Brent motorists have blasted plans to restrict morning traffic on certain borough roads as “clumsy and dangerous”.
Nearly 200 people have signed a petition opposing the proposals to tackle the issue of early morning “rat run traffic”.
Residents were asked for their opinions on council plans to introduce trial measures to ban traffic, except bicycles, from entering Summerfield Avenue from Kingswood Avenue between 7am and 10am Monday to Friday.
Brent Council has also launched a second public consultation after proposing similar measures in Montrose Avenue and Hopefield Avenue.
It comes following a request from residents of Summerville Avenue and Dudley Road to find an urgent solution to the morning traffic and stop drivers from entering their streets. But people living on the surrounding streets are furious that they are not included in the consultation.
Resident Pierre-Antoine Tisseau started a petition opposing the plans, which has since been signed by 185 residents, calling them “clumsy, poorly considered, dangerous, and extremely sub-optimal for the entire neighbourhood”.
The petition says: “The only residents allowed to participate in the consultation and vote for the proposed scheme are the residents living on the streets covered by the proposal and who stand to benefit from traffic protection measures. The residents not included in the consultation are the ones set to suffer.”
Mr Tisseau claims the measures would mean “effectively banning west to east traffic on three parallel streets” and says residents of the surrounding streets “do not have a voice”.
Signatories believe the plans would simply result in hundreds of rush hour vehicles being moved onto the surrounding streets, causing them to suffer from increased traffic, reduced safety, and greater pollution.
The group supports the goal of reducing the impact of traffic around Queen’s Park but feels the residents of a few streets should not be the only ones to decide.
The petition says: “We believe the issue of traffic is not the matter of one street but of our broader Queen’s Park community, which we enjoy and strive to make better, and we should deal with it together.”
This petition runs until March 19 but the public consultation process ended on February 27. The results will be used to decide whether to implement the plan, with residents to be notified of the outcome “in due course”.
Brent Council was approached for comment but did not respond ahead of publication.
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