Gary Fannin
Founder – WBRA

When I first created the Wandsworth Bridge Road Association 11 month ago my initial position was to scrap the traffic scheme and return to ‘the way things were’. Over the last year I have spent countless hours in meetings and phone calls with traffic engineers, councillors, residents, businesses and other associations. I have spent months reading dozens of reports, articles, research documents and data relating to traffic, congestion, pollution and human behaviour.

I could not have predicted that when I set up what I thought was a small group to force the council to listen to us, would lead me to the educational year that I have had and my change of position.

I believe that in order to achieve a better, cleaner and greener South Fulham we must move forward, not backward. Simply returning to ‘how things used to be’ is not a solution, as what was before was not good to start with. When we look back we tend to forget the negative and focus only on the positive which is why it’s easy to think that everything was ‘fine’ before.

Now, we have a real opportunity to create a substantially better area and environment than it was before. The vision we have created, backed by LBHF, gives me hope that things will improve. But in order to achieve that we must move forward and take bold steps. Doing nothing is not an option. Going backwards is simply a failure.

For this reason I support the Council’s TCPR and the protections they have planned for WBR. This is not to say that I will simply sit idly by. The WBRA will continue keep up the pressure to ensure that any scheme is achieving its objectives, and if not, we will continue to push for more and more changes until we see real results. This is an ongoing process and without moving forward we will be stuck in the current unacceptable status quo.

As I write this I am all too aware of how much my opinions have changed. But this is part of what moves each of us forward. As we learn, we change.