Lib Dem 'Call In' of Fisher's Lane Closure Rejected
Opposition councillors point to flaws in equalities assessment process
Cllr Gary Malcolm participates in the council meeting on Zoom
‘Call In’ of Fisher’s Lane Closure Rejected
Opposition councillors point to flaws in equalities assessment process
An Ealing Council committee has voted to continue with the access restrictions on Fisher’s Line despite opposition councillors identifying flaws in the Equalities Analysis Assessment (EAA) relating to the measure.
Liberal Democrat councillors ‘called in’ the decision for review but the Labour councillors supported a continuation of the closure and the committee voted by 11 to 2 at a virtual meeting not to suspend the scheme.
Evidence was presented to the committee that the EAA was not individually created for the report on the measure but copy and pasted from a January Cabinet decision about LTNs. The Liberal Democrats argued that this invalidated the decision and a council officer at the meeting admitted using a non-specific text was a mistake. Another committee member call it as regrettable.
An EAA could have made it possible to include exemptions for those who are disabled based up on where people live.
The opposition have also claimed that there are few details as yet on the promised consultation on the scheme. The Liberal Democrats say their own survey shows that there is over 70% opposition to the closure in Southfield ward.
Southfield war Councillor Gary Malcolm said, “After nine months people have not been won over with the Fisher Lane changes and are reporting big delays to their journeys and many people need to use vehicles for their jobs. It is a disgrace that things are allowed to proceed when clearly an important document about disabilities was a cut and paste job from a January meeting. I cycle and if the Council wants to get more people to cycle it needs to win people over rather than introduce a draconian scheme like this without any consultation.”
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April 11, 2021