Hundreds of Dulwich Village residents have threatened the council with legal action over its latest Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) proposals.
In October 2022, the council began consulting on two, ‘substantially identical’ designs which both meant closing Turney Road to traffic.
Five residents’ associations, comprising over 617 members, are demanding Southwark Council ensures the rest of the consultation is ‘fair’ and ‘unbiased’.
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They say consultation has so far been carried out ‘unlawfully’, with survey responses used “selectively to present a misleading picture”.
Streets and parks boss Cllr Catherine Rose said she would make ‘no apology’ for keeping young children ‘as safe as possible’.
In the letter, dated December 1, the residents’ associations wrote: “We consider that the consultation was conducted in a manner that was unlawful.
“Data and survey responses have been used selectively to present a misleading picture of the results of the phase one engagement.
“The questions were structured so as to force the council’s own analysis upon respondents,” it adds.
In the letter, signatories argue the consultation process ignores the Gunning principles – necessary for legal consultations.
The principles say that consultations must allow adequate time for responses and properly consider their content.
The Turney Road consultation initially gave respondents just two weeks to respond, extended to just over four following a public outcry.
A council officer responded saying the designs could still change so they would give a ‘detailed response’ after phase three of the consultation – scheduled for ‘early in 2023’.
The Dulwich Village LTN has been fiercely contested by local residents ever since their June 2020 introduction, during the first lockdown.
Elderly and disabled drivers have described feeling ‘isolated’ by the restrictions through the main junction, which only allow emergency vehicles through.
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Cllr Catherine Rose, cabinet member for leisure, parks, streets and clean air, said: “We adhere to statutory requirements to ensure that any consultation process is fair, transparent and accessible.
“We design our surveys to capture the full range of responses from the community in an unbiased manner, so that all voices inform any decision.
“The Dulwich junction has been a tremendous success, a heavily used active travel corridor for the wider area, it allows thousands of pedestrian movements, safer cycling and pavement journeys for people of all ages and levels of mobility.
“Turney Road is currently a street-facing junction with significant pedestrian movements due to the junior and infants schools there, I make no apology for considering all options to make routes for young children, as safe as possible.”
A small minority of fanatics who think they know better than anyone else are allowed to overrun democracy …happening all across London with local residents majority views being ignored