Lib Dems Call for Release of LTN Consultation Results
Claim software used means council is already aware of outcome
Cllr Jon Ball at anti-LTN demonstration
Liberal Democrats on Ealing Council are demanding that the results of the recent consultation on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in the borough be released immediately.
They say that the council will have been aware of the outcome of the survey of residents’ opinions about the nine schemes immediately after the deadline for responses. The last day for responses was 23 July but the council did say when announcing the timetable for the consultation that it would take until September until the results were collated and assessed.
The Liberal Democrat group says it believes that the council is delaying publication to give itself a chance to work out ways to retain as many of the LTNs as possible. They have called for no ‘salami slicing’ (where an LTN is split into smaller versions of the LTNs) and that each LTN should be removed or kept based on the majority view of residents who respond to the consultation.
Recently the Prime Minister’s transport advisor Andrew Gilligan revealed that Ealing was one of the local authority areas which was having funding suspended for failing to keep active travel measures in place for the requisite time. LTN 21 was scrapped by Ealing when it became apparent that road closures in neighbouring Hounslow would make its continuation impractical.
One of the first acts of council leader Peter Mason, when he became leader, was to promise an ‘CPZ style consultation’ on the LTNs which many understood to mean they would not be retained if the majority of residents were against the scheme in their area.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Jon Ball is demanding the answers to three questions. He says, “What is taking so long for Ealing Labour to publish the results? Are they trying to fiddle with the result because they do not like what they see? When will they share the results with residents, local businesses, and fellow Councillors?
“I understand that the Council has a real time view of the results from the questionnaire software they use, and so it should not be difficult for Ealing Labour to publish the results. By continuing to delay it means that people will become even more cynical of the motives of Ealing Council.”
We have asked Ealing Council for comment and to give an indication of when the results will be published.
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August 12, 2021