I DON'T BELIEVE YOU: - LTNS exemption policy
- By Brian Leveson
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- 15 May, 2022
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2 days before the May 2022 election I was asked to take part in some way (not sure what) in the development of the Lower Traffic Neighbourhoods exemption policy. Not happy having my time wasted I asked some questions - I have had no reply.
3rd May 2022 (2 days before the election)
Dear Resident
As you are ware Haringey is in the process of developing an LTN exemption policy with neighbouring boroughs, Hackney, Islington and Enfield to allow residents who live within and on the boundary of the LTN’s exemption to the permeable filters, as part of the process in developing the policy our appointed consultant Systra would like to interview residents and parents of children with a disability. As you have contacted us in the past in respect to the development of the LTN, we would like to give you the opportunity to take part as a stakeholder in developing the policy. Please let me know if you are interested in taking part by responding to this e-mail.
Many thanks.
Transport Planning Team Manager
My reply - 3rd May 2022 (2 days before the election)
Dear Transport Planning Team Manager
Thank you for contacting me.
With reference to Haringey’s Community Engagement Framework - Full Version (Web link below)
Firstly, I am unclear as to what it is you want me to do.
Is it be interviewed by the consultant or read, review, comment and help develop the policy or both (Ref page 10 of the Framework, point 3 - "Be clear about what it is we are asking").
Secondly, am I going give up my time for nothing to come of it.
We gave up a lot of time for the workshops, only for the outcome to be the appointment of consultants with no clear evidence as to how the feedback shared by attendees would be used to influence the policy (Ref page 10 of the Framework, point 2 - "Engage when it will make a difference").
Another example of where feedback and recommendations were not followed through is the 2020 Amaze Report and its recommendations for meetings around engagement with SEND parents.
Thirdly, what efforts will be made to garner the views of the wider SEND community.
I represent me and only me as the parent of a very severely disabled paraplegic and brain damaged child. I do not want to be put in the invidious position of my view being taken as the view for all SEND parents (Ref page 10/11 of the Framework, point 4 - "Be inclusive and aim to engage with all communities").
This is what happened with regard to the Difficultparent.com blog being cited as "consultation" in the SEND Transport call in to Overview and Scrutiny Panel, December 2019.
Finally, I am concerned that this is invitation is being sent because there is a local election in 2 days time
and LTNs are an issue that impact detrimentally on the lives of disabled people.
I have had offers of "engagement" before from officers of Haringey Council, only for those offers to be withdrawn without notice or even informing me, I refer to [The Assistant Director for SEND's] conduct as a clear example of this happening when I was informed verbally and in writing following the "Truth and Reconciliation" meeting that I would be asked to share future meetings information in the Difficultparent.com blog. Only for[The Assistant Director for SEND]to reflect that [The Assistant Director for SEND]would prefer to only engage through "official partners" that Haringey pay for and commission. It would be remiss of me not to raise concerns about the inclusivity and fairness of such an approach.
I look forward to your response.
Regards,
Bounce back - 3rd May 2022 (2 days before election)
Thank you for your email
I am out of office until Monday 9th May 2022 please consider forwarding your email ... ...
I am out of office until Monday 9th May 2022 please consider forwarding your email ... ...
For us, shorter journeys are a matter of life and death. Uncontrolled distress can cause life threatening seizures. We need access now, not in a magical future when cars have evaporated.
How the Difficult Parent sees it - this is not coproduction
Environment change is terrifying, as is watching your child unable to breath - whether that be through asthma or seizure activity. Whatever the plans are, they must not discriminate against people on the basis of disabilities. They must not lead to children dying because plans have not thought through the impact on disabled people. And that needs to include all people - including the most severely disabled.
Surely, an exemption policy for the most exceptional cases is a great idea and completely falls into the Leader Peray Ahmet desire for coproduction.
Sadly, we are in a terrible place in terms of trusting the officers of the local authority to carry out that work and work with users as equals to design services that truly meet needs. I have given enough examples of time wasted when reports and recommendations from engagement is not followed through by the officers of Haringey Council: The Amaze Report, the February 2020 SEND Transport event, the previous workshops on an LTNs exemptions policy (4 one and a half hour meetings).
Thus far, with 4 one and a half hour workshops not delivering the exemptions policy we all believed we were working towards, alongside other behaviours you are just led to the conclusion we are all having our time wasted. And parents and carers of severely disabled people do not have the time to be wasted by the officers of the local authority so they they can tick a box.
Haringey's Equality Impact Assessments state that the LTNs will disproportionately impact disabled people who are wholly reliant on motorised transport. The Equality Impact Assessments recognise that disabled people already make less journeys then non-disabled people.
Surely, an exemption policy for the most exceptional cases is a great idea and completely falls into the Leader Peray Ahmet desire for coproduction.
Sadly, we are in a terrible place in terms of trusting the officers of the local authority to carry out that work and work with users as equals to design services that truly meet needs. I have given enough examples of time wasted when reports and recommendations from engagement is not followed through by the officers of Haringey Council: The Amaze Report, the February 2020 SEND Transport event, the previous workshops on an LTNs exemptions policy (4 one and a half hour meetings).
Thus far, with 4 one and a half hour workshops not delivering the exemptions policy we all believed we were working towards, alongside other behaviours you are just led to the conclusion we are all having our time wasted. And parents and carers of severely disabled people do not have the time to be wasted by the officers of the local authority so they they can tick a box.
Haringey's Equality Impact Assessments state that the LTNs will disproportionately impact disabled people who are wholly reliant on motorised transport. The Equality Impact Assessments recognise that disabled people already make less journeys then non-disabled people.
More barriers to journeys for people who already have barriers to journeys
Disabled people make less journeys than non-disabled people (as acknowledged in Haringey's Equality Impact Assessments) because they face barriers to making journeys. For us, those barriers include
- lack of wheelchair accessible public transport (other than London Black Cab taxis - hurrah for our heros), see our blog https://www.difficultparent.com/please-listen-without-prejudice-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-and-the-i...
- lack of accessible venue that are fully inclusive for our child's needs when we get there (e.g. Changing Places in Haringey), so we have to go far and wide to get to venues that are accessible for us; see our blog https://www.difficultparent.com/10-things-to-do-this-school-holiday-with-a-severely-disabled-wheelch...
- the difficulty of manual handling our child in our hone which still does not have its adaptions. See our blog https://www.difficultparent.com/how-on-earth-did-that-happen
Peray's coproduction pledge
Hart's Ladder of Participation
Inequalities for disabled people
If you thought SEND was bad - the NHS is seemingly prepared to throw away money to private companies
About 3 or 4 times a year we get the euphemistic message 'Parents please note we have put a letter in your child's bag' - its a world away from how a child's death was handled in my child's first school
More of a trial by ordeal than a well organised clearly set out administrative process for moving the care of vulnerable young adults from Haringey's Children's Services to Adult Services. We have been failed at every stage of the process.
Never EVER get on the bus without a camera running if you need the priority wheelchair space
The reality of using a London Bus in the teeming rain on a Sunday afternoon is no joke when the parents of a paraplegic person in a wheelchair clash with the self-entitled buggy-pushing parents of toddlers.
At 3pm today I received some barefaced lies from Haringey Council Adult Social Care in response to a photograph I published online yesterday and the media interest it generated
Haringey SEND Transport are insisting that a 17 year old minibus with no air conditioning is a suitable vehicle to transport my paraplegic son in this heatwave. The appalling conditions inside the minibus inside the bus is something they knew about last summer, yet they have to date done nothing whatsoever provide a suitable minibus this year nor appropriately mitigate the temperatures inside the minibus.The conditions inside the minibus are so bad that they triggered multiple seizures during the heatwave as my son has epilepsy, which they SEND transport department know about and they also know that they are triggered by heat.It is not just son who is impacted: last year we know of one child who died on Haringey SEND Transport in the summer heatwave and another who had seizures.
I am simply asking a question - are we all absolutely certain that the road closure / travel restrictions (commonly know as LTNs) placed on some of the most severely disabled people who are wholly reliant on cars are absolutely necessary
Haringey's road closures exemptions policy for disabled people is not fit for purpose, unduly burdensome and intrusive - it's time to stand up against the pro-LTN lycra-clad cycling bullies
Is the argument for and against exemptions for disabled people in Low Traffic Neighbourhoods really a case of GOOD versus EVIL?
