The Government has responded to the parliamentary petition which called for withdrawal of guidance and funding of road closures and cycle lanes that are creating severe traffic congestion (see https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/552306 ).

This petition quickly collected more than 20,000 signatures which required the Government to respond. However the response is an appalling travesty of justice and could have been written by the original civil servant who developed the defective policy to begin with.

The response says for example: “The Government is committed to delivering a step change in levels of active travel. We know the majority of people support giving more road space to cycling and walking in their local area”. Where is the evidence for the latter claim? There is none. Vehicle users object very strongly to having road space removed.

It also says: “Although some schemes have attracted negative attention, this is still only a small minority of the people living in those areas”. Simply not true. For example, a large proportion of the residents of Lewisham oppose the road closures as is evident from the surveys already undertaken (but which the Council is avoiding doing).

The result of these Government funded Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) schemes is that congestion and air pollution have increased, people are inconvenienced, local businesses have lost trade and lives have been jeopardised with emergency vehicles stuck in traffic. Cycle tracks are often empty, while the roads alongside are jammed.

Readers should write to their Member of Parliament about the triviality of the response – go here to obtain their contact details: https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons

PLEASE SIGN THIS VERY IMPORTANT PETITION

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/552306

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