At the Kingston Council residents meeting last night 14/06/17, the controversial closure of Surbiton Crescent was voted to be made permanent.

In angry scenes residents were told that they were "naive" in questioning safety and pollution concerns in diverting more traffic into Maple Road where many schoolchildren (some as young as 4 years old) from nearby Surbiton High School cross the road.

Many complained that residents concerns were ignored and that they were not satisfied with the explanations given. Councillor Paul Bedforth slammed residents and other councillors for calling the scheme "an unmitigated disaster" which caused uproar in the Guildhall last night, with many residents complaining of the patronising tone of both Councillor Terry Paton and Councillor Bedforth.

Some residents said they had no confidence in the council to deliver the scheme satisfactorily. Councillor Liz Green put forward an amendment to suspend all first time offence fines and to make signage better.

Administration councillors did not agree to give back the £3 million in fines generated by the discredited scheme to shouts of "give us our money back" from the disgusted residents in the public gallery. Conservative councillors voted the scheme through with 3 Lib Dems voting against and 2 abstentions. Labour did not attend.

Article supplied by Helen Hinton