Council reject further debate on Southwark Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in Dulwich and Peckham

Southwark council’s ruling Labour group has rejected an opposition bid to enforce a more detailed look at controversial road blocks designed to cut car use.

Liberal Democrats tried to get the borough’s overview and scrutiny committee(OSC)  to re-examine town hall decisions on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in Dulwich and Peckham.

But the opposition pleas to give residents a voice on Dulwich low-traffic schemes were refused on Wednesday.

Southwark Liberal Democrats say they escalated matters because of “improper consultation on the Dulwich scheme”.

They say the “rejection from council bosses mirrored the authority’s denial of a similar request regarding the re-opening of Rye Lane”.

Liberal Democrat councillors support a transition to sustainable transport and see low-traffic schemes as one way of achieving this change. But they “believe it must be done with local support and residents’ consent”.

The group made a bid to ‘call-in’ the Labour decision to the OSC, to keep vehicle restrictions in Dulwich after large numbers of residents expressed dissatisfaction with how the scheme had been enacted and with the “inadequate levels of engagement” from Southwark Council.

Official consultation responses revealed that on average about 66 per cent of residents did not want traffic measures on the road they live on.

The ‘call-in’ would have sparked an official inspection of Southwark Labour’s decision and would have given the community a chance to scrutinise its policy.

It was rejected on appeal and the proposed Dulwich traffic scheme will now be carried out by the Labour-run adminsitration.

Council officers similarly rejected the Liberal Democrat group ‘call-in’ of the re-opening of Peckham’s Rye Lane to buses – the opposition councillors claimed there was also “unsuitable consultation with residents” on that decision.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Victor Chamberlain, who is vice-chair of OSC and raised his concerns at the committee’s meeting on Wednesday evening, said: “Southwark Council are denying residents a voice and the opportunity to hold to account Labour’s approach to low traffic neighborhoods.

“There has been a seriously inconsistent approach across Southwark to traffic schemes, with mixed levels of consultation from Rye Lane to Dulwich to Great Suffolk Street in Borough. The only common theme has been Labour’s steamrolling of public opinion. Low-traffic schemes are part of our transition to a more sustainable borough, but the council must work with and take communities with them. It’s time they stopped ruling by decree.”

Doreen Forrester-Brown, Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer, said: “A request to call in the decision was based on perceived insufficient consultation. Having reviewed the process, it is clear that an extensive consultation exercise has already taken place. This generated well above the average number of responses received for any similar such consultation. Further to this, detailed consideration has since been given to these responses and feedback from local people underpins the changes being made to the scheme, moving forward. Therefore the call-in was not upheld.”