As the issue with emergency service access to low traffic neighbourhoods has been rumbling on for a few weeks now, we have asked for a formal response from the council. Councillor Ian Barnes has responded with the statement below. It puts in writing that the council have consulted with emergency services.
The council have previously told us that they would not progress with these schemes if the emergency services had any remaining concerns with the final design. If the council had gone ahead despite an objection from the emergency services, this would be easily discovered in a Freedom of information (FOI) request. Therefore as Better Streets for Enfield we have decided to put in an FOI to confirm this information.
A fuller statement from London Ambulance Service’s Khadir Meer is here:
“We are working incredibly collegiately with local government partners across London and with GLA partners. We are not aware of any LTNs that have led to any patient safety concerns or any significant delays. We are monitoring it closely but we are also keeping working very closely, collegiately and collaboratively with both our emergency services but also our health and care partners across London. [So as Heather said] we prioritise patient safety and we prioritise our response times above anything and everything else, we’re not aware of any significant issues at the moment and we are keen to continue to work collaboratively to work through any implications of any LTNs.”