Tooting Healthy Streets survey on road changes in Tooting

2020-10-22
By batcaadmin
Posted in Uncategorised

What next on LTNs?
TOOTING HEALTHY STREETS SURVEY ABOUT ROAD CHANGES IN TOOTING

Local group Tooting Healthy Streets are keen to find out Tooting residents views’ about the future of streets in our area. Their overall aim is to promote sustainable travel and safe, healthy streets. They want to understand how the Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes that were recently introduced and withdrawn affected you, and what you think should be done next. They invite you to fill in a survey to express your views on this.

Views on LTNSs of course diverge very widely. But whatever your views, please take a few minutes to read the message below and fill in the survey if you can – see link below.

From Tooting Healthy Streets It’s time to make your voice heard about road changes in Tooting

“Help us build towards sustainable travel and healthy streets for the area.

At the moment the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) schemes are ‘suspended’ with ongoing monitoring of traffic and public opinion.

On 4 November the council’s transport committee will meet and we expect will discuss recommendations about what will happen next.

Make sure that you aren’t left out of this conversation by doing these three quick things in the next week:

Email councillors to let them know what you think should happen. Some suggested points and all the contact details are copied below this email
Complete the Tooting Healthy Streets survey, which will help us get a broader perspective on community views that we can take into our conversations with the council. Please also share it with your local contacts.
Respond to the online consultations for the LTNs. Links for these are copied below this email.

Tooting Healthy Streets supports LTN trials and other trial measures (such as the A24/CS7 upgrade, improvements to cycling on Garratt Lane, 24/7 bus lanes and school street trials).

We had significant concerns with how the Tooting schemes were communicated and designed. Their chaotic implementation made it very hard for people to understand what was happening and why. However, we wanted the council to persist with the trials and fix what was not working rather than abandon them. Council officers believed this was possible but the decision was taken out of their hands.

We do not want the council to simply walk away from the problems with Tooting’s streets. By embarking on the trials it acknowledged there were significant problems and opportunities for improvement. The council knows how important sustainable travel, walking and cycling in particular, is to meet its commitment to tackle the climate emergency at a local level.

We must not allow a reactionary minority to obstruct progress. Many of those who opposed the LTNs for a variety of reasons are nonetheless open to moving away from car dependency. We need to ensure that the suspension of the trials is a blip in a new and better approach to managing our roads and public spaces, that lessons are learned and progress is swiftly resumed.

Thank you for your support and please read on for potential messages and all the contact details you need. Please don’t delay – give this half an hour of your time this week.

With thanks from all at Tooting Healthy Streets

Take our survey

When you write to councillors, please consider including the following points:

Background:

Tooting’s streets suffer from too much motor traffic, pollution, road danger and noise
I support the council’s aims to enable many more people to walk and cycle more of their journeys and reduce car dependence
This is particularly urgent in light of Covid-19 and the need to socially distance and avoid enclosed spaces. It would be a hugely backward step if more people drive more of their journeys
Low traffic neighbourhoods are a key part of a strategy to encourage and enable people out of their cars and support sustainable travel. They are proven to work across London, including just south of Tooting in Merton. There is no reason why they could not work in our neighbourhood also
However the LTN trials clearly had a lot of problems. They were very poorly communicated, the designs pushed traffic onto other minor residential roads and the implementation was lengthy and chaotic with insufficient signage
It was very hard for people to understand the schemes let alone support them, particularly given the trials were pulled before the schemes were fully in place and only a few weeks into a planned six-month trial period

Your experiences:

If you saw positives during the LTN trials, say so here. Did it make your street and/or journeys better? Did it encourage you/people you know to travel in different ways? Were you seeing the early chaos settling down? Could you see ways to tackle people’s concerns that didn’t involve suspending the schemes?

Next steps:

Say what you would like to see happen next. Do you want the LTNs brought back and/or alternative schemes introduced? Should this be following engagement and consultation and in a phased approach rather than a ‘big bang’ across the neighbourhood? Are there other elements to support people making a switch to ‘active travel’ that should be introduced alongside (e.g. more cycle parking, training, promotions etc)?

Challenge the council on its plans. Does the council still see LTNs as part of its strategy to enable and encourage more walking and cycling? If not, what else will it do to tame motor traffic and create safe and pleasant environments?

Contact details for councillors

The key decision maker is Councillor John Locker, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transportation
Email Cllr.J.Locker@wandsworth.gov.uk

The chair of the strategic planning and transportation overview and scrutiny committee is Councillor Sarah McDermott (also a local councillor for Nightingale Ward)
Email cllr.s.mcdermott@wandsworth.gov.uk

If you want to include other committee members you can find their details here

If you want to include your ward councillors, you can find their details here

Links to the consultations
Fishponds LTN
Graveney LTN
Beechcroft LTN
Maybury LTN
Tooting Commons LTN

All current Wandsworth consultations can be found at https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/consultations “

Tooting Healthy Streets survey on road changes in Tooting

Subscribe to our mailing list

Balham & Tooting Weather

test

Committee

Charity

Donate to BATCA

Search Site