legalalien

Funnily enough I?m coming to the view that proportional representation in local govt is perhaps the way forward. But that?s digressing from this thread.

May 2022 sounds good but how does it work practically? As I understand it, council committee positions are based on a sort of proportional representation rule (quoting assembly meeting earlier in the year): ?Note: The political balance rules require that the political groups represented on council have proportionate representation on council committees. A political group must comprise at least two members, so the one Independent member does not constitute a political group. Councils can allocate seats on committees to members not aligned to a group, but are under no statutory obligation to do so.? Given the local Labour councillors seem intransigent about any criticism or proposed modification to the current scheme, and that the listed Lib Dem rep (http://www.southwark-libdems.org.uk/dulwich_village_candidates) campaigned to close the DV/CL junction, where does that leave us in terms of an election as a practical solution? Independents only get even slight power if they join a group of two or more candidates; would local Lib Dems in practice be... liberal and democratic? So far I?m kind of getting the impression that they do care about the process issues at least - hence the questions proposed for this week?s assembly meeting, and Cllr Nick Johnson?s blog on Southwark News. I guess we wait and see? (For completeness can?t see voting in conservative reps will be a thing, and even if so, their voices would be less heard / respected by a majority Labour (or Lib Dem) council)? Sorry to bring politics into it, but if the local govt election is supposed to change things, that?s inevitable?

Thanks Robin, I will look forward to seeing your suggestions, as a fellow pedestrian with what seem to be similar views. The ongoing black and white all-LTN vs no-LTN debate, however heartfelt, gets us nowhere. Schemes need to be looked at on a case by case basis, with room for some sensible give and take - and trial and error - that's the whole point of the experimental process. (But while focusing on substance, we still imho need to keep calling out flaws in / non-compliance with government processes - which seem to be a problem at both central and local government level at the moment - these are an important part of the system of checks and balances that make democracy workable)...

That's interesting as I've offered to donate used but good condition children's books to various local schools over the years and been turned down as they only want new books. Does anyone have suggestions of where to donate recent but used (read once) adult books? I usually leave in a box outside with a "help yourself" note on a fine day, but would def donate to a hospital / library etc if any interest.

People on video: "We just keep saying to [southwark council] 'please talk to us'".... Sound familiar? Wasn't aware of this campaign, there's more info here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-cox-s-walk-footbridge-oak-trees. Looks like the council was due to fell the trees last week but there is a sit in going on? https://m.facebook.com/SaveOaks/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0 Malumbu not quite sure who you are having a go at or why?

It is important though that formal objections get sent to the right place, which I think is [email protected], copying in [email protected], and stating it?s a formal objection to the scheme. By all means copy in councillors, but just emailing councillors risks not being counted as a formal objection, I think?

You can add Rosendale to your list given the post- phase- 2 knock on effects on Croxted Road...

The Met Police run an appeal in association with the Childhood Trust that provides gifts to children in care / living in poverty etc. More info here https://www.childhoodtrust.org.uk/ Health warning- the gifts this year seem just a BIT boy / girl stereotypical...

Exdulwicher - obvs that?s entirely unacceptable behaviour (but rockets was making a slightly different point)? Anyway - question - does anyone know whether, when they measure traffic data, they do it on a 24/7 basis rather than at fixed times of day? We seem to have developed a new rush hour through Dulwich Village from around 6:45 to 8am where all the (presumably) work related traffic tries to get through before the 8am cut off - that?s traffic that hasn?t evaporated but spread out over a longer time period - it sure how this is accounted for? I?m guessing the same is applying across the road network eg more traffic on EDG, Res Post Hill etc as that traffic must be going somewhere?

That Twitter thread...words fail me.

Well, it?s presumably designed so that birds of a feather can flock together.

For those who might not have received a copy of the most recent Southwark Life magazine, am attaching pics of the article about the community discussion etc so far.

The Council letter says that "the Dulwich area was prioritised as it has very high volumes of traffic passing through its local streets, with a high number of schools and school pupils exposed to this". So I guess the purpose is to reduce traffic on local streets which have schools on them or (impliedly) are unavoidable travel routes to schools, with the underlying purpose of reducing exposure to air pollution for school pupils (whether they travel on foot, cycle, or by vehicle - bearing in mind that children in cars and buses will also be exposed to air pollution particularly if sitting in congestion), and to increase road safety, thereby encouraging more active travel to school?

My concern is - what proportion of Southwark residents actually follow any of this stuff on Twitter etc? I don?t. There are some specific fields I?m involved in where Twitter is really useful but personally I don?t engage generally in community issues via this route and lots of others don?t either. So we have a situation where groups of people with strong and similar views follow each other and conclude that their view is the majority because everyone agrees with each other: and occasional clashes where people from the ?opposition ? challenge each other. Everyone in the middle is blissfully unaware.

I'm getting the idea that it is the vehicle for consultation. But that's not to be confused with the right to make statutory objections within six months after the experimental order goes in. I'm sure I saw somewhere that a negative comment on Commonplace does not equal an objection. This could be confusing for people, I suspect. Incidentally, today I received a hard copy of Southwark Life magazine for what must be the first time in more than five years. With info about the new leader of the council/ cabinet and links to various consultations. A move afoot? Perhaps wishful thinking.

here's the decision notice for the a further one of Guys and St Thomas' LTN schemes, in Peckham. http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50024582. Slightly amended consultation process: "Meetings were held with Ward Councillors to discuss the scheme. Main concerns raised relate to the lack of consultation on the proposed measure, and the number of closures/filters being proposed. Further design work was undertaken and additional discussions with ward councilors were held, to reduce the number of filters to a level that was acceptable and to proceed without full consultation being held prior to the works taking place. 17.All measures have been designed in consultation with Southwark Waste Management. Concerns were raised regarding the additional time required to collect waste due to closures being proposed as part of the GSTTC and wider Southwark LSP schemes. 18.Consultation with schools and business will be undertaken prior to the schemes being implemented. 19.Further consultation with residents will be undertaken during the period of the Experimental Traffic Management Order via Commonplace."

alice Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Has anyone changed their mind about LTNs after > engaging with/ reading this thread? For myself, I came to the thread largely in a state of ignorance. Confession: I'd had a passing look at the Healthy Streets leaflets that came through the door and concluded it was something I didn't need to pay much attention to as I don't drive. At all, ever. However, once I started to notice the massive decrease in air quality on East Dulwich Grove I did some googling to find out how everything had come about. As a result, I don't have a doctrinal pro-or anti LTN stance. I honestly don't think most of the "objectors" on this thread do. Same with most of the people I know locally. They think that LTNs probably work in some places if properly designed. They also think it's important that the council engage properly with the community it serves. So my bugbears related to this SPECIFIC LTN, are (i) the council's processes, in particular the lack of transparency around the way it consults/ engages specific interest groups in its policy formation - and that's what making a large number of ordinarily "silent" people locally quite angry - they feel as though they have been hijacked; and (ii) what I personally perceive to be the impact of this specific LTN, in terms of social justice type points, the impact of some specific small businesses (those who rely on making deliveries, for example) and the unacceptable pockets of congestion/ pollution that are being created. I'd like to see more discussion on what "tweaks" could be made to make the local LTN a bit better. But the whole argument seems to have become, as I've said before, entirely polarised. I'm not the "pro-LTN lobby", and it should be possible to make specific points without the constant "well, you don't really mean it, I believe you're an SUV driver who wants to drive everywhere all the time" response.

It's a pity we don't have a sort of adult equivalent of "friendship benches" in parks where you could sit, wait for a second person to turn up, and do a lap of the park or something....

That makes sense. Completely unrelated, does anyone know if there?s a process for asking to have now redundant road signs removed? A lot are going up at present and it?s getting quite confusing because there are so many different signs. There are loads on Calton Road, I?m sure the ?new? zebra crossing and ?changed priorities ahead? signs could come down (although the last one always makes me laugh as it?s very near the new one indicating that the road is now a dead end!

Yep. Plenty of people going through the Townley Road one when I walked past this morning. And another different warning sign (pic attached), which probably isn?t particularly effective foe those who don?t know the name of East Dulwich Grove. Spoke to a friend who lives in Lewisham last night, he said in the first couple of weeks they didn?t impose fines but just sent warning notices. So maybe that?s a thing?

New batch of school streets closures - Batch 3 - decision by Cllr Rose due 20 Nov (think this is a formality) http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50024563 Affects various schools in Southwark, includes timed permeable closure on Dunstans Road outside Goodrich, at junctions with upland and goodrich roads, 3-3:45pm. Experimental traffic order in Landcroft outside Harris Primary is made permanent. Slightly odd as the former decision seems to relate to the experimental order made last week and posted at https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/25844/School-Street-trials-winter-2-notice-dated-12-Nov-2020-.pdf. Landcroft one also slightly strange as the notice for it says it's making the original experimental closure permanent but the afternoon timeslot seems to have changed from 2-4 to 2:30 to 4:30. Maybe amended somewhere along the way? Not sure I want to check but not loving the idea of a precedent where unilateral tweaks are made without consultation when confirming an experimental order...

Croxted Road is an early loser. Plus all the motorists who?ve fallen victim to the poor signage on Gallery Road / Turney Road eastbound and Burbage towards the village... there were loads going through the bus gates at the roundabout this afternoon... I assume someone from the Council will be monitoring and will fix? Or is there any merit in emailing someone? I can?t imagine they want lots of unsolicited emails...?

So - last Tuesday I emailed the cabinet member for the Climate Emergency to ask which bodies were included on its Partnership Steering Group (basically the means of engaging the community) on climate emergency policies. I haven't had a response, so was thinking of putting in an FoI request, and while googling to get some exact wording - seems there is now a consultation on this issue, launched online on Friday. So that's good (although given I've signed up to every notification I can find on the Southwark site and haven't received a notification on this, less good). Anyway, here's the link to the consultation, I suggest everone spreads it far and wide as these are really important issues for all of us to consider, and the policies have lots of practical implications for people's everday lives. The consultation closes on 15 January. https://consultations.southwark.gov.uk/environment-leisure/climate-change-consultation/

Hi all, new order which includes making permanent what are described as existing trial point closures in Oakhurst Grove and Peckham Rye / The Gardens junction. https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/26605/ETMO-Review-notice-dated-19-Nov-2020-.pdf

Question (really for exdulwicher who seems likely to know) - is it me, or is there an awfully high percentage of estimated data in those data sheets? I'm not a statistician so don't really know what I'm looking at, but there seems like a lot more estimated data than actual count data happening (I was just looking at the Southwark one). Is that the case do you think? i ask that from an agnostic position as regards LTNS or anything else generally, it just seems like avilable data on this and air pollution isn't crash hot, which doesn't help either side of the debate. Does Southwark collect its own traffic data separately to inform itself or is the monitoring done centrally? If councils collect data does this get sent to dfT (and likewise TfL)? You'd hope that from an efficiency perspective all the data is pooled?