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Brixton Liveable Neighbourhood and LTN schemes - improvements for pedestrians and cyclists

I know it's easy to mock some of this stuff but there is some really wonderful anecdote in there. When did KFC clones, hairdressers and waxing salons depend on customers arriving by car and why? Surely their customer bases are hyper-local?
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This one sums it up really.
‘… these streets were not intended as gardens or pleasure domes, and the age in which children played unsupervised in the street is long past;
I have to admit that my heart sinks when I see your posts normally - but this one was a corker!
I loved the pleasure domes quote

Lest we forget

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.[4

Samuel Coleridge Taylor

What happened next is a matter of conjecture. Some say the opium Colderidge had imbibed for medicinal purposes ran out. Others that Wordsworth knocked on the door wanting to go for a walk amongst the daffoldills - and Coleridge lost it. We may never know.
 
On funding. The implication is that ordinary people can't do this off their own bat that shadowy right wing groups must be putting money in.

Ordinary people can take Councils on. Chatting to a van driver I know yesterday re the new LTNs that are popping up across London.

Few years back he took on his local Council over a camera. Eventually won. No backing to do this He just felt he wanted to take on the Council over this.

Was a risk for him as he contested the fine. He did his homework and won. Council had to pay back all the other people that it had fined. He made sure that was part of the judgement.

As he said to me most people would pay the fines and not argue. He felt he should stand up to the the Council. Take on the State.
 
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What happened next is a matter of conjecture. Some say the opium Colderidge had imbibed for medicinal purposes ran out. Others that Wordsworth knocked on the door wanting to go for a walk amongst the daffoldills - and Coleridge lost it. We may never know.

It was a person from Porlock wasn't it? They'd have been there earlier but the bloody council put in an LTN in Nether Stowey and traffic was a nightmare.
 
Someone in the ‘delightful’ ‘onelambeth’ FB group is asking if anyone knows where a councillor might be from because of their accent. What a lovely bunch they are
 
Someone in the ‘delightful’ ‘onelambeth’ FB group is asking if anyone knows where a councillor might be from because of their accent. What a lovely bunch they are
why doesn't she return to Sheffield?!
Why have all these people left "cleaner air" to live in London if everything here is so unacceptable?!

  • I won't be moving to Manhattan, New York to complain that my children cannot play in their main roads.
  • I won't be moving to Spain or the surrounding islands to complain that local business have siestas. I won't lobby to have them stay open.

- I won't be moving to Twickenham, only to complain about aircraft noise & air pollution because it's a blinking flight path!

"If you don't like the traffic move somewhere else" seems quite a common theme.

Yesterday someone was writing that if you want quiet green roads and a bus every minute then move to a country village.

I'm guessing they've never been to an actual country village, most of which have about one bus a day, no shops within walking distance, roads without any space for pedestrians and SUVs parked all over the pavements.
 
"If you don't like the traffic move somewhere else" seems quite a common theme.

Yesterday someone was writing that if you want quiet green roads and a bus every minute then move to a country village.

I'm guessing they've never been to an actual country village, most of which have about one bus a day, no shops within walking distance, roads without any space for pedestrians and SUVs parked all over the pavements.
There is so much nastiness in these groups
 
I'm guessing they've never been to an actual country village, most of which have about one bus a day, no shops within walking distance, roads without any space for pedestrians and SUVs parked all over the pavements.
As I've said on here before - I grew up in a country village and those are exactly the reasons I moved to the city as soon as I could and have no desire to return.
 
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As he said to me most people would pay the fines and not argue. He felt he should stand up to the the Council. Take on the State.
Taking on "the man" one driving penalty charge notice disputed on a technicality at a time.

The revolution will not be held back by compliance with speed limits or parking restrictions!

Up the workers!
 
On funding. The implication is that ordinary people can't do this off their own bat that shadowy right wing groups must be putting money in.

It's an implication based on precedent

 
It's an implication based on precedent


This kind of adds up - if previous attempts to strangle safe cycleways in London have failed, at least partly, because the people doing them were trying to hide themselves to avoid bad PR

Canary Wharf opposed it then, too – but not, for a long time, in the open. They knew it was too popular. Instead they ferociously lobbied everyone they could think of, and hired PRs to try to kill it off behind the public’s backs. They failed, but now the “old men in limos,” as Chris Boardman called them, are back for another go.

Then the obvious next attempt will be via astroturfing - by which I don't mean that all members of OneLambeth and all the other identikit groups with their spiffy websites etc are fakes or frauds but that they are being stirred and channeled by the sort of people who tried to stop the Embankment cycleway (which is basically the first proper bit of strategic cycle infrastructure in the whole fecking city of London. In 2015 ffs)
 
As I've said on here before - I grew up in a country village and those are exactly the reasons I moved to the city as soon as I could and have no desire to go return.
I too grew up in a rural area and one of the reasons I live in London is that it's pretty much the only place in the UK that I can really live a non car-dependent life. For me that's largely my choice...for others it's not.
 
So yes today as the weather is ok I done the school run by bike . But coming back at times I was totally alone. Eerily alone . Even venerable. If anything was to happened to me who would help? The other thing . I noticed these signs telling cyclists to give way. But give way to who? The Highway Code May need to be rewritten.

Here's someone who claims to be worried about cyclists' safety on roads which are too quiet.
 
I don't work in the field but how much does it cost to host a Web page, have a Facebook group, advertise on Facebook?

It seems only now there is a drive for funding. There are many different groups all doing their own thing so what do you do? Ask random people for a list of what they spent??
 
Someone in the ‘delightful’ ‘onelambeth’ FB group is asking if anyone knows where a councillor might be from because of their accent. What a lovely bunch they are
It really is a fucking awful group. The consensus seems to be: "I own a car, therefore I can drive it whenever or wherever I want, I don't care about impacting negatively on other people's lives, and anyone who wavers even slightly from this opinion can expect to be shouted down, bullied and insulted."
 
It really is a fucking awful group. The consensus seems to be: "I own a car, therefore I can drive it whenever or wherever I want, I don't care about impacting negatively on other people's lives, and anyone who wavers even slightly from this opinion can expect to be shouted down, bullied and insulted."

Its very much a group of angry people and this always bring strong emotions.

I only have a quick look in the evenings but I wouldn't say the whole place is as you describe.
 
Its very much a group of angry people and this always bring strong emotions.

I only have a quick look in the evenings but I wouldn't say the whole place is as you describe.
I dared suggest that reducing car usage overall is a laudable aim and swiftly got called a mug and a prick, amongst other things.
 
The article on buzz seems to have unleashed the anti’s if the comments are anything to go by. It’s amazing how many massive eco/pro green people, their words, also see no irony in complaining of delays driving to the petrol station. Quite a lot of recycled comments and I know it’s probably just me but the spelling of losing money as loosing money irritates.
 
It's an implication based on precedent


Are you saying the LTDA is a shadowy right wing group?

I know a few Cabbies. They dont come across as that to me.
 
It's an implication based on precedent


Implication is one thing.

A fact is that this hard right Brexit supporting government under Boris has kickstarted these schemes and funded them.

Ive had government guidance quoted at me in previous posts on implementing these schemes. This guidance has come from this hard right Brexit supporting anti immigrant government.

So I don't see this all as simple binary Left/ Right thing.
 
Taking on "the man" one driving penalty charge notice disputed on a technicality at a time.

The revolution will not be held back by compliance with speed limits or parking restrictions!

Up the workers!

Not long ago these workers were being praised for being Key Workers during the pandemic.

The guy I was talking to was delivering medical supplies in the lockdown.
 
Are you saying the LTDA is a shadowy right wing group?

I know a few Cabbies. They dont come across as that to me.

No just saying it's entirely plausible that it's more than just ordinary local people involved. And not all of the local campaigners are that ordinary - one of the speakers in their deputation last week has a senior role at a big bank.
 
Are you saying the LTDA is a shadowy right wing group?

I know a few Cabbies. They dont come across as that to me.
What's the LTDA's reason to be so against increased cycle infrastructure, and things like the LTNs? Is it because they are concerned about pollution on main roads, or access for disabled people, and other things that the residents' groups claim worry them?

Or is it about protecting their business? It may be quite legitimate for a trade association to act in their members' commercial interests - that's what they are there for, but if they get involved with what are supposed to be "concerned residents" groups, you then have campaigns that are being led by a mixture of motivations, some of which do not match what they present themselves as being led by.
 
None of them are nonsense! Why do you need to rubbish them? The experiences have been verified with the councillor who has had names and numbers these residents are also speaking with their MP and ward councillors, locals who might travel by car to support members of the community have been forgotten in this debate, how they travel after long shifts at work or juggling child care and how they support small local businesses shopping in small local stores. We all know the consultation didn’t take place, it’s understood why, but these voices speaking out tonight are exactly who didn’t get to have their voice heard. Why is it so objectionable to locals who want to promote the scheme that these residents should spk? They can’t be there in person tonight because of Covid 19 but those galleries would have been full otherwise. The pro argument has Brixton Buzz on side, Herne Hill forum, Ms Berry who works for living Streets has secured really grt media PR she’s very good at it.
But locals like the man you quote haven’t had a chance. Let them spk! Let ppl be heard! Why is everyone a liar?

There are so many factual inaccuracies in this that I don’t know where to start.
 
Just had a delivery of specialist bulky landscaping materials refused because the truck can no longer drive straight through and won't be able to turn safely, if at all. The only way out of the street is to back onto the main road which they will not do as it is around a corner onto a three lane red route. Alternative transport quotes - arranging for someone to collect in a large enough but small enough vehicle - add about £250 the cost of delivery from within the M25. Not to mention a lot of organising.

Lambeth put a letter out a couple of months ago which included a reference to people having expressed concern about large vehicles not being able to turn and rejected the concerns as unfounded.
 
Just had a delivery of specialist bulky landscaping materials refused because the truck can no longer drive straight through and won't be able to turn safely, if at all. The only way out of the street is to back onto the main road which they will not do as it is around a corner onto a three lane red route. Alternative transport quotes - arranging for someone to collect in a large enough but small enough vehicle - add about £250 the cost of delivery from within the M25. Not to mention a lot of organising.

Lambeth put a letter out a couple of months ago which included a reference to people having expressed concern about large vehicles not being able to turn and rejected the concerns as unfounded.

And any second someone will rush to tell you that you're "factually inaccurate" or that it's just an anecdote and should be ignored or insist on an affidavit to prove your not lying. Maybe you're secretly backed and funded by some shadowy right wing organisation?
 
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