Campaigners took to the High Court on Wednesday as they brought a legal challenge against Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman for deciding to remove a set of low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in Bethnal Green. The Save our Safer Streets (SOSS) group put forward seven arguments against the decision, which were discussed in highly technical detail during the first session of a two-day hearing.
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00:00Well we really wanted the Mayor of Tower Hamlets to listen to local residents about what a
00:05difference these schemes have made in their lives but unfortunately he's failed to do
00:09that. For two years we've asked to meet with him and he's refused to do that. So he hasn't
00:13heard from the teachers that say it's much, much easier to get children into school safely
00:18with these changes because there are no longer heavy goods vehicles coming down a road that
00:22has four schools. He hasn't listened to older people who say they feel safer going to the
00:26shops. I've met one woman who said it's the first time in 50 years living on Old Bethnal
00:31Green Road that she feels safe walking to the shops by herself. He hasn't listened to
00:34the GPs or to the hospitals who say that we're all healthier. And finally he hasn't listened
00:39to all the delivery cyclists who rely on the cycle route between Bethnal Green and Shoreditch
00:45to work safely. He's putting all of their lives in jeopardy and that's not fair. So
00:50this is an argument fundamentally about consultation, about whether or not people are listened to
00:54or have the opportunity to make their voice heard. It's an argument on seven different
00:58grounds, one of which is about consultation. It's also about best value. So is it really
01:02the best value to spend at least two and a half million pounds at a time like this taking
01:08out a scheme that's been shown to be effective, keep people safer and which is popular? That
01:13doesn't seem right either. What are the London-wide implications of this case? This is a hot topic,
01:20low-traffic neighbourhoods, restrictions on cars. What will this case possibly mean
01:26for people in the rest of the city? Well, the first point is that if this does go ahead,
01:30if the Mayor does decide to spend these millions of pounds ripping out this scheme, then actually
01:34it would be the first time that any council had taken out a low-traffic neighbourhood
01:39that had popular support. So that's really scary, I think. The idea that actually somebody
01:43could come and change something in people's daily lives. You know, they don't necessarily
01:47live in that neighbourhood. It's us that have to deal with the daily reality. But secondly,
01:51it's about London having a joined-up transport policy. I don't think any of us want to think,
01:56oh, I'm now crossing into a different forest that different rules apply. Actually, if we
02:00really want to be able to cycle across London, if we want to be able to walk across London,
02:04if we want to be able to wheel on a wheelchair safely across London, we need to make sure
02:08that there is an integrated transport plan for London and this would go against that.
02:13Finally, what have you made of how the case has gone so far? We've only heard some of it.
02:18I think these things are always technical because the law gets into technicalities but
02:22we do think it's really important that any council making a decision about people's safety,
02:27about people's lives and about public money, millions of pounds of public money, that that
02:31is done according to the law and according to due process. And that's what we've been
02:35hearing about this morning.