A row has exploded over a meeting earlier this month, where Dulwich Village residents discussed the council’s controversial Turney Road closure proposal.
In October, some residents were left incensed when Southwark Council began consulting local residents on two designs for Turney Road – both of which stopped traffic at its eastern end.
Organised by Dulwich Village residents’ associations, the meeting at St Barnabas Parish Hall on November 22 was advertised as “an open meeting where people can speak for or against” the plans.
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But some residents and councillors say the meeting was “not a forum of discussion” but a “rallying cry” where pro-closure voices were met with hostility.
Organisers say opposing opinions received a “polite reception” and that the meeting was let down by councillors refusing to attend.
Leafy Dulwich Village has been riven with division ever since June 2020 when, during the first lockdown, Southwark Council implemented a low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) on the Dulwich Village junction.
Supporters say it has made the area less polluted and safer, while others say it has congested boundary roads, impacted local businesses, and isolated the elderly and vulnerable.
Now the council has submitted the Turney Road plans, many local residents fear it will exacerbate congestion on boundary roads and quicken the demise of local businesses.
The council has arranged meetings with some local residents’ associations – but attendees complain that these were attended by council officers rather than elected representatives.
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A coalition of local resident associations said the meeting was a chance for the public to put their questions to councillors backing the Turney Road closure – but no elected representatives attended.
Cllr Margy Newens chose not to attend, saying: “A meeting organised by a particular interest group at this stage is not a forum where everyone can contribute to the discussion equally and, as such, does not enhance the process of the consultation.”
Clean Air Dulwich, whose members describe themselves as “a group of local parents… campaigning for healthy and safe streets” said: “We recommended people didn’t engage with what was very likely to be a hostile environment.”
An anonymous pro-LTN attendee said: “A lot of people were respectful of different opinions but not everyone.”
Another pro-LTN attendee, who also wished to remain an anonymous, said: “Nobody was discourteous – I wouldn’t have described it as hostile but maybe partisan.”
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The five resident association chairs who organised the meeting said it “was a great success”. They added: “Any suggestion that speakers in favour of the closure were discriminated against, heckled or prevented from speaking is entirely untrue, as the audio record of the event confirms”.
At the meeting, attended by between 120 and 250 people, speakers predominantly against LTNs derided the Turney Road closure as having been “inadequately consulted.”
Some residents’ associations have conducted independent surveys and claim 86 per cent of Turney Road residents want it kept open.
Over 100 blue badge holders recently wrote to Council Leader Kieron Williams pleading to be allowed through the camera-controlled crossroads.
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