It’s probably inevitable that at some point an elected councillor is going to end up on what some residents will feel is the wrong side of a particular debate. In our case it’s the thorny question of traffic flows on College Crescent.
The Belsize Residents Association and the Heath & Hampstead Society maintain that the Phoenix School in College Crescent demanded the traffic flow be made one way down to suit out-of-borough parents who drive their children to school. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Before the 2006 local election a deal was struck between Camden Council and the Phoenix School to install safety measures at the top and bottom of what is a very unsafe road for children to cross. This is not just about the Phoenix School; it’s also about safety for pupils from South Hampstead School for Girls and other schools in the area.
Camden’s highway engineers told the Phoenix they could only have the safety measures if the road was made one way. The engineers then suggested one way down as being the safest option because it would eliminate 80% of the traffic on College Crescent. The school were also required to sign up to an extremely tough green transport plan, which they did.
We backed that original plan rather than the one Cllr Mike Greene proposed after the election (one way UP) because we felt that in cases like this we should start to favour children, pedestrians and cyclists over motorists.
However it seems to us to be a giant leap of the imagination for Helen Marcus of the Heath + Hampstead Society to conclude that we – the Belsize councillors - are therefore in breach of our fiduciary duties as councillors, or are in some way not working for our constituents. Sometimes, as adults, you just have to agree to disagree on a particular issue and then move on.
The Belsize Councillors – Cllr Alexis Rowell, Cllr Arthur Graves, Cllr Chris Basson
No comments:
Post a Comment