What appears to be a UKIP-led campaign against 20mph speed limits on residential streets in the north of the borough has been condemned, after stickers and posters have been placed – often unlawfully – around Croydon.
Tasteless: the UKIP-led anti-20mph zone campaigners have plastered their stickers across the borough, including in the car park at Mayday Hospital
“Sooner or later this sticker will be spotted by a family visiting a loved one involved in a road traffic accident caused by a speeding vehicle,” Shasha Khan, of the Green Party, told Inside Croydon.
Croydon Council’s public consultation over the 20mph zone runs until next Wednesday, June 24.
As Inside Croydon reported last week, senior figures within the ruling Labour group are concerned that the consultation is being dominated by Morgan and a handful of “anti” activists, while many residents who might welcome improved traffic calming on their streets have so far been apathetic towards yet another council consultation.
The council’s handling of the consultation has also been criticised. It has taken until the final 10 days of the consultation period for the council to use sketch maps in an effort to make it clear that the consultation applies only to wards in the north of Croydon. Senior figures within the local Labour group have been unconvinced of the benefits of the policy, with former Thornton Heath councillor, now an alderman, Adrian Dennis, openly speaking against the proposals.
None of the fly-posted posters or stickers have any contact address for the person or people who have produced them, although Morgan has complained publicly about the unlawfully posted slogans being removed by council employees, or as he called them, “stormtroopers”.
Coulsdon resident Morgan has often lobbied on behalf of the Alliance of British Drivers, but he has a well-deserved reputation, even among right-wing political groups, for being a disruptive influence. Earlier this year, Morgan and two UKIP colleagues moved for a council by-election in Selhurst ward before the funeral of the deceased councillor, Gerry Ryan, attracting widespread condemnation.
Morgan is understood to have been expelled from the Conservative Party, for being simultaneously a member of UKIP, and he had his membership of UKIP suspended for causing difficulties at their party meetings.
Less surprisingly, perhaps, Morgan has now rendered himself as persona non-grata with Croydon Greens for his efforts to stop the council introducing 20mph speed limits.
The Greens point out that the saynoto20 website is identical to one of the pages on UKIP Croydon North’s website. “The Twitter account also appears to be run by a UKIP member,” the Greens claim.
Shasha Khan: need to stop UKIP hijacking consultation process
“They say that reducing speed limits to 20mph will have little if any impact to road safety, but research shows that, on average, for every 1mph speed reduction there is a 6.2 per cent accident reduction.
“We are pleased the Labour council are following other councils in London, such as Islington and Southwark, in moving to 20mph limits. 20mph speed limits on residential roads has long been a national policy for the Green Party.
“Unfortunately, the feedback I am getting from many mums and dads is that they thought the notices pinned on lamp posts were more of a notification rather than a consultation. They don’t realise that they have to tell the council that they support 20mph limits so that they are brought in.
“The no campaign has also been illegally fly-posting their messages. We must not allow UKIP to hijack this consultation It is vitally important people go online and complete the survey at http://www.croydon.gov.uk/20mph or obtain a paper copy from the council.”
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This hysteria about the 20mph speed limit is really becoming laughable. When the Westfield development is completed in Central Croydon there will so much traffic congestion that I doubt any car will move more than 20mph within a 5 mile radios. What will the Green Party have to say about the carbon monoxide emissions then? As far as Hospitals are concerned I understand that UKIP want to abolish car parking charges for those visiting them. That sounds like common sense to me Mr Kahn.
Describing anything as ‘common sense’ always rings alarm bells. It’s all very well to have free parking at hospitals but you’ve then got to devise a way to stop places like the Mayday becoming free park and ride facilities, forcing out those who need to use the hospital. That’s not difficult to do but it does cost money to administer and enforce. The question then turns to how much NHS funding should be diverted from making people better into running hospital car parks.
Why on earth does “common sense” ring alarm bells with you? If more people such as politicians, civil servants, journalists and most of all the general public, actually practised it, this country wouldn’t be in the bloody mess it’s in now!
Well done to Shasha Khan for raising this issue. It is precisely those members of the community who are least likely to lobby that have most to benefit:
a. the senior citizens who are desperate for calm traffic for both themselves and often for even more frail people that they care for;
b. the children who need to play out safely in a highly congested urban environment, we have to make the streets safe for them so that they can develop properly.
We also need to think smarter about our road layouts and create whole areas of urban calm within our inner city – this is a particularly important issue for Central Croydon where many people live, but their streets are not and should not be used as a rat run for everyone that wants to pass through Croydon.
Yes, the reason people are against it is they don’t know what is good for them isn’t it? Not because a policy of blanket 20mph zones for the sake of it is a triumph of ideology over common sense.
“They say that reducing speed limits to 20mph will have little if any impact to road safety, but research shows that, on average, for every 1mph speed reduction there is a 6.2 per cent accident reduction.”
Ah I see presumably then if we lower the speed limit from 30mph to 0mph we can achieve an 186% decrease in accidents and actually bring people back from the dead. Even if this statistic was true the much vaunted Islington 20mph zone has only actually resulted in a 1mph decrease in traffic speed. Collecting evidence of what works and doesn’t in traffic control is highly problematic and takes a long time with a whole load of lobby groups hell bent on distorting the statistics for their own ideological ends … but one thing we do know is that the best way to make people drive at 20mph is to design roads such that you can’t drive on them easily at 30mph. Enforcing blanket 20mph zones is not practical and neither is criminalising vast numbers of people by imposing impractical speed limits that turn enforcement into a joke.
UKIPs flyposted stickers are very naughty but then is it any more silly than the council spending thousands putting 20mph signs everywhere that will not be enforced…
There is no proposal for “blanket 20mph zones”.
Cole Fitzsimons has been pushing the Twentys Plenty movement for ages on Twitter I pointed it out back in 2013 you’d have to be dumb not to believe that’s not his long term political aim. You’d have to be sums to believe otherwise. You don’t have to search the Council website hard to find references to Portsmouth or to find that Rod King’s minions has been invited down or even stuff about how the benefits go beyond safety blah blah social engineer social engineer
“… but one thing we do know is that the best way to make people drive at 20mph is to design roads such that you can’t drive on them easily at 30mph. Enforcing blanket 20mph zones is not practical ..”
You’ve effortlessly destroyed your own argument. Designing roads so that you can’t drive on them easily at 30mph is an excellent way of enforcing a 20mph speed limit.
I’m not against designing roads so people can only drive on them at fixed speeds but it takes investment. Sticking up signs doesn’t and doesn’t work. What is the point of putting 20Mph signs on “residential streets” if no one actually drives on them at 20mph? Come to that what is a residential street? The majority of accidents don’t happen on residential streets with the exception of a few rat runs so it’s a waste of money filling them with 20mph signs. The only and true purpose of such activity is as anti-car political propaganda
As I said before, wait for Westfield and you wont need to redesign roads or put up signs. 20mph wont need to be “enforced” because we’ll all be driving at that speed. Seen the cars at Bluewater recently? Now imagine that in Croydon.
Interesting to note that “Green” Mr Khan was also beaten into 4th place in the General Election by non other than the UKIP candidate!
Mr AE Miller should stick to what he knows – being a third rate “comedian”. As for Davidjl, he clearly hasn’t a clue, as demonstrated by his references to carbon monoxide, 5 mile radios and an apparent policy of one of Britain’s least powerful political parties.
Third-rate? That’s a little harsh.
Jim Davidson’s third rate.
Miller’s no where near that standard.
Sunk into ad hominem attack now? Good or shit Miller’s not happy driving at pony and trap speeds for speed puritans. If he never says that twenty isn’t plenty for him and he isn’t happy picking up the costs in wasted man hours driving – costs Rod Kings minions outright lie don’t exist – who’ll know?
Oh dear. We’ve offended the sensibilities of the “artiste”.
Never had a bad review before? Have you ever had a good one?
Bit worried about you now. Referring to yourself in the third person is a very troubling trait.
You are not reviewing me. You are just insulting me. So yes I am offended. Suck it up buttercup. Reviewers are meant to do boring things things like buy tickets and watch shows before they fill the internet with their opinions on other people’s abilities. I know exactly where I am and what I am and what I’m not and I don’t need you to tell me. Neither do I need to defend my “career” in any way to you. The only people who’s opinions really matter are bookers. You are not one. So – and I hate to break it to you – your opinion doesn’t count for much because while you have a mouth you have not put any money where it is.
But we are. You put enough of your half-baked material out there, available for free, that we all have an opportunity to assess how “funny” you really are.
How are those bookings going?
Send your CV to the Croydon Council, you’re a perfect candidate to replace the Chief Executive. They are desperate to find the person who has all the solutions but fails to publish them!