‘Block these lorries before a child is hurt', urges MP (From Wimbledon Guardian)

‘Block these lorries before a child is hurt', urges Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond

7:30am Friday 1st March 2013 in News By Omar Oakes

Cars and property are being damaged by lorries driving down small residential roads and the council should do more to help, Wimbledon’s MP has claimed.

Stephen Hammond said Merton Council should block lorries from going down Haslemere Avenue, Wimbledon Park, after neighbouring Wandsworth Council said they would place a width restriction on Mount Road.

Mr Hammond accused Merton and Wandsworth of failing to adopt a joint approach to a safety issues on the border with Earlsfield and said his suggestion of putting in another barrier in Haselmere Avenue was ingored by Merton.

He said: “There will be lots of opportunities for lorries to get stuck, to cause damage but more worryingly to threaten life. These roads have high pedestrian usage to get to Wimbledon Park School and to local stations.

“If an accident occurs and damage is caused, or even worse a child or adult is injured, the blame will lie with the complacent attitude of Merton Council.”

Merton Council cabinet member for environmental sustainability and regeneration Councillor Andrew Judge said: “Whilst Merton Council understands the desire of Wandsworth Council to protect its residents, we believe their proposals merely pass the problem to Merton residents.

He said: “Wandsworth has failed to respond to any of the matters we raised with them before Christmas, seeking to better understand the basis upon which their decision has been made for an experimental scheme.

“The scheme they propose to introduce potentially causes inconvenience to a larger population and also the viability of local businesses."

Coun Judge added: “As a consequence we are now seeking a high level meeting with Wandsworth to take these matters forward.

“Until we have the answers to the basic questions we have raised, we are unable to finalise our response.

“We wish to work in partnership and to ensure there is a coherent scheme for this area. We look forward to working with Wandsworth on this matter.”