Greenwich Council has apologised after town hall security staff banned people from bringing in copies of a leaflet criticising its decision to press on with a low-traffic neighbourhood.
The council decided last month to make the rush-hour traffic scheme permanent after a series of consultations ended. The LTN stops drivers from using north-south roads either side of Greenwich Park, and was introduced after complaints about rat-running and antisocial behaviour.
Opponents say the scheme has merely shifted traffic around, including to back streets past a school in Charlton, and that consultation responses were ignored.
Conservative councillors had attempted to challenge the decision, but the Labour council refused. It said the scheme had already been the subject of two previous call-in meetings, and that it wanted to speedily deal with traffic issues in neighbouring areas that had followed the introduction of the LTN.
A campaign group, Clear Greenwich, held a small demonstration outside Woolwich Town Hall before the council’s budget meeting last Wednesday, and handed leaflets to people entering the building. The leaflet contained a letter to Debbie Warren, the council’s chief executive, calling for Greenwich to reverse its decision to bar a call-in meeting on the LTN.
But attendees were surprised to find security guards demanding they hand the leaflets over – even if they were nothing to do with the demonstration. Even offers to put the leaflets away in bags were refused.
The Greenwich Wire’s reporter was told to hand over a leaflet – despite showing a National Union of Journalists press card – as were the two external auditors who had been invited to present a report about the council’s finances. They were told that they could collect the piece of paper on the way out.
Security has been stepped up at council meetings in Greenwich and other boroughs since late 2023, when a number of pro-Palestinan demonstrators halted proceedings to draw attention to council pension fund investments in Israel. Residents were told to leave one meeting two years ago after a meeting descended into chaos.
With no public questions allowed at last week’s meeting, the anti-LTN demonstrators did not enter the town hall. During the meeting, there were only three people in the public gallery, one of whom was on the council payroll.
But security was still tight in the near-deserted gallery: at one point, two security guards were watching both The Greenwich Wire’s reporter and Nigel Fletcher, the former Conservative leader who is now the party’s political assistant.
One guard’s radio even interrupted the meeting at one point, prompting Linda Bird, the ceremonial mayor, to intervene, believing the noise had come from the public gallery rather than a security guard in a stairwell. A 4.99 per cent council tax rise was approved at the end of the meeting.
Clear Greenwich told The Greenwich Wire: “The leaflets drew attention to the council’s failure to listen to the public, confused consultation and decision-making and misuse of statistics. Rather than address the issues, the council’s reaction was to suppress the leaflets.
“This instinctive authoritarian and secretive response symbolises everything we and others are up against when trying to engage with the Royal Borough of Greenwich.”
The campaign group was given a one-line response to its letter – “the council is satisfied that its decisions in this matter are lawful and robust” – which it told supporters was “wholly unacceptable”. It has written to Warren once again branding the council’s actions “a threat to democracy”.
Greenwich Council said it was sorry for taking the leaflets from people.
A spokesperson said: “This was an individual, on-the-spot decision made in error and does not reflect our approach. It was an oversight, and we apologise for the confusion and inconvenience caused. Other people, including councillors who spoke with protesters at the entrance, were able to bring leaflets into the town hall.
“The neighbourhood management scheme in west and East Greenwich has had a positive impact already, with key indicators showing real improvements in air quality, road safety, overall traffic numbers and more people walking and wheeling.
“In relation to the call in, we have responded to all letters and are satisfied that all our decisions around this scheme are lawful and robust. The scheme has been subject to two call-in meetings; and we held 15 public meetings, writing to 34,500 households as part of our extensive, multi-year consultation on the scheme.”
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