaded opening statement, then go and read Cllr Jack Hopkins’ personal blog on the Vauxhall gentrification putsch.

There are so many issues, agendas and plain misinformation connected to the current Vauxhall consultation.

Is it about traffic flow?

Public transport connectivity?

Or bloody ’boutiques’ in a crass attempt to manufacture a sense of place and purpose in an already pre-defined locality?

I’m sounding like one of the TfL bods that bored the pants off me on Saturday morning now.

My own journey from Sunny Stockwell to the Community Centre was simple: I cycled up South Lambeth Road, cut through Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and managed to completely ignore the gyratory.

Vauxhall Cross if far from a perfect solution as it currently stands. But pandering to cyclists has been one of the underhand tactics used by TfL and Lambeth Council in an attempt to push the more commercial agenda.

But if we are going to talk about the TfL / Lambeth Council ‘consultation,’ then a conversation about the ACE Vauxhall Bus Station needs to be part of this process.

The absence of any reference to this defining piece of contemporary architecture at the consultation was alarming.

I spent 15 minutes or so looking at the various presentation boards, watching a fly over video, and then searching in vain for Vauxhall Bus Station on the large 3D model.

The Community Centre had more clipboard wavers than consultees, to be honest. I’m surprised that it took so long for anyone resembling TfL officialdom to approach me.

Name badges and roles might have been a decent idea, folks. Talking with a public representative who is putting over their prejudiced views on Vauxhall, ‘aint great for transparency when they don’t reveal whose interests they are representing.

But then finally an unidentified Lambeth Council lady asked me:

“Everything all right here?”

Um, nope.

“Where is the bus station?”

…I asked.

What followed was an attempt to try and sell me the Nu Vauxhall, wrapped up under the disguise of improving the traffic flow which apparently will only happen if the current transport interchange is ripped out from the heart of Vauxhall.

Built as recently as 2004, Vauxhall Bus Station has come to define the area for those of us that live nearby.

Vauxhall previously lacked identity. It has taken some time for local people to feel attached to the unique ski jump structure, but it is now an iconic piece of architecture on the local landscape.

I confess to getting a little carried away during my Saturday morning rant, comparing the Vauxhall Bus Station as a piece of architecture that is on par with the Palace of Westminster.

But yeah - you get the point.

I was told by an unnamed TfL clipboard waver who butted into the conversation, that an improved bus station would be needed to cover the increased capacity when the 20,000 or so new folk move into the Nu Vauxhall.

I thought it only polite to point out that anyone who can afford one of the £1m+ apartments probably wouldn’t be catching the No. 2 bus, plus the 20,000 or so new apartments are likely to remain empty as tax dodges for foreign investors.

The TfL tactic was then to try and sell the Nu Vauxhall to me by referencing what the gain would be instead of the superior ski jump bus station.

The site will become a ‘public realm’ [bollocks] space, on par with Windrush Square, I was told.

Windrush Square is looking fairly desolate right now. It is a vast expanse that only serves the purpose of allowing Lambeth Council to move along any of the old boys who fancy a quiet can of their favourite tipple.

Meanwhile when the likes of the bloody hideous Corrs Ice Bar start waving their corporate sponsorship around for a private piss up, somehow the planning folk turn a blind eye to Council endorsed street drinking.

Fancy that.

If you are going to get rid of Vauxhall Bus Station, then at least put something in its place that is better.

I raised the question about the ACE alternative proposals put forward by Our Vauxhall. These would lead to the South Lambeth Road stretch being pedestrianised, with a shared space for cyclists.

The crude rejection of these from the unnamed Lambeth Council lady was that Our Vauxhall had made no consideration for cyclists, apparently.

I pointed out that the whole space would be car free - a shared space.

Ahh, but shared spaces don’t work I was told.

I pointed on the 3D model back down towards Sunny Stockwell, and the current joint project between TfL and Lambeth Council to set up a shared pedestrian / cyclist space at the other end of South Lambeth Road.

Stockwell gyratory is not busy, apparently.

The absolute denial to even acknowledge that the Nu Vauxhall is all about pimping out the area and accelerating gentrification was pretty alarming.

I realised that my views on the consultation weren’t going to achieve anything when the unnamed Lambeth Council lady and the anonymous TfL bod attempted a smirk behind my back when I carried on with the line of questioning.

“What was that for? Do you find this funny?”

…I asked.

“Thank you for coming.”

…came the reply.

I had one last look around at the various corporate literature on show.

Lambeth Council led heavily with ‘Visioning Vauxhall.’

It seems that this vision is one that is restricted, and then only one that can be seem through the prism of closing your eyes and imaging that the beautiful Vauxhall Bus Station never existed.