DulvilleRes Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Artemis - the council, as a result of listening to > the consultation, is going to allow emergency > vehicles through Dulwich Square. > > I thought it was great that people were out > protesting, as other posters have pointed out, > that right is currently under threat. The time I > was there, it felt pretty well run, though I do > find the incessant graffiti on signs a bit > depressing. > > A few people have mentioned why weren't the > councilors not there, and whilst I can't speak for > them, I wouldn't blame them for not coming. Even > in the last couple of days I heard of one of them > being targeted at their home address by person/ > persons of anti LTN sentiment. Over the summer, > the Police have had to be involved with anti LTN > people getting targeted. Clearly, this might be > down to as little as one individual who has no > formal affiliation with the anti LTN groups, but > it is fair to say aspects of this local issue have > been surprisingly nasty. > > Listening to what I did of the speakers and > looking around the attendees, I was surprised how > relatively upmarket it all felt, and how the > demographic skewed over 50 - very few young people > there, and very few people from a BAME background. > It didn't really reflect the make up of the > borough as a whole. Given the demographic of > Dulwich, this is probably to be expected, but it > didn't feel like some kind of broad-based > egalitarian inspired uprising to me, as some of > the anti-LTN rhetoric suggests. A cynic driving by > who didn't know some of the complexities of the > issues might be forgiven for thinking 'The rich > folk of Dulwich want to keep driving their cars'. > > I'm hoping that the sensible adjustments the > council has proposed are implemented - emergency > vehicle access, Blue Badge holder access - and > have had time to bed in, the LTN's might be seen > as part of the radical shift we're all going to > have to make to address the climate crisis. Given > that the UK contributes only 1% of the global > carbon emissions, it does feel like a long hard > road ahead, but fair play to the Council for > trying to do something. It would be great if they > were given a chance. From what I saw there were plenty of people of all ages there, children included. But as older people (a protected characteristic) are disproportionately disadvantaged by the LTNs I could understand if more of them protested. Btw there were also a lot of disabled people, another protected characteristic, who are also being indirectly discriminated against by the LTNs.