Superb victory for residents spoilt by one amendment…
A huge number of residents turned out for the Croydon Council Traffic Management Cabinet Meeting tonight. Our lobbying has had a major impact on the Council's plans. Such was the effect that the first motions that were passed in the meeting allowed council members whose wards are affected by the plan, and the member of parliament and GLA representative who represent the area to speak at the meeting. This is unprecedented as was the venue - this committee have not met in the main council chamber for the past 5 years. The public gallery was packed with concerned residents, as was an overflow room, with audio provided. The BBC have been filming for most of the day and you may see some of us on the news tomorrow. The biggest shock of the night was the amendment sheet handed to us as we filed in for the meeting. Amended recommendations had already been added last week but even more concessions were added today before the meeting. But they included one point that was not a concession.
The amended recommendations will apparently add over 500 parking spaces in the CPZ (we will be watching and counting). The ridiculous hours and Sunday rules have been dropped in all zones but central. The very sour point is that the central zone will be restricted from 7am to midnight 7 days a week. This will cause huge hardship to those residents: who is going to be shopping at 7am on a Sunday? This measure will cause an overflow knock-on effect into the surrounding zones and also raises huge concerns over residents' safety when they have to walk a long way from their car to home in the worst crime area of the borough.
We are still opposing this issue - 1.2 on the recommendations - as is our local MP Geraint Davies, GLA Representative Andrew Pelling and local councillors.
A good debate ensued only spoilt by a councillor harping on about party politics and the World Summit which was very out of touch with local priorities and the issues at hand.
The chair, Councillor Ryan, has promised, yes promised, the extra bays and that the situation will be reviewed after a short time. We will keep the pressure on until residents are treated fairly.
More from us later when we have looked into the full implications of the amendments.
People power works - never underestimate your constituents.
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