Protest Aims To Change Council's LTN Policy in Chiswick

Local groups to demonstrate outside new administration's first meeting

Residents assemble by Chiswick Station for an earlier protest. Picture: Tim Mack

A group of local resident associations plan to hold a public protest outside the first meeting of the newly elected Hounslow Council to persuade them to change policy on traffic management.

The Strand on the Green Association and the Grove Park Group, along with associations of Burlington Lane and Park Road residents, want to draw the attention of the new administration to the opposition to the Low Traffic Neighbourhood measures implemented by the previous council in the South Chiswick area.

The demonstration will be taking place outside Hounslow House starting at 6.15pm on 31 May when the council meets for the first time. The protest will last for an hour and then there will be an opportunity for a limited number of people to observe the council meeting.

The protestors are likely to be encouraged due to the new leader of the council, Shantanu Rajawat, not having been a notably vocal supporter of the transport policies of his predecessor Steve Curran, although he did vote for measures when required. A key indication of the likely future direction of council policy is who replaces Hanif Khan as the councillor with responsibility for transport. Mr Khan was a prominent supporter of the active travel measures implemented by the council, so much so that he was invited to 10 Downing Street in recognition of his efforts. However, he failed to win a seat on the council at the elections earlier this month.

A spokesperson for the Strand on the Green Association said, "A survey of residents underlines the anger already extensively expressed to the Council about the disjointed measures imposed on the area and this is an opportunity to encourage the new administration to meet our needs."

Another local member of one of the groups involved said, "From what we are told about the new leader, we understand he is not dogmatic on these issues and looks at things from a pragmatic point of view. He has a clean slate, and while we don't expect an immediate scrapping of all of the problem schemes it is reasonable to hope for a change of attitude in which residents' views will be given proper consideration and massively impactful changes won't be justified by a series of platitudes."

The groups claims that 80% of residents want the current traffic management measures implemented by the council in the south of Chiswick changed. Revisions they would like to see include any exemptions to access restrictions to be given to all residents and access to be given for deliveries, visitors and taxis. They would also like to see restriction times adjusted to match the hours when traffic is the heaviest.

The groups held a public meeting in March which they say demonstrated public support for a controlled camera scheme similar to one implemented in South Fulham. There were also widespread calls for the Staveley Road barrier to be reviewed which many said had become unnecessary given the extra access restrictions.

Supporter of the council's existing schemes say the measures have been successful in reducing traffic through the area and particularly in Staveley Road. They dismiss claims of 80% opposition claiming that any surveys taken have been 'self-selecting' and are not representative of the true split of opinion in the area.

May 15, 2022