11 February 2022
Dear Dulwich Alliance,
Please find attached a letter setting out our full response to your questions.
If you have any further questions, or if it would be helpful for us to speak directly to the Dulwich Alliance, please do let us know.
Kind regards,
Richard and Raghav
1. Is your policy that your candidates should be supportive of the LTN measures currently in place in the Dulwich area or opposed to them? Please share any supporting rationale or manifesto material.
We do not support the LTN measures currently in place in Dulwich. Liberal Democrats want to make it easier and safer for people who can walk and cycle to be able to do so. We also want to improve London’s poor air quality and tackle congestion. We believe this is best done working with local people.
There is no “one size fits all” approach for what works in all areas. Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, if developed with the community and supported by a clear evidence base, can be effective. The LTN in Dulwich, however, does not meet either of these criteria.
While some residents felt very engaged with the council on the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, most people felt that these road closures and cameras were imposed on them using emergency legislation, without genuine consultation and engagement. The Labour Council has not truly listened to the full community, and has instead turned roads and residents against each other with the local councillors simply standing by. This is why the Libera Democrats sought to get the Council’s Oversight and Scrutiny Committee to re-examine the decision to introduce the LTN to Dulwich last year.
See, for example, https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/council-reject-further-debate-on-southwark-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-in-dulwich-and-peckham and https://www.southwark-libdems.org.uk/southwark_council_refuse_to_listen_to_residents_on_dulwich_peckham_traffic_schemes_despite_liberal_democrat_appeals.
Separate from our concerns about the lack of consultation with the community, it is also not clear whether the LTN is having an overall benefit in the area. While some roads have seen congestion reduce and air quality improve, for many others (like Croxted Road and East Dulwich Grove), the reverse is true as a result of congestion and pollution simply being moved from one part of the area to another, which is not fair. It’s also having a detrimental impact on local businesses and has led to longer times for emergency vehicles to reach people.
As such, the Liberal Democrats will be campaigning on a platform of removing the LTN measures and instead looking at alternative measures both to address congestion and pollution across Dulwich and Herne Hill and to make it easier and safer for people who can walk and cycle to be able to do so. These measures would need to be co-designed with the community, subject to full and proper consultation, fair to all residents and roads, and take into account the needs of all road users as well as cyclists and pedestrians. These changes would sit alongside broader Liberal Democrat plans relating to traffic and the environment, such as extending the Santander cycle scheme and improve walking routes across Southwark.
2. If you are against the Dulwich LTNs, will your candidates explicitly communicate this as part of their campaign?
Yes. Our position on the Dulwich LTN and the need for it to be replaced with alternative measures will be set out clearly in our forthcoming literature which will be distributed to all residents in the Dulwich Village ward.
3. What would you like to see change if anything? Do you have any thoughts or suggestions for a longer-term vision for travel, traffic, and transport in the Dulwich area?
With regards to the LTN in Dulwich, we want to be led by evidence as to what needs to be done. We do not believe that scrapping the LTN with no alternative measures to address concerns about traffic, congestion and air pollution in the area is a sustainable or rational approach either.
As noted above, we believe that measures do need to be taken to address congestion and pollution across Dulwich and Herne Hill, and that we should make it easy and safe and possible for people who can walk and cycle to be able to do so. It is imperative that these measures are co-designed with the community, subject to full and proper consultation, fair to all residents and roads, and take into account the needs of all road users as well as cyclists and pedestrians.
We would like to see it made easier for those moving to electric vehicles to be able to do so through a faster rollout of electric chargers on roads where there is need for them. As noted above, we also want to see the Santander cycle scheme extended across Southwark and improved walking routes across the borough.
4. Have you selected your candidates yet? We want to give all candidates the opportunity to address the Dulwich Alliance so please do advise of candidates and contact details.
Yes, our two candidates are Richard Wingfield and Raghav Parkash. They can be contacted via dulwichlibdems@gmail.com.
5. Please feel free to add any further comments (you may wish to refer to our website www.dulwichalliance.org, or to the website of one of our founding groups www.onedulwich.uk).
Please also supply the following information
● Name of party: Liberal Democrats
● Name of person responding to this request: Richard Wingfield and Raghav Parkash
● Contact details: dulwichlibdems@gmail.com
● Position in party: Candidates for councillors in Dulwich Village
Yours faithfully,
Richard Wingfield and Raghav Parkash
