West Ealing Residents Gather To Block LTN Schemes Again
Protestors up early as contractors make another attempt to install barriers
Residents gather to protest against LTN implementation. Picture: Jonathan Carrier/Facebook
Scores of West Ealing residents gathered on street corners from 6am this Wednesday morning (28 October) in another attempt to thwart the implementation of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme (LTN).
Opponents of LTN 30 had been made aware of council plans to try to install barriers by a roadworks alert.
Groups gathered at the corner of Elers Road and Culmington Road to protest at the placing of planters at road junctions and prevent council contractors from placing them there.
The indications are at this stage that in some cases the barriers were placed at the side of the road and not in the designated location.
There were no significant incidents reported during the protest with residents saying that the council contractors were generally supportive of their point of view. A reversing lorry narrowly missed traffic passing through the area shortly after the workmen arrived.
The council had made a previous attempt to install the barriers on 28 September but protestors presented the lorry drivers with documents which they said proved the illegality of the measures. A formal legal challenge was presented to the council on the grounds of inadequate consultation and the failure to properly publicise the public notice for the scheme.
Councillor David Millican, Conservative Councillor said, “I visited the Culmington Road site today and met with the council officers, the contractors, the police and concerned residents. I am very pleased that, while I was there, there was no trouble and it was peaceful.
“At last evening’s (27 October) Full Council I asked the Council Leader, in a formal oral question, why he met the 35 Hounslow Borough residents of Swyncombe Avenue, who are concerned about the traffic that has been displaced to their road from Ealing Borough LTN traffic schemes, but he was not prepared to meet representatives of the 3,000 who had marched down Northfields Avenue or 10,400 who have signed the petition objecting to Ealing’s LTNs. I am afraid he just hid behind a prepared answer about formal consultations.”
Council contractor's lorries narrowly missed passing traffic. Picture: Lorna O'Driscoll/Facebook
Council leader Julian Bell has dismissed opponents of the scheme as a ‘noisy minority’ and pledged to press ahead with implementation.
Ealing Council spokesperson said, "The work to install the traffic filters has commenced. We recognise that people have strong views for and against but ask people to comment on the trial scheme throughout the six-month trial period.”
Residents can visit the low traffic neighbourhoods' page of the council’s website for further information on the schemes.
Residents can email feedback to TrafficNotices@ealing.gov.uk, or post them to the Highways Service, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, W5 2HL, quoting reference ORD XXX.
An online petition against LTNs in Ealing has been signed by over 10,000 people. A counter petition in support of the new schemes has, at the time of writing, over 700 signatures.
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October 28, 2020