Letter: LTN scheme has been an 'absolute nightmare'

Jeff Alford, Hackney, wrote to Street Scene, Hackney Council:

I am emailing my views on the consultation on the Homerton low traffic scheme implemented in a worldwide pandemic.

Firstly, you may be surprised to receive my input as a resident of the E9 neighbourhood the council has not found any means of conveying to the residents that a consultation is taking place. I only knew about it as my wife visited a relative in the E5 postcode (five minutes from us) and saw a lovely green leaflet that the residents of E5 received from you. I have waited to respond to the scheme as I was hoping we would receive a leaflet. As yet none have been received.

Can you explain to me how views are being sorted of ALL residents? After all, in the E9 area, there are numerous council properties, how are you collecting your own tenant’s views on decisions that directly affect them? Do we not deserve the same level of engagement with the councils as residents in the E5 area? Is this a postcode war that the council is engaging in?

Traffic filter in Hackney Downs Low Traffic Neighbourhood (Image: Hackney Council)

Whatever your reasons it’s disgraceful that you have chosen who you want to engage with, discrimination and social cleansing at its worse. As a government official who deals with consultations on a daily basis, surely even your team would know that any results would be subjected to invalidation as you have not consulted with all residents. I’m sure this would be born out by the number of hits on the page of the consultation you must have to compare against the number of residents in the area. After all, you cannot engage with a consultation if you do not know said consultation is taking place.

This is why I am against the scheme.

Also, as a government official, you have also put in traffic data that did not back the data you link to. As I have various relatives who work in the NHS - Homerton hospital, there has not been an increase in staff to match your data, in fact, staff was warned about the imposed scheme so, find it odd how your original pamphlet and the one I did not receive citing the hospital as wanting the scheme is not actually true. If wrong please do send me a link to where the correspondence can be found.

Getting around Hackney since this scheme has been put in is an absolute nightmare, and I resent people who do not live in hackney or living in roads where residents have been cut of trying to get to their own homes making decisions that do not affect them.

I would also like to see data you must have on the number of cyclists that have used the scheme on Barnabas road, usually speeding through and bringing no benefit to Hackney - your quote. We residents have been cut off twice trying to get to our hones as another consultation was implemented despite less than 20 per cent residents responding. So I am not at all hopeful residents’ views will be taken into account on this scheme as surely views should have been sort before not after the scheme was implemented.

Also, where have you published the number of fines you have issued, broken down by postcode as so many residents I know who are especially near Barnabas road has been fined trying to get to their own home. This includes NHS staff. Where is this money going to?

I look forward to your reply with the information I requested.