A petition against the proposals has attracted more than 300 signatures (Credit: Change.org)
The council wants to stop vehicles entering designated zones around 12 schools to reduce air pollution and protect students.
Emma, who is from Parkhill, says it will only divert traffic and parking to other areas of the borough.
She told Time: 107.5: “The council have used data taken during lockdown to assess the impact of existing Schools Streets schemes to support future schemes.
“They showed us photos of a quiet street outside a school, to support their scheme, from within the past few weeks during a national lockdown when schools are only open to a small minority of children.
” The cabinet member for civic pride leading on the scheme advised residents that a solution to access problems is to park outside the restricted zones if needed, reinforcing residents’ concerns that the scheme will just divert traffic and parking elsewhere.”
She also claims people were censored while trying to ask questions at an online public meeting about the plans earlier this week.
“The meeting was set up on Microsoft Teams as a live stream meeting, meaning that the only way for residents to communicate is via a censored chat box.”
Emma said almost 400 questions were posted but only a “one way dialogue” was allowed and “the panel were able to select comments that suited them to answer”.
“The council have supposedly evaluated previous pilots, but no information is available on this in any public council meeting papers,” she added.
Emma is supporting a campaign set up by fellow disgruntled residents against the Parkhill school scheme. Their petition has been signed by more than 300 people.
The petition states: “Redbridge Council are proposing to reduce vehicle access in parts of these roads between the hours of 8:15am – 9:30am and 2:30pm – 4:00pm. Any vehicles entering the ‘prohibition zones’ between these hours, without an exemption permit, will receive a fine of £130 (reduced by 50% if paid within 14 days).
“This petition is for residents in the roads outlined in the proposals and other impacted individuals to object these proposals and to ask Redbridge Council not to implement the scheme in our roads.”
Mohammed Ashraf commented he is signing the petition because the scheme “will take away my independence to move on my road as I want 24-hour access to my road & house without any restrictions.
“It will divert the traffic to surrounding roads & make access to our road difficult.
“Medical & social care teams eg district nurses will not come to visit due to restrictions.
“I’m surprised & shocked that the Redbridge Council is trying to impose restrictions on residents during this crucial time. Rather, the Council should concentrate and put all their resources in fighting this Covid pandemic.”
Cllr Jo Blackman, the civic pride cabinet member, said: “We’re consulting on School Streets as part of our plans for a safer and greener Redbridge. We ultimately want to reduce air pollution levels around our schools, help protect children from traffic at the school gate and encourage more children to walk and cycle to school.
“We know that the existing School Streets pilots have successfully reduced traffic at the school gate, making the area safer for children, and encouraging them to walk, scoot, and cycle to school. There is also evidence that these schemes reduce traffic in neighbouring streets and within the restricted area.
“As a council, we have a legal duty to monitor and implement measures to reduce emissions and air pollution, which harms human health and contribute to other environmental problems. Evidence on walking, scooting, and cycling to school from previous years helps inform our consultation.
“People still have until Sunday to submit their views, and we would strongly encourage them to do so. We were pleased with the high level of participation in Wednesday’s online briefing and managed to answer a number of questions raised. We have also updated the FAQs on the scheme on the council’s website to answer the questions we’ve been receiving.”
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