Reporting on Sutton’s commitment to action on climate, and the borough’s delivery on climate, twelve months on from the launch of the Climate Safe Streets campaign in May 2022
On 31 May 2023, we sent an open letter to the Leader of Sutton Council, Councillor Ruth Dombey. ‘Climate Safe Streets: One Year on, One Year to Go‘, in which we reviewed the borough’s response to the delivery of five actions relating to active travel and road transport decarbonisation schemes that we had proposed twelve months previously. The letter was copied to the Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor David Bartolucci, along with the Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee, Councillor Barry Lewis, and the Vice Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee, Councillor Christoper Woolmer. (For a complete list of Sutton’s incumbent councillors as of 31 May 2023, see ‘Sutton’s Councillors: welcome to the class of 2022‘).
No response, or acknowledgment, to the letter has been received. (Should this circumstance change, this article will be updated).
Silence speaks volumes.
Are we surprised that there has been no response? Not really. There was no acknowledgement from Councillor Dombey to our open letter on climate and active travel in April 2022 when the Climate Safe Streets campaign was launched, or to ‘Active Travel – the Art of the Possible‘ sent two months later in June 2022.
A lack of response to these letters would not be so bad if the current administration actually reported on its strategies and policies. However, as highlighted in ‘Holding to account‘ (12 May 2023), the council has failed to report fully on its failings to deliver on the borough’s former Cycling Strategy and former Sustainable Transport Strategy. The Council is left wanting, and the phrase ‘words, no actions’ has been taken to a higher level.
It has been said many times in this blog that the Council appears to place greater emphasis on doing what is easy rather than doing what is difficult or more challenging. Clearly, our ‘Climate Safe Streets: One Year on, One Year to Go‘ letter has proved all too difficult to answer. Clearly, in being shamed as a ‘so-so’ borough, Sutton needs to up its game.
Nothing changes, potentially everything changes.
Our letter, ‘Climate Safe Streets: One Year on, One Year to Go – 31 May 2023‘ is reproduced in full below, and can be downloaded as a pdf here.
The London Cycling Campaign report ‘Climate Safe Streets: One year On, One Year to Go’, revealing the best and worst London boroughs, is available from ‘New Climate Safe Streets boroughs report‘ (London Cycling Campaign, 17 May 2023).
A report outlining our five Climate Safe Street ‘asks’ of the Leader of Sutton Council in May 2022 is available from our publications page.
v1: 18 June 2023; v1-1 (two paragraphs removed) 20 June 2023
Get Sutton Cycling
31 May 2023
To: Leader of Sutton Council, Councillor Ruth Dombey
cc: Deputy Leader of Sutton Council, David Bartolucci
cc: Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee, Councillor Barry Lewis
cc: Vice Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee, Councillor Christopher Woolmer
Dear Ruth,
Climate Safe Streets: One Year On, One Year to Go
I would like to bring a new report from the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) to your attention.
One year on from the council elections in May 2022, and with one year to go until the elections for Mayor in May 2024, ‘Climate Safe Streets: One Year On, One Year To Go’ compiles commitment to action on climate and delivery thus far in this term by every London borough – including ours.
You may remember that in the run-up to the council elections last year we asked you to commit to work towards the delivery of five actions relating to active travel and road transport decarbonisation schemes:
- Cycle-friendly town centres;
- Safe, inclusive and accessible cycle routes (built to Local Transport Note 1/20 (DfT) standards);
- Removal and management of through motor traffic to create safer streets for residents, especially children, those with disabilities, and non-drivers;
- Borough-wide 20mph speed limit to make all streets and junctions safer for people to get around and use their nearest outdoor environment safely and actively;
- Reduction in movement and impact of private and delivery vehicles across the borough by setting up (1) shared mobility hubs and (2) freight consolidation centres and measures to reduce the carbon footprint of deliveries and servicing and to reduce freight vehicle movements by 10% by 2026.
As far as I am aware, there was no response from you at the time to these ‘asks’.
Over the last twelve months, LCC has worked with us, as the local group, to track delivery on those commitments. The table below summaries progress on delivery. The Red, Amber, Green assessment has been used, where Green indicates progress is on track to fulfil the ‘ask’ by the end of the current term (none in our case); Amber means some progress has been made, but successful fulfilment of the ‘ask’ is not guaranteed’; Red means no or little progress has been made on the issue.
Note that the table included here differs slightly from that presented in the ‘Climate Safe Streets: One Year On, One Year To Go’ report: see Annex for details).
Given that you are one year into your current term; given that TfL’s funding picture for active travel is now far clearer; and given your declaration of a climate emergency, we hope the report proves useful reading. We continue to believe that all of the above remain priorities for delivery if you want to enable people to switch from cars to walking, cycling and public transport etc.
We would very much like to meet you soon to discuss the schemes we’ve asked for and the issues this report highlights. As ever, our interest is to help you deliver a borough which acts appropriately in a climate crisis, and which also delivers better outcomes for its residents – in terms of health, road danger, pollution and congestion.
Cycling is obviously only part of a bigger picture – but we think there’s much we could do to work better together, particularly given the climate crisis. Lack of any substantive progress in Sutton is disappointing. Although other boroughs have similarly not succeeded on delivery, it is hoped that Sutton will not join the shrinking number of local authorities in London who may feel (for the time being at least) that there is safety in numbers. In other words, it would be hoped that Sutton would choose to be different, be far more ambitious, and not take comfort in wrapping itself in the warm blanket of Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Hillingdon, Redbridge – all of whom appear to be failing to take the lead in outer London. Future residents could, and probably will, point fingers. Let’s hope that future residents will look back in thanks for the decisions that were made today, and not look back and think “if only”.
Yours sincerely,
Gary James
Chair, Get Sutton Cycling
cc Andrew Stevens, Climate Safe Streets Champion – Sutton
Annex
The table presented in this letter differs slightly from that presented in the ‘Climate Safe Streets: One Year On, One Year To Go’ report. The differences relate to the action on the ‘asks’ for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, School Streets and Shared mobility as follows:
[1] Low Traffic Neighbourhoods: The ‘Borough Action’ has been changed from “2 LTNs removed in 2021, no further ones progressing” to “5 LTNSs were trialled, and then removed, in 2020. No further LTNs progressing.” 1
[2] School Streets: The ‘Borough Action’ has been changed from “10 School Streets operational” to “10 School Streets operational . No additional School Streets were introduced between May 2022 and May 2023.” 2
[3] Shared mobility: The ‘Borough Action’ has been changed from Red (no or little progress) to Amber (some progress) in order to more appropriately reflect the launch of the Human Forest electric bike hire scheme for Kingston and Sutton in September 2022.
Footnotes
1: Five LTNs trialled as part of the ‘London Streetspace’ programme (2020): [1] Butter Hill (Butter Hill); [2] Sutton North (All Saints Road; Benhill Wood Road; Grennell Road); [3] North Cheam (Esher Avenue); [4] Worcester Park (Browning Avenue); [5] Carshalton South (King’s Lane).
2: Ten School Streets introduced prior to Climate Safe Streets campaign of 2022: [1] Rotherfield Road / Talbot Road (All Saints Carshalton Church of England Primary School); [2] Beddington Gardens / Longacre Place (Bandon Hill, Wood Field and Oak Field Primary School); [3] Kingsmead Avenue / Knolls Close (Cheam Common Junior and Infants Academy); [4] Stoughton Avenue (Cheam Fields Primary Academy); [5] Kingston Avenue (Cheam Park Farm Primary Academy, Kingston Avenue site); [6] Roe Way (The Federation of St Elphege’s Catholic Schools); [7] Camden Road (Harris Junior Academy Carshalton); [8] Muschamp Road (Muschamp Primary School and Language Opportunity Base); [9] Greenford Road / Thorncroft Road (Robin Hood Junior School); [10] Alma Road / Shorts Road (St Philomena’s Catholic High School for Girls and St. Mary’s Catholic Junior School).
Get Sutton Cycling 