Rockets

Do you find the boredom only washes over you when the discussion goes in a direction that you can't argue against........;-) Maybe those who are bored of it should take heed of some sage advice from 80s TV classic kids programme Why Don't You:

Here we have an acknowledgement of why some of us have challenged the council since the get-go on whether these measures actually work or whether they displace traffic via another route and actually increase pollution. The circle is now complete!

No I am not - you were talking about consultations and I have given an example of a local consultation that Southwark Council have ignored the results from. I think you will find I am very much on the right thread and that's exactly why you're trying to deflect and distract....;-)

The Dulwich Phase 3 consultation results (which are an excellent example of how the council ignores the responses) were published in February of this year. I know you would love to pigeon-hole the Dulwich scheme as a done deal but you may, or may not, have noticed that the council has been changing the designs - hence the Phase 3 tag - and remember, they had proposed an £8m set of improvements for the latest round that were soundly laughed out of the room and then they came back with the works they are now, hurriedly, trying to complete. So no, some of us haven't moved on as we are not happy to turn a blind-eye to council wastage - especially at a time when the council is claiming it has no money for anything - perhaps you are? Or maybe you're happy for them to waste tax-payers money time and time again on things you support? For anyone who spends much time around there it's becoming clear there are likely design-flaws in the works they are doing now - they seem to be creating a cycle pinch-point on the chicane part in front of Au Ciel - so I am sure they will come back and throw even more money at it in due course. That square will likely haunt the local councillors for the rest of their careers - from the way they installed it, the way they ignored the pleas of the emergency services to re-open it (I have never understood why any politician thinks that ignoring the input from emergency services is a wise move), the way they have botched consultation after consultation and the millions of tax-payer's money they have wasted on what is nothing more than an ideological vanity project.

The Lib Dems were also campaigning to have a pragmatic discussion and approach around LTNs during the council elections. One of them should have stood down to galvanise the vote - if the Tories had stood down I suspect the Dulwich Village result might have been very different. This is know as the "champagne socialist" effect! 😉

Let's just ground your comments on the weight of opposition to the Dulwich Square proposals - the council said they had 3234 comments left in the consultation and 82% of respondents identified as being from Dulwich. This is how the comments were ranked (in terms of do the changes meet the objectives). Pretty compelling and how did the council respond - "thanks for your interest we are proceeding with the plans regardless". Perhaps you can enlighten us as to how the council fulfilled it's duty of office in relation to a consultation per the below? What is consultation? Consultation is technically any activity that gives local people a voice and an opportunity to influence important decisions. It involves listening to and learning from local people before decisions are made or priorities are set.

The devil is always in the detail - and the detail was massively lacking from the Southwark Labour manifesto (it always is)!

Posting the last One Dulwich update here because they discuss the Dept of Transport data that identifies Southwark's cycling and walking data every year since 2016 to 2023 and it is very interesting (which I have attached). It would be great if they could break this down to separate walking from cycling.. Campaign Update | 10 Sep The Dulwich Village junction Work continues on the £1.5 million Dulwich Village junction re-design, despite the lack of community support (see the Phase 3 Consultation Report here). We continue to impress on council officers that their plans show unacceptably poor access for emergency vehicles, and inadequate and badly positioned parking for Blue Badge holders. Further details, and how to object, can be found under ‘Dulwich Streets for People (notice dated 5 Sept 2024)’. Southwark’s poor investment The Department for Transport’s published data (updated last month) shows that Southwark’s huge investment in active travel – including millions spent on LTNs – has resulted in no significant change in either walking or cycling. In fact, walking and cycling for travel (rather than leisure) went down in 2023 compared with pre-Covid years. Maybe they need to re-think their strategy? West Dulwich Action Group The West Dulwich Action Group are taking legal action to fight Lambeth Council over the recently imposed LTN. Read more on their Facebook page, or help them reach their £30,000 target via GoFundMe. Thank you for your support. Best wishes, The One Dulwich Team

No I am not - I am calling on the council to use a consultation in the manner which they are bound to do so which is per the below (and nothing Southwark has done adequately fulfils this). Only the most blinkered would suggest the council has come any close to the below. Not sure why you don't think running a definitive consultation to close this off once and for all would not be in everyone's best interests - unless, of course, deep down you know the results would go against you - which brings us back to exactly why the council have ignored the below and had to pull every under-hand tactic out of their playbook to try and get what they want. What is consultation? Consultation is technically any activity that gives local people a voice and an opportunity to influence important decisions. It involves listening to and learning from local people before decisions are made or priorities are set.

But Southwark has, repeatedly, deliberately and intentionally, ignored the views of constituents time and time again over this issue. They have deliberately bent the rules to try and get the result they want - even with this they failed to get the mandate they needed and then they fell back on the "consultations are not referendums" spin. You're constantly telling us that it is a small, vocal minority so why not back yourself and agree to lobby to have a definitive consultation that the council agrees to action the outcome that responds to the views of the majority residents? You know as well as we all know that they removed any reference to LTNs or CPZs in the run-up to the local elections - that was a strategic decision by the powers that be in Southwark Labour. Not one flyer that dropped through our door even acknowledged the existence of CPZs, LTNs etc....yet when they got elected suddenly it's "we have a mandate from the people to do more". Only those who are politically naïve (or politically blinkered) think that wasn't a very deliberate strategic decision on their part.

I think you are right and this is where the councillors seem to be de-prioritising the views of the constituents they pledged to represent and why so many locally are angry with them and why that anger towards them is not subsiding. They bleat on about having no money and then find millions to spend on Dulwich Square (which they are clearly rushing through to make "permanent" so it is hard to undo the changes). Political hypocrisy at it's finest.

Yup. The irony is not lost on me that you are posting this one post after March46 posted a link to an article that has these pictures in it - that "tiny number of fanatics". There are more people at that protest than have ever attended one of the Dulwich Square jamborees, in fact more people than all of the Dulwich Square events have managed to muster collectively - but, you know, by all means keep questioning the number of local residents against these measures. http://southwarknews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/image-500x242.jpg Thereby validating exactly what I was saying about your original post. I presume you will be issuing an apology to Richard Ardwinkle for the accusations you made against him in your post (I think I know the answer to this already)?

If they can find a place...primary is OK, secondary numbers are still growing and estimates suggest they won't start dropping for 5 years... BBC News - London primary school numbers to drop by 52,000 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly559jnd2zo

??? You asked a question to which i provided an answer - there's no pleasing some people.....

*in your opinion.... 2,000 local people who registered their details seems to suggest other points of view may exist!

And that's good news for the existing cohort of state school children at those schools how exactly? A sudden influx of kids from the private sector will mean class sizes will grow and the most disadvantaged will lose out - remember a private school child moving to state is a double-whammy as they won't be paying the 20% tax and costing the state more for the state school place they will be occupying. Very, very unlikely - far more likely to make them even more elitist as it is the big schools like Eton (which massively skew the perception of private school in the minds of the masses) which will survive. It is the smaller schools that will struggle and many of those are not catering to the types who frequent Eton etc.

I suspect that very much depends if you are a resident of that ward......

I think it most certainly does prove my point - that it is a file photo that Southwark News uses to illustrate articles, no doubt taken by one of their own reporters, and not something that Richard Ardwinkle sent to them. Unless, of course, you also think Richard Ardwinkle sent them the photo to help illustrate their article on Lambeth handing out £22m in LTN fines......the article I flagged from July 2022 which he wasn't even referenced in!!!!! I am happy to go to great lengths to take you to task on spreading falsehoods. Your clumsy attempt to try and accuse someone you clearly despise illustrates the lengths you will go to to try and demonise people you don't see eye-to-eye with - it seems to be the go-to tactic on Page 1 of the pro-LTN handbook of "how to deal with people who may not agree with our ideology". We have seen it hundreds of times before since this all began and it's sad that people feel the need to descend to this. I do laugh however when I read these things and then see people on the pro-LTN side bemoaning a "culture war".

But it is a gotcha moment for your previous comment suggesting your "evil adversary" Richard Adwinkle had supplied the photo. Maybe with the lack of fact-checking you did before posting that comment you could get a job on The Guardian! 😉 But in all seriousness I am glad your ire is now being directed at Southwark News.....

March46 - here you go...the picture was also used in an articles in: July 2022: https://southwarknews.co.uk/area/around-south-east-london/lambeth-handed-out-22-million-of-ltn-fines-last-year/ December 2021: https://southwarknews.co.uk/news/shocking-filler-ltn-outrage-in-dulwich/ And prior to that in May 2021: https://southwarknews.co.uk/area/southwark/dulwich-demonstration-as-council-reviews-low-traffic-neighbourhood/ This is how file photos get used!

Maybe the council/s should make these based on referendum rules and get a definitive answer to whether they are supported or not. Would those happy to repeat the "a consultation is not a referendum" support a simple one person one vote definitive consultation that the council guaranteed to action the outcome. I am presuming yes because you are so confident it is only a "small minority" who oppose the way the council is going about things and you are confident the result would go your way?

March46 - nope, sorry you're wrong. Southwark News often sends reporters (especially Herbie) to Dulwich to cover stories. I have spoken to him in Dulwich Square when he was doing an article on the latest money-wasting vanity project. He had camera in hand and was offering to take pictures of those with whom he spoke to (not many did for fear of retribution and interestingly he said he has received threats after posting articles deemed critical of the council's LTN plans etc) I bet if you call Southwark News and ask them where the picture is from they will say it is a file photo taken by one of thier reporters. They'll probsbly even let you buy a copy. I reckon if you look back at their stories on LTN protests you will find the article where the original picture appeared a few years ago. You might really, really hope Richard had sent that picture in but that's not the way newspaper publishing works I am afraid. "Sends them a news piece".....send me a private message if you are keen to learn how the newspaper industry works and how stories get generated.

And that's all great and is positive for everyone but we have seen so, so, many times before that these measures are implemented without any common sense and it is interesting that he is flagging that as the u-turn on much of it happens. It is the lack of common sense that has created the "culture war" that so many supporting their implementation bang on about and once you have created that monster you'll never get people back on-side. At local, regional and national levels it is the lack of common sense that so annoys so many and is why we are where we are. LTNs, CPZs and 20mph all suffer from the same challenge - implemented in ways that didn't take the majority with them. The moment anyone dare to suggest common sense had not been used the protagonists would stoke a culture war by trying to demonise them "small minority, right-wing, taxi drivers etc etc" and instead of working with the community actively worked against them - just look at the thousands of messages posted on this forum. From day one I was saying that the lack of common sense was doing massive long-term harm to the fight against climate change as people were not being engaged and taken on the journey and so it has turned out to be. And that lies solely at the feet of those responsible for implementing them.

BBC News - Man behind Wales' 20mph limit admits mistakes https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70j0gv5xpdo Common sense.....more of that please!

Dogstar, gig at the Academy followed by rum in the Brixtonian....now that was a night out!