Petition details
This petition is set up to get the Local Council to stop using the Blunt instrument of road closures to stop Rat running through Tower Hamlets, whereby this also affects all the Local Business and non cyclists. We Residents want the council to think smarter, use tech to stop Rat runners, Use existing techniques to charge "Out of towners" fees to use our roads, Encourage local Electric vehicle use by locals, Build more Electric vehicle infrastructure, all "Smarter" thinking ideas rather than forced st closures. We do not accept the heavily weighted Cycling lobby effect on the current proposals and want the current consultancy company to be dismissed and have a real locally led feedback of forums, set up democratically and led by locals for locals. We need smarter and fit for purpose solutions. not Draconian closures.
We want to enhance the local area by stopping Rat runners and encouraging locals to switch to E-Vehicles whilst keeping the local arteries open for all.
This Petition ran from 23/07/2020 to 22/08/2020 and has now finished.
2365 people signed this Petition.
Council response
Thank you for the petition raised at Council on Wednesday 30 September regarding the above which you presented to the meeting. The meeting requested that I respond to your concerns and please accept my apologies for the delay in this response.
The Council’s vision is for a healthy, safe and environmentally friendly transport system that is accessible and affordable for all who live, work, study and do business in the borough
The Tower Hamlets Transport Strategy recognises the significant impact that through-traffic has on the roads in the borough, with vehicle traffic in Tower Hamlets the second highest of any local authority.
Some restrictions on motor traffic movement on borough roads have recently been installed in the form of modal filters (measures designed to restrict through-journeys for certain modes of transport e.g. vehicular traffic, but allows modes such as walking and cycling), These have been implemented either as part of the Council’s Liveable Streets programme or the emergency transport response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
The Liveable Streets programme involves extensive public engagement prior to launching full public consultation. This includes early engagement with local communities, and co-production workshops to develop action plans and meetings with interested stakeholder groups.
Full consultation on Liveable Streets schemes typically lasts 4 to 6 weeks which is an ample amount of time for the public to submit their views to the Council for consideration. This timeframe has been extended where necessary in specific circumstances to review proposals further. The modal filters currently being implemented in Bethnal Green were well supported as part of the consultation that took place in that local area.
This form of in-depth engagement is the Council’s preferred approach to developing traffic and highways schemes as this enables us to provide more considered, flexible solutions to issues and concerns raised by people living and working in those areas.
However, for schemes delivered using funding from the TfL Streetspace Plan or the DfT Emergency Active Travel Fund (such as on Brick Lane), where rapid installation of temporary measures is required, the council has a limited time to engage with stakeholders in the usual way prior to scheme implementation. However, for example, the closures in the southern half of Brick Lane (near the restaurants) that were implemented earlier in 2020 have now been removed after the 10 week trial period.
It is acknowledged that there are various options for restricting vehicles from using certain roads, including timed-restricted or full road closures, as well as utilising cameras with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to enforce them. All our traffic schemes that look to reduce vehicle movements to improve the local environment and air quality consider all options within the local parameters and feedback provided by residents, business and road users. On balance, we believe that the approach we have taken to date is the right one for the areas that we have already looked at – but we always keep these traffic interventions under review.
The Council also has a programme to increase the number of publicly available electric vehicle charging points as set out in our EVCP Plan 2018 -2020. To date 42 on-street charging points have been installed, with funding secured and contracts placed to install a further 182 by Easter 2021.
Yours sincerely,
Ann Sutcliffe
Corporate Director, Place