Tory leader condemned over Everard comments
Labour accuse him of using death to get traffic scheme axed
I’ve heard some rubbish blamed for women’s safety but Low Traffic Neighbourhoods is a wild one Cllr Nicky Brennan (Lab)
THE city’s Conservative group leader has been condemned for citing the murder of Sarah Everard in a bid to get new traffic measures scrapped.
Cllr Robert Alden (Erdington, Cons) called on the leader of the council to scrap the policy of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), citing their apparent lack of safety.
Referencing the killing of Sarah Everard in March, Cllr Alden claimed at a full council meeting that some LTNs leave areas less safe due to a fall in passing traffic.
He cited a recent article by Labour MP Rupa Huq in which she claimed part of the problem was the way ‘our towns and cities are designed’.
Cllr Alden said: “A few months ago I asked the leader to scrap the LTNs in the city centre for a number of reasons.
“They’ve left certain areas less safe due to removing passing traffic and made people trying to leave town having to travel further alone to find a taxi. Or it’s left people who live inside of the LTNs no longer able to be dropped off directly outside their property less safe. The leader of the council rejected my pleas to ensure
residents in the city were protected. “Since then, we’ve had the tragic death of Sarah Everard which rocked the nation, and led Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, to write in the Sunday Telegraph a few weeks ago calling for the removal of LTNs, and particularly for men to stop forcing this reduction in personal safety on women.
“Will the leader of the council now agree with me and the Labour MP and remove the LTNs cutting up the city centre?”
But several
Labour
councillors
took exception to Cllr Alden’s comments and voiced their displeasure on Twitter.
“I’ve heard some rubbish blamed for women’s safety but LTNs is a wild one,” wrote Sparkhill councillor Nicky Brennan (Lab).
“For the Tories to link Sarah Everard’s death to this culture war is disgraceful.”
“Absolutely stunned to hear the Leader of the Conservative Group on Birmingham City Council blame Low Traffic Neighbourhoods for the murder of Sarah Everard,” added deputy leader Brigid Jones (Bournbrook and Selly Park, Lab).
“She was murdered because a man decided to murder her. End of.”
“How do LTNs make me as a woman pedestrian/cyclist less safe, which leader of Brum Tory group just alleged?” said Cllr Liz Clements (Bournville and Cotteridge, Lab).
“I’ve lived here for 20 years without a car. Yes, I sometimes have personal safety concerns, but what makes me feel really unsafe is the huge volume of traffic.”
Responding to Cllr Brigid Jones Cllr Alden wrote: “Except as you know that’s not what I said. What I said was it led Rupa Huq MP to write about LTNs – which is from this article. Sadly it is no surprise to see you and colleagues seemingly deliberately misleading the public.”