Disabled Dulwich residents say their lives have been “spoiled” by restrictions preventing them from driving through the Village junction.
Pensioners in their seventies and eighties have claimed the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) has made them more socially isolated and quadrupled journey times to their doctors.
Southwark Council said it had “carefully considered” allowing disabled Blue Badge holders through the junction but found it would be “dangerous” for pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists.
Local Campaign group One Dulwich has said the explanation was “clearly nonsense” and that the council had a “legal public duty” to defend disabled people’s interests.
One of those who claims to have been affected is Ian Rankine, 82, whose spinal problems and artificial hips mean he can’t walk further than 50 metres.
Having lived in Dulwich Village since childhood he says the restrictions have “changed his life for the worse”.
He said: “I came back to Dulwich Village after being evacuated during the war and have been here since I was about five. But now I can’t really go into the Village.”
Ian said traffic restrictions force him to take lengthy journeys around boundary roads to visit friends and do his shopping in the Village.
He added: “I don’t go out as much. I feel locked in and I’m saddened that the council has decided to spoil my life a bit. It feels like everything is being stacked up against the elderly and the infirm.”
Southwark Council first introduced the controversial Dulwich Village LTN during the first Covid-19 lockdown which banned motor traffic through the junction. Restrictions were later lifted for emergency vehicles.
Since then, the council has also introduced exemptions for blue badge holders but only for the ANPR cameras around Dulwich Village. Blue Badge holders are still banned from passing through the junction itself.
As a result, many say they are forced to take circuitous around boundary roads to reach local amenities.
Ruth Lyon, who is in her 70s, suffers from a collapsed spine and has great difficulty walking, meaning she relies on her car to get around.
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However, she says the Dulwich Village junction restrictions have quadrupled the amount of time it takes her to get to her doctor.
“I have difficulty walking – it’s like walking around with a bag of cement. But I’m also very stooped while driving and when I get out it’s hard to walk,” she said. “The less time in the car the better it is when I’m driving.”
Andrew Wallis, 77, suffers from congenital myasthenia, a condition that causes fatigue and muscle-wasting. He can only go outside accompanied by a respirator which he has inside his car.
Andrew said: “The car is my only means of independent outside locomotion. I can walk to the car but that’s only a very short distance.”
He relies on regular prescriptions from the pharmacy in the Village but can no longer get there himself.
“Fortunately my wife and daughter help magnificently but if I were on my Tod I would be in real difficulty.”
Southwark Council briefly raised the possibility of redesigning the junction. In April 2022, a council officer wrote to a local residents’ association saying “it is intended to completely reconfigure and redesign the junction to potentially allow vehicles such as blue badge holders”.
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However, Cllr James McAsh has now told the News: “We carefully considered letting Blue Badge holders go through this junction but found that this would be dangerous for pedestrians, wheelchair users or cyclists that regularly use the junction.”
But he added: “We have one of the most comprehensive borough-wide exemption policies for Blue Badge holders in London.
“A number of our camera-enforced street space traffic filters permit Southwark Blue Badge holders through, with the exception of locations where it would not be safe to do so, like the Dulwich Village/Calton Avenue junction.”
In response to Cllr McAsh’s claim that Blue Badge holder access would jeopardise other people’s safety, a One Dulwich spokepserson said: “This is clearly nonsense because traffic lights enable pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles to take it in turns to safely cross the junction. It’s pure discrimination.
“What kind of society do we live in that puts the needs of its most vulnerable members last instead of first?”
In July, the Prime Minister ordered the Department for Transport (DfT) to undertake a formal review of LTNs.