Will the long-awaited review be fair and transparent?
Southwark has promised an eight-week public consultation on the road closures, starting in May.
You can register to have your say by going to www.southwark.gov.uk/dulwichreviewreg or by writing to Highways – Dulwich Review, 3rd Floor, Hub 2, 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH.
So how will the consultation work? Details are slowly emerging – and seem to be contradictory. This doesn’t inspire confidence in a process that is supposed to be comprehensive and transparent.
There is also anxiety that those who are seriously affected by the road closures may be excluded – not only because they’re not online, but also because they’re not members of an organised group (like the one below) encouraging them to take part.
Everything got off to a bad start earlier this week when a newsletter was delivered through local letterboxes. Explaining the consultation process, the newsletter said, “We will write to every household in the LTN areas plus all addresses on both sides of boundary roads.”
However, the delivery missed out a large number of residents on Lordship Lane and Turney Road – and all residents on the Lambeth side of Croxted Road. Despite a special section of the newsletter aimed at businesses (“If you run a local business…”), no newsletters were delivered to any businesses in Dulwich Village, Melbourne Grove, Grove Vale or Lordship Lane.
Confidence drops further when we turn to the crucial issue of who will be eligible to take part in the May consultation, and how the Council will ensure that the process is trustworthy.
On 12 March, the Leader of the Council Kieron Williams emailed a local resident to say that a newsletter would direct people to a consultation hub, where there would be links to separate surveys for the three main LTNs (Dulwich Village, East Dulwich and Champion Hill). “The newsletter will have a unique reference number which ideally will be entered on the survey questionnaire so we can distinguish between those inside the LTN and anyone else who completes and submits a survey.”
Cllr Williams went on to say that the survey would be open to all and that the newsletter would contain details on how residents could access hard copies of the survey if required.
On 25 March, in response to a different set of questions from a local RA, a Southwark employee provided information that seemed to contradict the Leader’s email of 12 March. We quote this below [our italics and underlining]:
All survey responses will be unique as they will require an address to be included. This is so we can distinguish between those inside the LTN areas and anyone else who completes and submits a survey. This was changed from the original proposal to have a unique reference number when it was decided not to send out the questionnaires until after 6th May.
The newsletter directs people to the consultation hub where there is further information and a link to register for the survey and associated separate questionnaires for the three main LTNs (Dulwich Village, East Dulwich and Champion Hill). However, you will be able to complete all three questionnaires if you wish.
If you access the registration form you will note the drop down menu for addresses which shows all the roads covered. This includes Melbourne Grove, Lordship Lane and Croxted Road. All residents, businesses, schools, surgeries and any other premises will have received a copy of the newsletter.
It’s hard to know what to make of all this. The number of roads on the drop-down menu has increased since the page first went live, but it’s still not a comprehensive list. What are the criteria for inclusion? Is there a map of the review area? It’s not clear either who is eligible to respond (how many responses per household, for example), or how the Council will ensure that all those it intends to contact – including local businesses – will actually receive a copy of the newsletter. How will responses be weighted and assessed? Will comments made by someone living in, say, the Dulwich Village LTN about the Champion Hill LTN carry less weight than those made by someone living in Champion Hill?
Finally, if the idea of a unique reference number has been abandoned, what will prevent multiple entries? As a One Dulwich supporter says, “What’s to stop someone filling in a form on behalf of next door’s cat?”
As more unsatisfactory details dribble out, we will let you know.