We are pleased to announce that thanks to our intervention the Quietways design decision has been withdrawn to allow for designs to be revisited and full consultation with residents.
We have been working hard for the last two years to ensure the designs meet the needs of residents and the local community, whether they live, walk, work and/ or cycle locally. Our approach has been consistent – to work with you and ensure there is opportunity for local residents to shape the design.
We have emphasised throughout to officers, colleagues and TfL that proper consultation is the only way to ensure a scheme which people want and will use, and which makes the roads safer and more pleasant. This is why over the last two years we organised public meetings, met with resident groups regularly, and pushed officers to take on board concerns. We have listened to your feedback and agreed that the designs weren’t good enough, which is why we submitted our call-in.
A call-in is a final resort, so we did not rush into that without meeting with officers and the cabinet member first, where we expressed our concerns and asked that we work together to resolve issues.
Thanks to our willingness to engage with the cabinet member and officers, they have therefore agreed to withdraw the decision in order to take on board our points. They have committed to work with us to –
– revisit it the responses to the last consultation
– revise the project plan and timeline to include a 4-6 week public engagement period
– put in place a process so that as your local councillors we have greater input into designs
– review the engagement process for future transport projects so that this problem doesn’t arise again
We are pleased that this means, instead of time consuming and confrontational scrutiny meetings, we can get on with working with you to improve the scheme.
We are meeting officers and the cabinet member tonight to discuss the next steps, so we will also be going ahead with our public meeting tomorrow, on Tuesday 27 June at Rosendale School from 6.30-8pm to hear your concerns and contributions and share the details of those next steps.
If you cannot attend, or would like us to come along to discuss this at your local resident or community group meetings, please reply to this email and we would be happy to meet with you separately.