MY JERICHO
This meeting was held on January 08, 2020
I chaired this meeting, organised it and more. So I am in pole position to report what happened. It was lively but this is an issue which has generated much heat and precious little light. It needs to be debated openly and it was. Hopefully more light at the end of the meet than at the start.
Who came
About 40 crammed into the Community Centre café. We had to move the tables outside to fit them in. All had pre-registered and all given protocols of expected behaviour in advance. Most kept to them
County Councillors
Both Cllr Pressel and Cllr Howson attended.They represent both if the areas affected by the closure.Both made significant contributions.
John Howson came armed with some freshly minted data from the County traffic experts.The spreadsheets will be made publicly available .In essence traffic in Walton Street was measured in Sept 2018 and June 2019.The headlines-around 3000 vehicles in any 24 hour period going north and south.It had increased over the period and at peak nearly 100 cars per hour on the street. Three quarters of the cars had only one occupant-a good signifier of ‘rat running’. If anybody wants so called ‘Baseline figures’ they are here in glorious colour. Figures from post closure are not yet available but may be soon.Nobody contested the provenance or veracity of these official baseline figures.(john.howson@oxfordshire.gov.uk for the figures)
Susanna Pressel came with a letter/statement from the County traffic planners offering both her and Cllr Howson a meeting on jan 15th.They said there that they would then announce measures to ameliorate the undoubted problems in cross streets. That ought to repair some of the collateral damage of the closure.The County councillors and the County seem to be fully across discomfort and seem fully prepared to take measures to ‘cure’ them.The County consultation is open until May and open to all..
Baseline figures for air quality are the demesne of the City Council.Those for ‘Lamp-post 18’—the measuring point in Walton Street are available to all on the OCC website.Nitrous Oxide was going down but above the city average.It will have plummeted post closure.
So the statutory authorities seem to have fully answered any calls for ‘baseline data’.That argument seems to have run its natural course..
Other contributors
People were invited to the hot seat to put their position. Some Walton street residents relayed their bitter past experiences and relief at the closure. One other was not so sure. Patrick Davey from St Bernards road was given a platform to express his disquiet at the new ‘rat run’ as he saw it..He was listened to intently but did not produce any empirical evidence. Equally somebody from Observatory street but with no figures.But there was also another contribution from somebody in Observatory saying traffic had improved there!
In all about eight people were given a short timed platform to express their views.One woman from the Lucy Flats had turned turtle from opening the street to closing it. One passed on her experiences of Brussels where the pedestrianisation had led to junkie lairs. Others thought that noise from them meant quality for their argument and attempted to shout down speakers.They were firmly put in their place by the chair. One late attendee plainly had not read the protocols and tried to dominate. He too was firmly put in his place by the chair who was firm and fair though sometimes having to be sharp in the process.Two harrumphed and left the meeting saying that plainly ‘You do not believe in democracy’. Nobody else joined them.
All sides to the argument were give a slot and free rein to put their point of view,however unpleasant and ill-informed.
In summary, a good lively discussion which threw up much of the joy of the street closure for many and the perceived pains of others. Squaring this circle will not be easy but it will be done through careful traffic management measures and patience. The former is in train.This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to regain the street for the community. Jericho and Walton manor will rise to it and provide an exemplar to the rest of the UK and a lasting legacy for our children and grandchildren. Inshallah.
Report by: John Mair
My Jericho offers a series of independent events organized by Jericho resident John Mair. Many are at at St Barnabas. Others are streamed on YouTube.
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