South Londoners opposed to a £650,000 council proposal to remove parking which they say will disrupt livelihoods have begun protesting for the third time in a matter of months.
Residents and businesses on Amesbury Avenue in Streatham have taken to the street again to block access as they fear Lambeth Council is about to start working on the project after spotting ‘no parking’ signs pop up last week.
The latest protests, which started on Wednesday (June 4), mark the third time they have taken place since April after locals sealed off the road with fake crime scene tape to stop workers from entering and making a start on the scheme.
Local campaigners believe the scheme, which would replace parking spaces with planters and seating – known as parklets – on Amesbury Avenue, will have a negative impact on local businesses and will make life harder for vulnerable residents, including those who live directly above the shops.
For almost two years, local campaigners say they have “repeatedly” tried to engage in talks with the council over the current proposals, which they claim they weren’t properly consulted on. Despite their attempts to contact the council, campaigners say they have been met with “a wall of silence”.
Petra Kjell Wright told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We recognise this area needs an upgrade, and we’re really grateful that Lambeth Council has a budget but there are issues with the scheme. It’s not realistic, it’s not sustainable, there’s also technical errors with what the council is proposing – we need to know that they’ve been addressed.”
Petra added: “We’re completely in the dark, we don’t know if the scheme is going ahead. But it seems like [it is] because the yellow parking signs have gone up again but in a slightly different pattern than before. We cannot see any other reason why they would have gone up.”
Berhe Tsegay, who runs a laundrette on the street, previously told the LDRS that reducing the amount of parking for customers on Amesbury Avenue would “destroy” his business. He said: “If this project goes ahead, my business will be completely destroyed. We have customers from the local community. How are they going to carry their items if there’s no parking for vehicles?”
On plans to replace some parking spots with planters and seating, Berhe said: “There’s a park two streets away from here. We don’t need a parklet. It will attract alcoholics. If the council wants to help, they could do lots to improve the outside lights and to do maintenance to council flats [on the street].”
Lin Clarke, a resident who has lived in the area for over 40 years and has been outside from 6am this week to protest and stop any work from happening, said the community is on “high alert”. Lin said: “[The council] is not listening to us, if they had a consultation with us properly, they would hear what we’re saying. We’re not against everything but we need to work with you.”
She added: “It is really upsetting, I’ve lived here over 40 years, and we’re a happy little lot. What we need is the pavement to be redone because it’s all higgledy piggledy and broken, we need that done and [we need] a couple of lights. We don’t mind the trees but don’t destroy our little community because we’re not going to be able to cope if we haven’t got the loading space.”
Tony McDermott is a resident who, like Lin, has lived in the area for 40 years, said: “We’ve got no confirmation whatsoever on anything and what’s happening – it’s quite poor on Lambeth Council’s part.
“We want to know what’s going on in our community and I believe as we live here, we have the right to know what’s going on in our community. We’re not saying we don’t want anything done, that isn’t the case. What we’re actually saying is ‘let us help you design what we need as a community’ which I think is only fair.”
Mr McDermott went on to say residents had only seen proposals and not proper “plans”, which for the last 18 months they say they have been trying to get hold of. He added: “Show us the plans, not the proposal because at the moment all we’ve got is still only the proposal, the proposed sketch.
“We haven’t seen the finished outcome yet, the council is reluctant to show us. Why are they reluctant to show us? What is the council doing that they don’t want us to see? This is what our fight is, it’s a crazy one.”
A petition created by Petra earlier this year in January opposing the current proposals has amassed 367 signatures.
Lambeth Council had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
