Opposition Grows
Opposition in Kingston as well
Pollution
The future awaits!
FROM WALTHAMSTOW MP Stella Creasy:
Hello!
I'm writing to you as one of the now hundreds of residents who has been in touch with me regarding Waltham Forest Council's 'Mini Holland' project to let you know what I have done following your emails and letters as your local MP and share with you my most recent letter to the Council on this matter. As I have received so much correspondence on this matter I hope that you can forgive the mass email and the generic nature of this update- please be assured that we have also passed on your feedback to the Council so that they may respond to the points you make directly.
I appreciate that this scheme has aroused strong views, from both those who are delighted with it and those who are implacably opposed to it. Yet aside from letters or emails from those who are members of campaigning organisations seeking either to have this scheme abandoned or extended, it may interest you to know I have received a much larger volume of correspondence from residents about the details of the scheme e.g. particular road closures, routes or the consequences of such changes vs alternative formations as well as repeated concerns about the process of consultation.
Given this, I believe that all those interested in this scheme should welcome the opportunity of the proposed six month review to consider what is working and what is not. I note that even those who have written to me strongly in favour of this scheme have identified ‘snags’ in the current design that need to be addressed, and I believe the majority of those expressing concern about the project support the principles of the scheme, but see practical problems with how it has been set up. It would indeed be unusual for any large innovative public project of this nature to be perfectly implemented and executed, and I would encourage all those with ideas for improvements or information on unintended consequences that need to be addressed to raise these with the Council so that they can be investigated.
As there is now some confusion as to whether this review will take place you will see from my letter to the Council that I have asked for this to be clarified. Furthermore, it is completely unacceptable that people have been subjected to threats, both on and offline, as well as vandalism and abuse as a result of the strength of feeling that this project has generated and I would urge all concerned to remain calm and constructive.
Please note that as the Walthamstow MP I have no formal authority over this scheme as it is managed by the Council and not parliament. If you have not updated your local councillors who are responsible for this project with your ideas and feedback and would like their contact details to do so please do let me know. As I don't have any decision making powers on this matter myself I have not either 'supported' or 'opposed' the project (as I could not affect the outcome either way) but have instead been trying to ensure that all the concerns raised by residents are heard by the Council and that where possible solutions for the issues they raise are provided. So too I have sought to ensure residents are aware of the further elements of this scheme as it is rolled out across Walthamstow- although please note that the Council state only those residents who live on the roads directly affected by these changes are able to participate in the consultation.
With this in mind, please be aware that as well as the changes already introduced to the Walthamstow Village area and Lea Bridge area, there are now also consultation proposals out for response regarding changes to road layouts, closures and route directions for the Hoe Street/ Wood Street area (eg. between Forest Road and Church Hill Road) and also for the Blackhorse Road area (e.g. around Pretoria Ave, Palmerston Road, Forest Road etc) The Council is also beginning to develop plans for the Markhouse/Queens Road area of Walthamstow too. You can find out more about all these plans on the council's dedicated 'Mini Holland' Website which is here:
http://www.enjoywalthamforest.
If you live in either the Hoe St/Wood Street area or the Blackhorse Road area and have not received the formal consultation documents please let my office know and we will share these with you. You can also directly contact the Mini Holland team at the Council via their website.
Please find below the text of a letter I have sent to the Council about Mini Holland for your information - I will share with all of you the response I receive. Please note I will continue to add all those who contact me about this scheme to my mailing list for updates on this basis.
I hope this update is of interest and kind regards
Stella
Text of Letter to Council below:
Dear Martin and Clyde,
I'm writing to you further to our previous conversations regarding the Mini Holland project to put on record my concerns and ask for clarification on a number of issues so that I may update those who have been in touch with me.
I want to start by stating how welcome it is that Waltham Forest is prepared to be innovative in this way and seek to support cycling as well as pedestrians in the Borough. Whilst I respect that this project has been developed by the local authority and as such is being managed by yourselves rather than Parliament, I hope you can appreciate that as the MP for the area in which it is being introduced I have received a substantial amount of correspondence about the project. As such my interest is in ensuring the views of my constituents on this matter are heard in the outcomes of this project and how it is implemented.
As we have discussed previously, I have had concerns for some time about the way in which the scheme was introduced - not its intentions- and the manner in which the initial consultation on this project was conducted. As this project has continued these have not abated. The majority of comments from residents I have had and continue to receive echo this distinction between supporting the general principles of the scheme and being concerned as to how decisions about road closures have been made and whether there may be alternative ways to achieve the outcomes intended.
Despite the project now being nearly a year old, I continue to receive almost daily requests from residents for information about this process and how the pattern of road closures for Walthamstow has been determined - as well as the contrast between this and the plans for other areas of the borough which involve different methods of achieving this objective. Aside from the pressure groups which have now been set up in favour and against the scheme entirely, many not involved in either of these groups persistently contact me to state they feel they have not had adequate information on the project or that their views and proposals have not been considered and so cannot understand the nature of decisions made. So too I have now sadly started to receive reports of abusive behaviour towards residents from others who support the scheme and oppose it, both on and offline.
At the start of this project I was informed that there would be a six month review of the Walthamstow Village scheme after its introduction. This would have provided the chance to see whether changes to the layout of roads were meeting the stated aims and to offer residents the chance to feedback on what was working and what could be amended. I have sought to encourage those concerned about this project as well as supporting it to feed in these ideas to such a review accordingly and to be constructive in approaching this review with their ideas. The existence of this proposal for a review was confirmed to me by Cllr Mark Rusling and in correspondence with local residents - as well as his report that this had been agreed by the Cabinet in February this year.
I note now that Cllr Loakes, in correspondence with some residents on 9 September, did not mention this, and indeed stated that there are no plans to review the scheme at all:
"I’m afraid therefore I see no reason to reconsider the detail of the scheme- some 10 months after it was extensively consulted on, some 9 months after the Council made its decision and just some 4 weeks or so since the closure actually went in."
As you may appreciate this is causing confusion amongst those who had previously been told that there would be a six month review and I do not wish to give out the wrong information. Therefore, I should be grateful for a formal clarification as to whether this six month review proposal, which had previously been agreed by the Council Cabinet, is going ahead and if not why an explanation as to why this has been scrapped. So too, a number of residents repeatedly ask me about the logic behind road closures vs one way streets or dedicated cycle lanes etc. Having spoken with the Mini Holland team about this and seen the plans for the rest of the borough it would be very helpful to have a guide to these that I can share from the Council directly.
A number of concerns have also been raised with me about the safety of the ‘Copenhagen’ crossings, given that they can appear as a continuation of the pavement, so leaving pedestrians, cyclists and drivers unclear on the status of the road crossing. I would appreciate further background to these 'Copenhagen' street entrances, which I could circulate.
I would also welcome details of the emergency services’ responses to these proposals and a copy of their correspondence so I can go back to those who have raised access with me. I am concerned at reports that even patient transport ambulances are not allowed access to those roads that have been closed and I want to check whether this is your understanding. I would also encourage you to meet with the residents of some of our sheltered housing blocks who are now finding that taxi companies are charging them higher rates for their journeys to and from hospital due to the road closures in the village. I do not believe this matter is unresolveable but it is a great concern for those affected. It would be helpful to know if the local authority could broker a facility for making provision for such journeys for this group of residents given that some are now not attending appointments because of this increased cost.
I also remain concerned that you have explicitly chosen to consult only those on the roads directly affected about these changes, as though this was a scheme about their roads alone rather than travel or movement through the area as a whole – a topic that involves a larger group of local residents. Whilst I support the importance of primarily consulting those who live on roads where closures are proposed, I would encourage you to ensure all residents are aware of all the details of the plans proposed for the totality of Walthamstow. Whilst I appreciate there are some who are passionately opposed to the principle behind this scheme, for many more it is the lack of knowledge of the proposals and 'knock on' effects that are of concern and for whom understanding these would I'm sure would be welcome.
Any major change project would generate discussion and debate, and I acknowledge that you have sought to improve the way in which the scheme is publicised throughout the borough in recognition of this point. However, as part of showing how much you value building consensus around this project among the majority of residents I would encourage you to consider whether it would be appropriate to conduct this review of the implementation of the first phase of this project in the village area and report back to residents on this, ahead of any introducing further changes elsewhere. To do so would not be to reject the scheme but to learn from what has worked in this location, and what has not, before proceeding further. As such it could send a strong signal that the council wishes to work with local people to get this scheme right as the primary beneficiaries.
I look forward to your response and will be sharing this correspondence with all those who have been in touch so they are aware that I have formally raised these questions,
Kind regards
Stella
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments welcome - but please be polite!