Reopening the streets is already in the council’s strategic plan for October, and the final decision will be made on 28 September. At Save Our Safer Streets, we fear the only way the mayor will listen to us is through a legal challenge, and we need to prepare it now or it’ll be too late. Please support our CrowdJustice fundraiser, launching today (5 Sept).
Save Our Safer Streets has so far been a truly inspiring community effort. We’ve worked tirelessly to ask Tower Hamlets Council to stop, listen and improve our new street layouts, through our petition, flyering to spread the word, and by meeting councillors to tell them what our safer, friendlier, healthier streets mean to us.
But sadly there’s a good chance our diplomatic efforts won’t work. The mayor’s manifesto pledge to “reopen the roads” is already in his strategic plan for October, and the council will make a decision on 28 September. The flawed and rushed consultation process, full of unevidenced claims, suggests the result might not make any difference.
In case the mayor and council decide to press ahead without listening, we are getting a legal challenge ready. We think the council has breached statutory guidance, undertaken an unlawful consultation, and has failed to consult on alternatives, giving us three potential grounds for challenge.
But legal proceedings are costly, and that’s why we are asking our community to help fund them. The full details are available on our CrowdJustice page.
We need to build our funds early so that we have enough for our claim to proceed, and all donations will help to ensure this decision isn’t pushed through without the true consultation Mayor Rahman promised. Our initial target is £15,000, but over time we will need to raise £35,000 and maybe more for a full legal process.
These numbers are large - but we already have £5,265 pledged from early donors, so if another 350 people donate £30, we'll smash our first target. We’re extremely grateful for anything you can manage to give.
Given that a judicial review claim would need to be filed within three months of the start of the consultation process (6 July), we have had to begin preparations while we are still working for a more amicable resolution. Our claim needs to be in place by the time the council makes its decision on 28 September.
What we really want is for the council to listen to the voices of everyone whose daily lives have been improved by the new layouts – especially the older people, disabled people and young families who have so much to lose if the changes are reversed. Many of us are enjoying safe walking routes, clean air, chatting to neighbours in shared community spaces, and changing our travel habits to be greener and healthier. We don’t want to see such vital progress towards tackling the climate crisis rolled back, and we want other boroughs to see that local communities will fight for this progress.
We know that low traffic neighbourhood schemes haven’t worked perfectly everywhere, but in Tower Hamlets they really are succeeding. Our stories illustrate the many benefits to local communities and we will publish evidence in the next few days that, contrary to claims made by Tower Hamlets Council, shows minimal or no negative impacts in Bethnal Green in key areas including emergency service response, pollution and traffic flow. If residents are being individually impacted and have issues to raise, we should discuss them and find ways to make improvements rather than destroying millions of pounds’ worth of progress.
We at Save Our Safer Streets love the new street layouts and from our experience of canvassing in Bethnal Green and the petition signatures which keep coming in, we know that thousands of our neighbours feel the same way. We are standing up for community, due process, active travel and climate action. Please help us if you can through a donation and by spreading the word any way you can - here we are on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. All donations, great and small, will make a difference.
Thank you