Public Consultation on LTN – What’s Happened To It?
A public consultation on the Lee Green Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN which included road closures) was originally promised for December last year. It was then postponed until May this year, but there is still no sign of it. We have written to the Council asking when it will be done and will advise the answer to you when received.
The Daily Telegraph has published an analysis of the 10 consultations on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) that local councils have reported to date. Three quarters of the people consulted over LTNs and cycle lanes opposed them. The councils reporting their survey results include Harrow (82% opposed) and Windsor + Maidenhead (89% opposed). Perhaps Lewisham Council are delaying a proper public consultation because they don’t expect the answer to be what they want?
Air Pollution
One big concern for many Lewisham residents is air pollution. It is alleged that the LTNs have increased it, particularly on boundary roads or to where vehicles have diverted so as to avoid the road closures.
We have been looking at this issue and what steps the council have taken to monitor changes in air pollution from the LTNs and the impact of the lock-downs which reduced traffic for a period of time. Documents published by the Council are now out of date, particularly as the changes to vehicles in the last few years will have reduced pollution. We have therefore submitted a request under the Environmental Information Regulations for the data that the Council does hold. We will report what we discover as soon as possible. Let us hope that the Council has taken steps to monitor the changes but it certainly is not clear at present that they have done so.
London Boroughs Scrapping LTNs
Several London Boroughs have scrapped or severely curtailed LTN schemes. The latest one is the London Borough of Harrow which is to remove cycle lanes and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) after a formal review and public consultation.
LTNs in the Headstone South, Francis Road and Vaughan Road schemes were opposed by between 65% and 80% of respondents to public consultation. The Council also claimed they increased congestion, increased air pollution and delayed emergency services.
This is what the Leader of Harrow Council Graham Henson said: “It is clear from the statutory consultation undertaken over the past six months that there is little support for the cycle lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods implemented as part of the national initiative. And so, the decision to remove these experimental schemes is the right one for Harrow - we will keep residents informed about when this will take place”. Why does not Lewisham follow this lead?
Local Democracy Review
Lewisham has recently published a Report on a Local Democracy Review, with the subtitle “A democratic and Open Lewisham”. They wish to enhance openness and transparency, develop public involvement in council decisions and promote effective decision making. They propose some minor changes.
But the big problem in Lewisham is Councillors not ensuring proper and fair public consultations are done, and ignoring the representations they receive from the public including this petition. Councillors in Lee Green and other parts of Lewisham have simply ignored the many objections they received and ploughed ahead with the LTNs regardless. Local democracy is never going to function well when you have councillors who pursue their own agendas and take no notice of the public.
Lewisham Leads on PCNs
The Times has reported that drivers have racked up £14 million in fines in London in just a few months by driving into Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). Cameras were introduced to stop people driving through “bus gates” or into these zones instead of using physical barriers as the latter prevent emergency vehicles from accessing the roads.
The penalty for driving through the cameras is £130 and many people have collected PCNs because they have not noticed the signs. An extreme example given by the Times is that of Ivan Izikowitz who collected 58 fines totalling £7,500 after temporarily leaving home to help his wife in Lewisham.
But there are many other examples reported to us of people collecting fines about which they are very angry. Roads which were previously opened and regularly used catch people out, particularly as satnav systems have often not been updated to take account of the closure.
The £14 million total was collected in just 10 London boroughs and Lewisham obtained more than any other borough. Lewisham and other boroughs are of course keen to extract more money from motorists to help with their budget problems, but there is no justification for this behaviour.
The road closures should be removed as the Covid pandemic does not justify them and they have many other negative consequences.
Complete the Survey
Can I remind you to complete our latest survey, if you have not already done so. It is present here: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07ei02tv3mkosotr19/start
Please do complete the survey and pass the link to your friends and relations. It is not necessary to be a supporter of our campaign against the road closures to complete it! We want everyone’s opinions.
More Help Needed
This campaign against the road closures in Lewisham will clearly have to continue for some time (it’s already been running since March 2020 and with no sign of Lewisham councillors having a change of heart).
We currently have 4 local residents on our Committee who are helping but we could do with more active supporters on the Committee. If you can help please telephone 020-8295-0378 or use this contact page on our web site to send us an email: https://www.freedomfordrivers.org/contact.htm
Note that we would also be interested in developing podcasts to keep in touch with supporters so anyone with experience of that would be of assistance.
We also want to organise some public demonstrations, now that the risk of Covid is fading. So please contact me if you could help on that.
Please also continued to forward this petition to your friends and relations.
Roger Lawson
Tel: 020-8295-0378