You have probably been wondering what happened to the public consultation on the Lee Green and Lewisham Central Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN). Numerous road closures were put in eighteen months ago and they cannot normally last for more than eighteen months so some decisions are overdue.  The road closures were put in using Temporary Traffic Orders so cannot continue indefinitely.

A report on the LTN and the proposed “next steps” will be considered on the 12th of January by the Mayor and Cabinet of Lewisham Council. 

I asked via email for a copy of the report to be considered at that meeting from Louise McBride, Head of Highways and Transport, over a week ago but no response was received until today. I therefore submitted a Freedom of Information Act request which has at least been acknowledged.

I also tried to phone Louise McBride but got a “voice mailbox full” message. I then called Lewisham Council’s main contact number but was routed to another voice mailbox that was also full. Apparently these problems were due to an IT issue. But it’s damn difficult dealing with Lewisham Council when you cannot get to talk to anyone and emails are ignored. Absence on holiday or on grounds of sickness do not justify this.

I will notify you when the report is available and give you some comments on it as soon as I have obtained it. As this may be after Xmas and near the date of the meeting, best wishes for Xmas and the New Year.

In general Lewisham Council are not competent and another example of how badly Lewisham compares with some other south-east London boroughs on road safety is covered in this recently published blog article: https://freedomfordrivers.blog/2021/12/13/bromley-road-safety-record-beats-most-others/ . Just as with the LTN, dogma rules in Lewisham rather than knowledge and science.

Roger Lawson