A petition with more than 1,000 signatures has been sent to Brent Council urging it to stop a traffic block proposal.
The council is planning to trial Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) in areas including Kilburn, Queen’s Park and Dollis Hill which residents discovered after the information was “leaked”.
The government backed scheme involves closing certain roads within neighbourhoods 24 hours a day to stop “non-local” vehicles such as cars, lorries and vans, from passing through them to reduce air pollution.
However, the local authority has also just launched School Streets, that closes roads near 30 schools across Brent at drop off times of 8am and 4pm.
Kensal Rise mum Ali Kelly, who lives on Mount Pleasant Road and launched the petition, said: “These are two different proposals and people are really confused. School Streets, that’s a good idea, that makes sense but LTNs are basically a lock in.
“We should all have electric cars but overnight, closing the roads without asking people is undemocratic and unfair.”
Those people living in Mount Pleasant and some neighbouring streets can only exit the area via Chamberlayne Road which is often subject to long tailbacks from the Harrow Road junction during peak periods.
Ali added: “We sent the council the petition, they must be inundated. It’s just a blanket rule that’s not been thought out.”
John Keutgen, chair of Aylestone Park Residents and Tenants Association, said: “Of the many traffic scheme problems the biggest issue is the LTNs that are simply going to push more traffic to Salusbury and Chamberlayne Roads both of which are chockablock at the moment.
“Because it is an “experimental order” the council can implement the scheme without a public consultation only a statutory consultation to TfL and others. There is no compulsion to do this. Harrow has declined the government funding and Brent should do likewise.”
Alison Hopkins, said Dollis Hill is experiencing the same issues. She added: “Getting pollution down, getting traffic down is a great idea but what the council has done is stick a pin in a map. They’ve not thought it through at all. What they are proposing in Dollis Hill will push traffic into Dollis Hill Lane.
“If they want to improve the environment in Dollis Hill, they can enforce the 20mph speed limit which they are not doing.”
Brent Council said it will continue with the scheme. A spokesperson said: “Everything we’re doing with these Healthy Neighbourhoods trials is part of an urgent but long term strategy to address Brent’s impact on the environment while also encouraging safer, healthier, more active ways of getting around the borough.
“We do appreciate that these pilots are a big change and there will of course be lots of learning required before we get everything right. With that in mind we want to assure residents that we are listening, that we will continue to seek their views, and that we will keep everything under constant review, working on the things that work, moving on from those that don’t.” .
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