Merton Council is enforcing a temporary road closure on Balfour Road, South Wimbledon, in an effort to reduce traffic, despite the fact that the majority of residents voted against the measure.
The proposals include installing a removable bollard outside No.1 Balfour Road, which can only be removed by emergency services, removal of parking bays and introduction of double yellow lines at the closure, removing the one-way road status on Cecil Road and a ban on lorries and buses.
The road will remain closed for six months, at which point a permanent decision will be made about its closure. Work is expected to begin as early as October 5.
Many businesses on the road are concerned about how customers will reach them
After-school tutor Julia O’Connor, whose business is based at No.1 , said: "I believe democracy has been totally over-ridden in this area now. It’s going to be the demise of the businesses and workers here."
As part of an informal consultation in January, 180 consultation documents were delivered to residents on Balfour Road and the nearby Cecil Road. The 79 responses received, along with an additional 15 feedback forms from other roads such as Kingston Road and Merton Road, gave an overall majority of 59.2% against the closure.
Balfour Road and Cecil Road will be affected by the temporary closure.
But councillor Andrew Judge, cabinet member for environmental sustainability and regeneration said residents were told at a meeting in Merton Hall that more weight would be given to the votes of residents and businesses fronting Cecil and Balfour Roads.
Although 93% were in favour of the changes, only 29 of the overall respondents are actually included in this category.
Councillor Judge added: "We do not anticipate any harm to local businesses."
Johnny Kenworth, Owner of Bodysun Tanning Studio on Merton Road said: "Closing the road is a sledge hammer solution. Weight and speed restrictions would be better. The traffic will just filter through to other streets.
"They didn’t listen to anything we said. It’s very frustrating. They were just going to do it anyway."
Representations about the temporary closure can be submitted to the council from now until March 21, 2016.
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