LTN: Our Healthy Streets - Dulwich: Phase 3

[DulwichCentral]

Electric cars are not the magic bullet:

- SUVs and extra traffic cancelling out electric car gains in Britain

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/26/suvs-and-extra-traffic-cancelling-out-electric-car-gains-in-britain?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

- Cycling is ten times more important that electric cars for reaching net zero cities

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/pollution/cycling-is-ten-times-more-important-than-electric-cars-for-reaching-net-zero-cities-76185

- China will dominate rare earth supply for decades

https://www.eetimes.com/china-will-dominate-rare-earth-supply-for-decades/

[slarti b]

@DulwichCentral

I am still waiting for you to justify your claim that OneDulwich's exposure of the OHSD secret working group was devious and deceitful.

Or are you just trying to smear a group with over a thousand supporters in the OHS consultation area?

[legalalien]

Interesting article in the Brixton Buzz re One Lambeth and the state of council decision making in Lambeth. Sounds a bit familiar.

https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2021/04/one-lambeth-launches-with-the-aim-of-holding-lambeth-council-to-account-over-ltns-housing-parks-and-libraries/

[heartblock]

Also a FOI request has shown the original increase of around 70% more traffic on minor roads over 10 years as a reason for LTNs put out by DfT, was a ?benchmarking? exercise, the actual growth was around 3%.

[slarti b]

@Heartblock

I must say the so called "increase" confused me because it seemed to contradict previous figures released by DfT an\or TfL. Can you link to the FoI you mention ?

[malumbu]

Penguin - I was simply doing a service to the community and providing some clarity about emissions - carbon and air pollution. I said nothing about LTNs although I have consistently provided a view on this thread and elsewhere that measures need to be introduced to reduce the amount of car use.

Ideally this should be through good citizenship - but why do we have traffic calming? Because most drivers will not keep to a safe speed. Similar can be said about both air quality and climate change. Excellent point from Dulwich Central about SUVs. No justification for many owners to have over powered and over weight vehicles when driving predominantly in urban areas - but SUVs are sold as a lifestyle/status symbol. Unnecessarily increasing CO2 emissions and contributing to climate change.

As for local action, if we all drove less at a local level, nationally, and across the globe then that would good both for health and the environment. What is not to understand about this simple message?

Really confused about the message on publications in professional journals. I expect that there are 100,000s of research papers published each year of which a tiny tiny fraction are flawed. Hardly a reason to cast doubt, unless it fits your agenda.

[heartblock]

slati b, Look for Paul Lomax on Twitter and you are correct, the figure has now been ?corrected? as I read it. It?s always very possible I have read the information incorrectly.

[snowy]

Who does Paul Lomax work for?

[slarti b]

@snowy

Who does Paul Lomax work for?

From his linkedin profile he is CTO of a company that manages publishing rights for Newspapers and magazines, looks similar to PRS. Backround in digital publishing, Guardian Media, Dennis publishing, Virgin Group loyalty scheme.

Why do you ask?

While you are here, are you able to help with my question (April 5th at 11.00 pm) about how academic peer review works and whether it would address the issues i pointed out in Aldred's mini-Holland study?

[snowy]

Slarti - that will be Dennis publishing group who are responsible for the following publications or websites

autotrader

Buyacar

Car throttle

Carbuyer

Driver power

Driving electric

Enzo

Evo

Octane magazine and

Aston Martin vantage magazine

Where he worked for over 7 years.

If we are scrutinising the (publicly declared) conflicts of interest of Woodcock, Goodman, Aldred etc, I think it?s a reasonable to do the same for others, don?t you agree?

Will answer your question about peer review later if that?s ok - currently assessing research applications (not related to this topic) and am on a deadline.

[Rockets]

Snowy - they also publish the Cyclist magazine - you forgot that one!!! ;-)

And Viz and a load of PC mags - so they aren't just a petrolhead publishing house!!!!

[slarti b]

@snowy

Dennis (which Lomax left 4 years ago) also publish:

Cyclist

PCPro

Science & Nature

The Week

and finally Viz magazine.

However, "4 years ago I worked for a company that published some car magazines as part of its portfolio" doesn't really sounds like a current conflict of interest to me. I suspect he is more in the tradition of the "amateur" investigator such as Brian Deer or Elliot Higgins.

I am off to office now but, thanks for replying about academic peer review, it is a genuine question by the way and I look forward to your answer.

btw Looking at Aldred's latest Waltham Forest study she is claiming a 20% reduction in car ownership due to the introduction of the LTN. As we know, her longitudinal study is based on a small number of self selecting respondents (many from a cycling database) which doesn't represent the local demographic so is already questionable.

If I have understood her latest figures correctly the initial base for her claim is 49 respondents who actually live in the LTN (2.8% of her total respondents). Oddly, though, the number of LTN respondents increases to 66 over the next 2 waves while the number of other respondents decreases and it is these 66 people on whom she bases her claim of a 20% reduction. How can the number of respondents actually increase during a longitudinal study? Given such a tiny sample number it would be very easy for people to respond to the study part way through to skew the results.

Aldred doesn't seem to addrress this possibility but would a peer review question this methodology or analysis?

[heartblock]

The FOI request was from Caroline Russell...Green Party, Paul just retweeted the FOI.

Caroline?s question

Department for Transport (DfT) road traffic estimates have been revised upwards, after a benchmarking exercise to review minor road traffic flows. What work has Transport for London (TfL) undertaken to review their modelling and data in light of this revision?

TFL responded - ?TfL is currently reviewing its key statistics potentially affected by this change, with a view to reporting in Travel in London Report 14 towards the end of 2021?

It?s interesting only because this flawed and incorrect data has been used to put LTNs in minor roads. According to roads counted only 3 minor roads in London were part of the data set, all the others were main roads. So even the small rise in traffic is on main roads like LL, Croxted and not Calton, Court, Melbourne.

Why does this matter? It matters because this was one of the reasons given for LTNs on minor roads, the 70% increase that never happened.

[legalalien]

Just received an email from the local RA about the blue badge exemptions, which included an email from the council officer to councillors:

"Dear Councillor,

Free, local exemptions for disabled people living in Dulwich Village and Walworth LTNs.

In response to requests from local wards councillors on behalf of residents requesting blue badge holder access through the restrictions within the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) where they live we have reviewed the current arrangements.

As part of the review it has been noted that blue badge holders often have reduced mobility, which can make walking and cycling much more difficult. Therefore, in the interest of equality and in response to concerns raised we are inviting blue badge holders to register for an exemption. This will enable them to drive through camera restrictions in their local LTN within either Dulwich Village and Walworth at any time during the day.

Details of this arrangement, requirements and eligibility is available on the webpage below from Tuesday 06 April 2021:

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parking/disabled-parking/parking-with-a-blue-badge?chapter=2

Blue badge holders will be able to apply for the exemption on the following form: https://forms.southwark.gov.uk/ShowForm.asp?fm_fid=2080

The attached plans show the boundary for which blue badge holders must live to be eligible for the exemption. [ETA I HAVEN'T ATTACHED THE PLAN BUT BOUNDARIES ARE EAST DULWICH GROVE, TOWNLEY, LORDSHIP, DULWICH COMMON AND CROXTED - THE FIRST FOUR BOUNDARIES INCLUDE THE ROADS THEMSELVES BUT BOTH SIDES OF CROXTED APPEAR TO BE EXCLUDED]

In Walworth blue badge holders in SE11 and SE17 who already have an AD permit (virtual blue badge permit ) will automatically be exempt from the Walworth LTN restrictions. There are currently 12 AD permits holders in SE11 and 94 in SE17 and we will email them to notify them of this exemption.

The same applies in Dulwich Village; blue badge holders within the designated area who already have an AD permit will automatically be exempt from the Dulwich Village LTN restrictions. Currently there are only five in this area and we will email them to notify them of the exemption. We will be working with Dulwich Village councillors to help identify blue badge holders in the boundary area and encourage those living within the scheme boundary to apply for this exemption.

Those who qualify but do not have an AD permit will need to apply using the application form above. The exemption will go live on Tuesday 06 April 2021 and I am happy to share this positive update with you."

[snowy]

Rockets Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Snowy - they also publish the Cyclist magazine -

> you forgot that one!!! ;-)

>

> And Viz and a load of PC mags - so they aren't

> just a petrolhead publishing house!!!!

Straight in with a classic bit of whatabouttery!

[slarti b]

Hahaha. NOpe, just adding a bit more detail to your highly selective list

Is that the best response you can come up with??

[alice]

I wish I had the it skills to post the map of disability badges in Southwark. Anyone?

[legalalien]

It's on the website where you can apply, I just discovered

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parking/disabled-parking/parking-with-a-blue-badge?chapter=2

alice Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I wish I had the it skills to post the map of

> disability badges in Southwark. Anyone?

[heartblock]

Thank you legalalien, that will be great news for my disabled neighbour. I?ll try and get onto the site. :)

[Rockets]

snowy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Rockets Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Snowy - they also publish the Cyclist magazine

> -

> > you forgot that one!!! ;-)

> >

> > And Viz and a load of PC mags - so they aren't

> > just a petrolhead publishing house!!!!

>

> Straight in with a classic bit of whatabouttery!

Snowy your list had a distinct element of confirmation bias to it so for balance I added some of the titles you had missed!!!! ;-) #whataboutteryindeed!

[alice]

legalalien Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It's on the website where you can apply, I just

> discovered

>

> https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parking/disabled-park

> ing/parking-with-a-blue-badge?chapter=2

>

>

> alice Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > I wish I had the it skills to post the map of

> > disability badges in Southwark. Anyone?

Southwark maps have a BB map. Worth seeing next to the village map.

[heartblock]

Very few BB in the Village LTNs ... as disability rights UK points out ?Nearly half of everyone in poverty is either a disabled person or lives with a disabled person? so unlikely to be living in a 1-3mill or more house with two cars on the drive...

[exdulwicher]

Very few BB in the Village LTNs ... as disability rights UK points out ?Nearly half of everyone in poverty is either a disabled person or lives with a disabled person? so unlikely to be living in a 1-3mill or more house with two cars on the drive...

Depends on how you define disability. This has been mentioned before on here - it definitely cropped up in the thread on parking charges being introduced to Southwark Parks (inc. Dulwich Park) and there were examples on there of people saying they were disabled (or had a form of disability etc) yet not being eligible for a Blue Badge.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-badge-can-i-get-one/can-i-get-a-blue-badge

It's a big problem in defining travel as well because "disability" is usually used as politically-correct shorthand for "this person needs a wheelchair to get around" which is patently incorrect, can actually be quite offensive and doesn't begin to examine the wide range of social mobility problems that can occur. Transport For All published a report on it a couple of months back

https://www.transportforall.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pave-The-Way-full-report.pdf

Again, if you want transparency (and to be fair, they state this in the report), it's based on 84 participants although they do note some of the limitations (like not being able to visit community hubs etc due to lockdown) and acknowledge that anyone without access to the internet was de facto unable to participate in their research. They also mention (page 14) that it's very difficult to formally categorise "impairment" and they back it up with a graph showing that half the people who participated were not Blue Badge holders. It's an interesting read to fill some of the gaps around understanding of disability, especially in terms of everyday travel.

[alice]

Are you actually suggesting that if you define disability in another way that actually there will be a lot more disabled people in this dulwich village zone than elsewhere in Southwark? Like I?ve said elsewhere there is a map Reopen Melbourne has posted on Twitter showing BB holders across Southwark and Dulwich Village has maybe <1% of them.

[exdulwicher]

Are you actually suggesting that if you define disability in another way that actually there will be a lot more disabled people in this dulwich village zone than elsewhere in Southwark?

No, where did I suggest that this was specific to Dulwich?

If you define "disability" as "Blue Badge Holder" then you're missing out on a LOT of people who have disabilities in one form or another (visible or not) who do not meet the criteria which I linked to above for getting a BB.

And to turn the argument the other way around, simply looking at an area and saying "there are x Blue Badge holders, that is the number of disabled people who live in that area" is simplistic and wrong.