A British academic who pushed for low traffic neighbourhoods, also known as 15 minute cities, was caught on CCTV appearing to down a petition against it.
Dr Anna Goodman of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine specialises in “evaluating sustainable transport interventions,” and is the joint lead in an upcoming £1.5 million study into the effect of “low traffic neighbourhoods.”
These schemes, shortened to LTNs and known as “15 minute cities,” restrict and regulate the freedom of citizens to drive in certain areas if you do not live in them, subjecting people to fines, and blocking off roads entirely.
Last week Goodman was seen tearing down a petition poster in a shop in West Dulwich, London, that encouraged residents to demand the local Lambeth Council not go ahead with their proposed road closures, warning against the effect it could have on local businesses, as well as increasing congestion and pollution.
In the footage, Goodman seemed to wait until the coast was clear before tearing the poster down. The video was later shared into a local WhatsApp group, with one warning shopkeepers about the behaviour.
After this video emerged of transport academic, Dr Anna Goodman, ripping down a poster advertising a petition against the LTNs in West Dulwich, pressure mounts for her to step aside from all her work on LTNs.
Can't say we disagree when she behaves like this ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/MrXwjwTf6h
— Clean Air For All Dulwich (@DulwichCleanAir) July 3, 2023
“Perhaps Anna would like to explain herself,” one resident posted in the group. “I started the petition, so perhaps she can return it to me or the shop that she stole it from. Six hundred and one people have signed the petition so far.
Goodman admitted that it was her in the video, saying it was “stupid” of her to have taken the post down. “Have returned it to the shopkeeper and apologised – sorry also to you.” Local resident David Taylor, who helped set the petition up, said it was “beyond ironic that one of the petition posters was taken down by an academic who is commissioned to review LTNs.”
“You have to question her independence when an academic that writes about LTNs… also has her house situated in the proposed West Dulwich LTN and house prices could benefit with alleged quieter streets,” Taylor added.
In a statement to The Telegraph, the academic claimed that when she “engaged in a personal capacity” in campaigns for 15 minute cities, this was completely separate to her “professional role and… research.”
