Hi Neighbours,
It has been great to read so many positive comments about the proposed LTN-02 on the Streetspaces portal – thank you so much for writing in and supporting.
An update for you on the Headstone South Low Traffic Neighbourhood Proposal:
Harrow proposed 9 Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) schemes - 3 whole neighbourhoods (West Harrow, Headstone South and Kingshill Avenue) and some smaller schemes which involve closures of single roads to through motor traffic.
All the Low Traffic Neighbourhood proposals are currently under threat, including Headstone South.
All of the schemes are likely to be effective and beneficial. However, some of the schemes have generated opposition, which is not unusual for a LTN, particularly if the proposals have not originated from a previous request or petition by residents.
Unfortunately, some politicians have also been misinforming residents and actively encouraging them to oppose the LTNs (fortunately not in Headstone South – to my knowledge!). However, this behaviour contributes to the misconceptions that already exist - many people cannot envisage the benefits of LTNs or may think that they increase traffic on surrounding streets (evidence from previous schemes shows that this is not the case).
As a result, the schemes have been put on hold and will be reconsidered at a special Council TARSAP meeting this coming Monday 10th August - see ‘Further Information’ below.
We need your support to help the council choose to continue with the Headstone South Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN-02) - please email the council leader Graham Henson, and the other local councillors to express your support. Please also share as widely as possible to reach everyone in the neighbourhood, and please ask your friends, neighbours and family to do likewise.
I’ve provided email addresses and written a couple of suggested short emails of support below to make things easy, please feel free to copy, paste and personalise as you see fit.
Thank you once again for all your support, please remember to email as soon as possible and ideally by the end of this weekend, as the meeting is on Monday evening.
I will provide a further update after the meeting.
Stay safe and keep cool in the heatwave,
Emma
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EMAILS (I recommend emailing everyone below):
Graham Henson (Leader Harrow Council) – graham.henson@harrow.gov.uk
Sasi Suresh (Councillor Headstone South) – sasikala.suresh@harrow.gov.uk
Simon Brown (Councillor Headstone South)– simon.brown@harrow.gov.uk
Pamela Fitzpatrick (Councillor Headstone South) - pamela.fitzpatrick@harrow.gov.uk
Subject – LTN-02 Headstone South – Strongly support
I strongly support the proposed LTN-02 and I will be very disappointed if this scheme is not implemented as soon as possible.
OR
Subject – LTN-02 Headstone South – Support in principle
I support the principle of what the LTN-02 is trying to achieve. Although I am not yet convinced that the proposed scheme is exactly right, I support this being implemented on a temporary trial basis.
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Further information:
Low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are among the most effective means of rapidly shifting local journeys from driving to walking and cycling. They discourage driving by making short journeys less convenient by car, and make local streets quiet, safe, sociable and pleasant for walking and cycling. They are recommended as a key emergency measure Government guidance.
Anoop Shah from Harrow Cyclists / Healthy Streets for Harrow and Jeremy Leach from Living Streets will be attending the special TARSAP meeting as Advisors, and making the case for the Streetspace programme.
Click the link below to view the agenda and the meeting online.
https://www2.harrow.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=260&MId=64988&Ver=4
Harrow has committed to TfL and the government to deliver these schemes; if they are cancelled Harrow might have to repay the funding for these schemes and miss out on any future funding for street improvements.
I have also been contacted by some local residents who support the principle of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood, but might prefer a slightly different layout than the one proposed. It was really good to speak to them about this and understand their concerns. While my understanding is that it isn’t possible to make changes to the temporary proposal due to the time and funding constraints, it should absolutely be possible to consider alternative layouts that achieve the same outcomes for any permanent scheme – we have provided some alternative layouts on the Healthy Streets for Harrow website here (towards the bottom of the page):
https://healthystreetsharrow.wordpress.com/vision/low-traffic-neighbourhoods/headstone-south/
My suggestion would be that we all try the scheme that Harrow has come up with first, because if we don’t support it they won’t implement anything at all. Harrow will have to seek feedback on the scheme before either removing it or making it permanent, so that would be the time to propose alternative layouts for consideration, and I am very happy to support residents in this.
https://healthystreetsharrow.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/emergency-streetspace-for-harrow/