Last week, I managed to speak briefly to Janet Daby (M.P. for Lewisham East). She was at least willing to listen which is more than can be said of Lewisham Councillors as I pointed out to her.

I went over the problems caused by the LTN scheme in Lee Green and other parts of Lewisham, and the particular problems caused, e.g. more air pollution and traffic congestion and the impacts on certain people such as those providing services to residents like carers. I expressed particular concern about the lack of public consultation and the fact that councillors will not engage with us and other residents and not even answer questions.

For example the failure to respond to the question regarding the number of objections the council has received (a question Peter Richardson put to a Council Meeting), and subsequently put in by an FOI Act request which has also been ignored. Councillors have not been responding to questions or been engaging with residents. I said this was very unusual for London councils in my experience.

I asked her for her views on the scheme but all she said was that there were concerns about air pollution and there were issues with funding that limited the consultation. As time ran out she asked me to send her the questions and she will talk to the council, and also other comments we might have, which I have done. I urged that she encourage Lewisham councillors to take a more consultative approach.

A21 and Catford Changes

I circulated previously some information on webinars that Lewisham Council ran last week. These covered two subjects – the “Re-imagining of the A21, and the planned redevelopment of Catford. I attended both meetings which were otherwise poorly attended, but you can find more information out on them from the Commonplace web sites given below, and add your own comments.

Here are some brief notes on the meetings:

The plan for the A21 and adjacent areas does contain some good ideas, such as tree planting along the A21, but it was also stated that the intention was “to make a hostile environment for cars, not people”. So you can guess what that means. It includes proposals to put cycle and bus lanes on both sides of the road along most of its length. One attendee suggested cyclists were getting all the resources while he wanted more for pedestrians – a valid argument. But I pointed out that this was a major transport artery and it seems no traffic modelling had yet been done to see the impact on road users. It is also very clear that these pretty plans for new open spaces, tree planting and new buildings depend on funding that is not yet available and will also rely at least partly on private sector contributions (e.g. via Section 106 agreements). Timescales for implementation are also uncertain.

The Catford proposals are similar, in that they look nice and include a priority for “greening” of the town centre, but cost and timescales are all uncertain. The proposals include a rerouting of the South Circular (A205) to remove the existing gyratory system which might be a big improvement so long as it does not reduce road capacity. That has of course been planned for some years.

Both the A21 and Catford proposals obviously include major new home building by redevelopment of sites. That might be required by demand in the area but excessive building has contributed to transport congestion, both on roads and public transport, in the last few years.

In summary these webinars were not particularly useful other than giving a general impression of what the Council would like to do with these areas in future. 

A21 Consultation: https://lewishama21developmentstrategy.commonplace.is/   

Catford Consultation: https://catfordtowncentre.commonplace.is/  

Keep Complaining and Spreading the Word

Supporters of our campaign, need to keep complaining to their local councillors and M.P.s and please get your friends and relations to sign our petition here: http://chng.it/ft4KcrVM  . We now have almost 12,000 signatures but we need more! Also ask people to register their interest in our campaign against the road closures on this web page: https://www.freedomfordrivers.org/lewisham.htm  

Go here to find your local ward councillors in Lewisham and for contact information: http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx   ).

For Greenwich councillors, go here: https://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/200155/councillors_and_elected_officials/598/find_your_councillor  

Roger Lawson