Mermaid Court Consultation

Overview

Tell us how we can improve Mermaid Court for all residents and businesses.

We’d like to make Mermaid Court a safer and more pleasant street for people to use.  The Art Academy, who are based on Mermaid Court have worked with Better Bankside and Southwark Council to understand how the street is currently used by all modes of traffic, and to see how the street can be improved to be a more welcoming and safer space – particularly for those who walk or cycle through Mermaid Court.

Mermaid Court is currently one-way from Borough High Street, and many of the vehicles that access the street use it to avoid the junction with Great Dover Street by St George the Martyr Church. Analysis of the different modes of traffic in Mermaid Court undertaken in late 2019 showed that 85% of total movements through the Mermaid Court were people walking through the street.

A traffic study of the street has been carried out to see how it can be closed to through traffic between Borough High Street and Tennis Street.  The benefits of doing this include freeing up space to make it a safer space for people to walk or cycle through, allowing more space to support physical distancing, providing more space for on-street greening, cycle parking or seating. 

We want to know what you think of this proposal, what drawbacks it has, if any, and what we can do to ensure it brings the maximum benefits for people who live and work close by, and who use the street – whether that’s children and parents walking to the schools on the western side of Borough High Street, students accessing the Art Academy courses, or people accessing the shops and other services on Borough High Street.