1,300 sign petition calling for halt to road closures in west Greenwich – which are pushing traffic to the east

By Lachlan Leeming, Local Democracy Reporter

A petition calling for an urgent review of the west Greenwich road closures causing pollution and traffic fears has collected more than 1,000 signatures.

A petition by east Greenwich residents has called on the council to immediately review the low traffic measures, which they say are causing havoc on their side of the borough.

Entitled “Stop East Greenwich gridlock: End council traffic reduction trial impacting East Greenwich”, those behind the petition say low traffic measures installed in the west of Greenwich have had a disastrous impact on the east.

“The increased heavy traffic on residential roads including Maze Hill and surrounding roads is increasing the health and safety risks, air and noise pollution levels for residents, pedestrians and cyclists,” it states.

“No consideration appears to have been given to the hundreds of local children and families living in EG walking and cycling to and from school, or to the children at schools and nurseries in the area, now subjected to serious levels of pollution during the peak travel times.”

As of Monday afternoon more than 1,300 people had signed the petition.

It comes as Cllr Dan Thorpe, the Labour leader of Greenwich council on Sunday acknowledged some residents had been “disrupted” by the changes, but he was sure “safer travel for all of us will be worth it”.

Amid thanking residents for adapting to the changes, he acknowledged the council “clearly…need to look at everything…and do so with all of the data and evidence about the impacts or any unintended consequences of changes”.

“There’s no easy answers here regarding transport and Covid, and things are not going to be as they were. We are all having to change the way we travel and change is always difficult,” he wrote on social media.

He encouraged residents to keep sending in their feedback to local ward members.

Tory leader Nigel Fletcher and opposition spokesman for transport Matt Clare had earlier issued a joint statement saying they were “deeply concerned” over what they said was a lack of consultation with the public.

Pictured top: Gridlocked traffic in Maze Hill