Council's LTN survey broke industry rules

The South Fulham clean air neighbourhood consists of two areas to the east and west of Wandsworth Bridge Road

A survey conducted before introducing a low traffic neighbourhood in west London has been found to have breached four industry rules.

The scheme in south Fulham was launched in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) in December 2022 to cut pollution and congestion. It uses cameras to catch and fine drivers using some roads as a shortcut.

But after a complaint was made about polling company Opinium, the Market Research Society (MRS) said it had breached the code of conduct.

Opinium's CEO, James Enderby, said he backed the review process and had "already reviewed this many months ago and put in place additional layers of quality checking in our ongoing commitment to high standards".

MRS said Opinium did not take reasonable action in collecting data to ensure participants were "not led towards a particular point of view".

It also did not do enough to "ensure that participants were not misled when being asked to participate in a project".

MRS added that the researchers failed to provide respondents with "the required information... specifically the general subject of the data collection, and the purpose of the data collection".

The low traffic neighbourhood was introduced to reduce congestion

Opinium interviewed 536 residents on their doorsteps and found 59% of residents in the clean air trial area either supported or strongly supported cutting out-of-borough traffic using neighbourhood streets as cut-throughs, while 20% were in opposition.

In an online survey the firm found that 65% of 1,989 responses received supported the "general principle".

'Divisive and discriminatory'

David Tarsh, who made the complaint to the MRS, said: "The conception and implementation of this traffic scheme has been a disgrace from the outset, and the conduct of those involved prompts serious questions about ethics in public service.

"Elected and employed officials alike should be ashamed of themselves for creating something so divisive and discriminatory; and for their refusal to engage properly with residents."

Mr Tarsh believes the police should investigate those who commissioned and approved the survey on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.

The council said that the "overwhelming majority of residents have made their position clear and asked us to reduce congestion and pollution in their neighbourhood and we have delivered with cleaner, safer and quieter streets".

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