Published:
2:45 PM October 7, 2022
Updated:
3:27 PM October 7, 2022
Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman has decided to keep Wapping Bus Gate.
Mr Rahman said at a council meeting on Wednesday evening (October 5) that he intends not to remove the gate, which was introduced by the council in 2019.
The gate restricts traffic on weekdays at peak times to just buses and bicycles in Wapping High Street between the junctions of Sampson Street and Knighten Street.
A petition opposing the gate’s removal was supported by more than 1,000 signatories.
Mr Rahman wrote on Twitter : “I am a mayor who listens, and who refuses to adopt a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to complex issues. For that reason, I will not be removing road closure restrictions from the Wapping Bus Gate.
“Evidence and responses to the public opinion surveys the council and I have been carefully considering are overwhelmingly in favour of keeping the current restrictions at Wapping.”
The mayor said he is considering more public opinion surveys in the coming weeks.
He added: “While I remain entirely committed to my manifesto pledge to get our roads open and moving again, I take seriously the views and evidence provided by residents and local stakeholders on specific closures.”
The announcement comes as several other traffic calming schemes in the borough are at risk of being reversed, including one in Old Bethnal Green Road and another in Brick Lane.
The measures were implemented under the Liveable Streets scheme, a programme which aimed to reduce the number of “rat runs”, and make the borough safer and easier to get around.
A petition launched by Simon Ramsay, headteacher of Oaklands School in Old Bethnal Green Road, has been signed by 3,094 people.
Speaking at the council meeting, he said: “I brought this petition to the council to stop, listen and improve the layouts and I’m here to represent my school community.
“Like many of our staff and families, I have lived the before and the after and we like the after. It’s much healthier, it’s much safer and much quieter.”
Speaking at a cabinet meeting last week, the mayor issued a statement on Liveable Streets and said the council was going through thousands of survey responses on it.
https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/lutfur-rahman-to-keep-wapping-bus-gate-9315984
