In the February 19 edition you highlighted the protests by residents and local councillors about the ill-conceived traffic scheme for Kingsbury Road.

The council officers and the executive highlight 18 accidents on this stretch of road and even call it an “accident black spot”. They fail to mention that the 18 accidents took place over three years, most were minor and none appear to have been speed related. The tragic fatality which occurred was the result of the driver doing a U-turn across the traffic, ie driver error rather than speed-related. The full list of accidents with causes can be seen on the council website (highways committee minutes).

We, as councillors for Fryent Ward, together with the local residents association have tried to work with officers to look again at this stretch of road and come up with more workable proposals. We have proposed alternatives to deal with the speeding issue because we do accept that many drivers drive too fast once freed from the congestion of the High Road shopping area. We have been told that a speed camera would not be agreed because there are not enough fatalities on the road and that speed tables would not be acceptable on such a major road, even though they exist between this stretch and Kingsbury circle. We also pointed out how the scheme was seriously flawed and would make matters worse rather than better.

Our representations have not been heeded and a tiny highways committee decided by three votes to two to foist this non-solution on local residents. Yet all local councillors (and we are pleased to have cross-party support on this) are totally opposed. This is why we have called an extraordinary meeting of the council for March 2 to force the council to review the decision. The crazy thing is that even if the majority of councillors votes against the scheme there is no guarantee that this administration will reverse the three to two decision of the highways committee.

In this event, three non-local councillors will have decided for the scheme against the wishes of local residents and local councillors. Hardly a “democratic” process.

For these reasons we welcome your coverage and the stimulus it gives to debate. We hope to persuade the council to think again and want as many residents as possible to be at the Town Hall for this important meeting on March 2.

Ruth Moher
Labour Councillor, Fryent Ward