Cabinet Asked To Review Streetspace Programme Expansion

Labour councillor calls for two cabinet members to resign during scrutiny committee

An existing LTN in Hounslow borough
An existing LTN in Hounslow borough

Hounslow Borough’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee has requested that the council’s cabinet reconsider a recent decision to expand the Streetspace programme in the borough.

The decision taken back in October was ‘called in’ for a review by the cross party committee by both Labour and Conservative councillors. Two motions to review the decision were submitted by Cllr Richard Eason who represents Osterley and Spring Grove for Labour and Cllr John Todd who represents Chiswick Homefields ward for the conservatives. Each request for a call in was countersigned by eight members of their respective parties. Cllr Eason called for two of his Labour party colleagues to resign from the cabinet over their role in pushing through the decisions.

After considering the evidence presented to an online meeting which took place on 30 November the Overview and Scrutiny Committee decided to refer back two decisions made by the council Cabinet in October relating to the Streetspace Programme. This included phase 3 of the programme which envisaged a substantial extension of the programme across the borough and close to complete coverage of the Chiswick area with Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes.

The committee concluded that there were grounds for a review of the decision including inadequate consultation and a lack of evidence as well as the possibility of a human rights or equalities challenge. They recommended that traffic modelling should take place and be published before any scheme is implemented and that consultations should first be conducted by a firm that is a member of the Market Research Society rather than reliance being placed on the council’s Commonplace platform and that means should be found to allow the digitally excluded to participate in any consultation exercise. The cabinet was asked to ensure that ward councillors and other local community leaders, and stakeholders are informed and engaged in the Phase 3 development and roll-out. They also found that the measures proposed were not proportionate to the desired outcome. Based on the evidence, the Committee found that in the design of Phase 3, local need and impact should have been considered.

During the meeting Cllr Eason called on the cabinet member for transport, Hanif Khan, and the cabinet member for communities, Katherine Dunne to resign. He said, "Two of the lead members involved should have known better than this. They have lost the confidence of members and residents and they should resign. Their positions are untenable. The lead member for Transport and the lead member for Communities and I feel they should be resigning from Cabinet to create space for this programme to be reshaped and delivered with the support of residents.”

He was supported by Cllr Todd who shared comments about the effects of road closures on health care practices and services provided by staff of the Chiswick Health Centre. Nurses and doctors delivering essential daily care, such as to dialysis patients and people receiving end of life palliative care. He told the meeting that current schemes provide examples of the impact on their ability to deliver services, or treat patients, because of gridlocked traffic and delays.

Cllr Dunne defended the proposals saying, “Change doesn’t happen overnight. Changes to physical infrastructure can take place quickly if necessary but people’s behaviour, people’s understanding of how to respond to this can to change, to get used to. And so it’s not surprising that this has caused some disruption. and some anger even. in the communities where these changes have taken place. These are radical changes and that is absolutely what it should be.

“We are taking – as described by the government – a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-allocate road space to transport which doesn't cause air pollution, congestion or carbon emissions. This takes time to adapt. We shouldn't be removing infrastructure that is barely in – as some other Boroughs are doing”


A mao of LTNs planned in the Chiswick area

There was controversy over the apparent exclusion of residents’ comments which had been submitted to the committee. The Conservatives claim that over 140 emails were sent in but that the majority were excluded because they referred to schemes already operating rather than the future plans that were the subject of the call in. It was argued that the impact of current schemes had relevance for any subsequent measures that might be implemented.

A statement by the Conservative group said, “In a damning set of recommendations, Hounslow's overview and scrutiny committee has criticised the cabinet for the way it made its decision on phase 3 of its Streetspace programme. If implemented, it will turn Chiswick into a network of low traffic neighbourhoods without any evidence of need or, as Hounslow has done no traffic modelling, with no attempt to assess the effect of each one on neighbouring areas and on Chiswick as a whole. The same applies borough-wide.”

According to a senior councillor the Cabinet is not obliged to follow the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee but it would be almost unprecedented if they were totally disregarded.

To have your say on any of Hounslow’s trial Streetspace schemes click on this link or email the transport team on traffic@hounslow.gov.uk.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

December 3, 2020