Yet another sham consultation
The Council has finally published its Phase 3 consultation for the Dulwich Village/Calton Avenue/Court Lane junction, originally promised for early in 2023, then autumn 2023, now winter 2023. As expected, Southwark has ignored the results and comments made in all previous consultations (with the exception of keeping Turney Road open to traffic, which many people believe they never seriously intended to close anyway).
The Council said that they would work with the community on the designs of the Dulwich Village junction, but once again this was a hollow commitment that they have failed to honour – except, no doubt, to get approval from the well-known lobby groups. Our concerns about the plans – basically a diagram without dimensions and a number of artist’s impressions laughably distorted in size – include the following:
The Council says their proposals have been revised following public feedback received during Phase 2 consultation from 2022. However, the main comments from the public showed that the majority of local people did not support the Council’s objectives. When asked what objectives people wanted, the three biggest responses were for the Council to reduce displaced traffic, provide access for key workers and provide equality of access for disabled people. None of these points has been addressed.
Despite repeated commitments to vehicle-dependent residents, including the frail, the elderly, and those with disabilities, the Council continues to deny them access from the Calton Avenue and Court Lane area to Dulwich Village, even though they have been made aware on multiple occasions of the problems, distress and pain that long detours cause. This is a failure of the council’s Public Sector Equality Duty. It is particularly cynical to include a question that asks disabled people if they would be willing to be contacted at a later point to discuss the impact of these plans.
The signs showing access for emergency vehicles have been removed in the designs. Does this mean the Council is reneging on its agreement to enable access for emergency vehicles, which the emergency services fought so hard to reinstate?
The Council says that it wants to support town centre economies and suggests its plans will do this but hasn’t spoken to the shops and businesses directly affected.
The Council claims that cycling has increased significantly in the Dulwich area but provides no evidence. While cycling may have increased through the Dulwich Village junction at certain times of day, cycling is likely to have decreased on roads which have taken all the displaced traffic. We call on the Council to publish traffic and air quality data for all streets in the Dulwich area – there has been no data published since September 2022 – to provide evidence for its unsubstantiated claims.
Buried in the survey document is a plan showing proposed changes to the Dulwich Village/Red Post Hill/Village Way/East Dulwich Grove junction. This shows the reinstatement of two lanes for traffic travelling northbound from Dulwich Village. The “existing cycling wand segregation to remain” says the plan. As the installation of this cycle lane caused the northbound lane to be removed, it is not clear how two lanes for vehicle traffic will be created from the space for one….
The council has ignored the results of the Phase 2 public consultation, just as it ignored the results of the Phase 1 consultation. The Phase 3 “consultation” is a similar sham exercise. The Council will do whatever it wants to do and will suggest that all opposition comes from car-owners wanting to drive wherever they want.
If, like us, you believe the Council is taking you for fools and continuing to impose a scheme on our community without the consent of the people it is supposed to serve, we suggest you fill in and return the survey but ignore question 6, and answer “1 (not at all)” to questions 7 – 12. And do please use the comment boxes to emphasise that the community rejected this 24/7 closure in the original consultation, and that the wider Dulwich area will continue to suffer, not benefit, from it. The deadline is 17 January 2024.