Sutton and Cheam Labour Party Sutton and Cheam Constituency Labour Party, London Borough of Sutton
Road Closures & Low Traffic (LTN) proposals
Update: Sutton Council have removed the experimental LTN (Low Traffic Neighbourhood) schemes and pop-up cycle lanes, following the decision by the High Court that the Dft (Department for Transport) guidance under which they were set up was unlawful. We are proud our local members – especially in Worcester Park – campaigned hard against the badly thought out proposals.
The schemes were funded by the DfT, and were never intended to be a source of income for the Council. Take-up of the schemes was optional and, in Sutton, implemented without genuine consultation with residents.
In this time of economic uncertainty and hardship due to Covid-19, residents can ill afford traffic fines for incorrectly implemented schemes. Therefore we call on the Council to do the right thing and immediately refund all fines levied under these schemes.
Our colleagues in Carshalton and Wallington Labour have run a petition calling for a refund of any fines, which you can sign here.
We believe that any future traffic management decisions should be resident driven with residents initiating petitions and delegations to request it rather than a top down approach. This creates a strong local “social norm” where residents see the changes are driven by them and other residents elsewhere then seek change themselves as a response to other changes.
More on our local policies about traffic management and our local Manifesto can be read here.
The Original Proposals
Sutton Council proposed road closures without pre-consultation to secure TfL funding. Decision on the proposals were being made by the Council not the Mayor of London. It is clear that some of the road closures were not thought through as the lack of consultation showed.
Worcester Park and Stonecot
- Worcester Park – (Browning Avenue closure, between Dorchester Rd Junction and Roundabout, and Lincoln Road becoming one way from Longfellow to Green Lane). There has been a petition here https://www.change.org/p/sutton-council-stop-the-closure-of-part-of-ruskin-drive-browning-avenue-in-worcester-park? Local Labour members have written to the Council and the important issues raised were covered in the local papers here https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/18672462.thousands-fight-u-turn-ruskin-drive-proposal/
- Worcester Park – Railway Bridge Road Cones. aka #Conegate. Local Labour members have also been heavily involved in this campaign and we are pleased to report the Council has backed off on this issue https://twitter.com/WPLabour/status/1301609033720365060
- Nonsuch (Esher Ave/Wrayfield Road junction). There is now a petition here: https://www.change.org/p/transport-for-london-stop-the-road-closure-between-esher-avenue-wrayfield-road? We have been talking to local residents in the surrounding roads to see how strong opposition is to this
Sutton
- Benhill Avenue and Benhill Wood Road area – up to 4 possible road closures – this is still being investigated
- Sutton North ward (All Saints/ Grennell/ Benhill & Oakhill Junction/ Oakhill & Elgin Junction) + a 20mph zone
South Sutton and Belmont
- Sutton South/Carshalton Central ward (Kings Lane Bridge) closure and 20mph zones in Sutton South Ward.
- There may be a proposal for Homeland Drive on Shanklin estate, but that is currently not listed as a proposal
Outside our constituency there also looks to be a big issue over a road closure at Butter Hill in Wallington.
We have carried on gathering information, have template letters for those campaigning on this and have the option of running a car convoy protest if local people request it. Email our Vice-Chair Gerry Tasker if another area is being impacted trimitus1@yahoo.co.uk