Councillors 'Call-in' Grove Park Traffic Schemes for Review
Procedure for implenting restrictions being questioned. Picture: Twitter/Grove Park Group
May 2, 2023
The Conservative councillors on Hounslow Council have initiated a procedure known as a ‘call-in’ for the traffic measures in Grove Park.
The submission, which has been signed by eight councillors, asks that a sub-committee of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee should be formed to consider whether correct procedure was followed in implementing the measures.
A call-in is a statutory process which enables councillors to request that a decision be reconsidered by the person or body making the decision.
A preliminary date for the call-in to be heard by a panel of councillors has been set for Thursday 4 May. It may endorse the council’s decision, refer the decision back to the full council or ask the decision maker to reconsider. The final option would not be binding but the decision maker is required to explain in writing the reasons why the measures were proposed.
The opposition claim that the decision-making process was flawed due to inadequate consultation, absence of evidence upon which to base the decisions, and a lack of proportionality to the desired outcome. They are calling for a rethink of the measures implemented by the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate, Environment and Transport Strategy, Cllr Katherine Dunne, specifically the access restrictions on Burlington Lane and Staveley Road. They say these have been widely criticised by local residents’ groups as well as ward councillors and that the schemes have been poorly communicated and implemented in a piecemeal fashion.
In the submission, councillors argue that the council’s consultation with residents has been “totally inadequate from the very outset,” and that “alternative ideas and options have been rejected by officers with no good reason being offered.”
The call-in submission goes on to argue that there was an absence of adequate evidence on which to base decisions to make current schemes permanent, stating that “While it is true that the number of cars entering the area has roughly halved, data regarding improvement in air quality and increases in numbers cycling and walking in the area are marginal and statistically insignificant - It is difficult therefore to understand the claim that traffic measures can be judged a success.”
A statement issued by the Grove Park Group after the council decided not to proceed with a proposal to reopen access through Burlington Lane said, "Given that residents have voted against every measure of the South Chiswick Liveable Neighbourhood, but seek a solution to through-traffic, we have to make the best of this. Unfortunately the Council do not see it the same way. The Council’s lead aspires to being a listening Council, but continues to allow his Cabinet and Officers to obfuscate and delay. We have urged Councillor Rajawat to assert his leadership now and resolve this once and for all."
“We know that the so-called South Chiswick traffic measures are divisive and have undermined community cohesion, but they were also based on inadequate consultation, poor data and are totally disproportionate to the desired outcomes,” said Peter Thompson, Councillor for Chiswick Riverside and leader of the Conservative Group on Hounslow Council. “These unnecessarily complicated schemes have generated excessive quantities of fines and have caused great distress to residents and businesses caught up in their intricate workings. It's time for Hounslow Council to go back to the drawing board, follow the correct process and work with Chiswick residents and local councillors to develop a single traffic scheme which works for the whole area.”
The sub-committee will be made up of a cross-party panel of councillors, who will decide whether the correct processes were followed by the council when making these decisions.
Cllr Dunne said, “We are aware of a call in request which the Monitoring Officer is considering in accordance with the criteria set out in the Constitution.”
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