6 days ago
Labour councillor urged to resign for ‘lying to judge about LTN'
The deputy leader of a Labour council is facing calls to resign after being accused of lying in a witness statement to the High Court over a low-traffic neighbourhood.
Rezina Chowdhury, the cabinet member for sustainability at Lambeth, is facing claims she misled the judge in her defence of the West Dulwich low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN).
She is also facing claims that her behaviour relating to the traffic-relocation scheme broke the council's code of conduct.
This month the court battle over the LTN in south London came to national attention when Justice Tim Smith ordered Lambeth to remove the scheme after ruling it had been implemented unlawfully. It was the first time that a court had ordered a council to remove an LTN.
The judge concluded that the council's dismissive approach to locals, including failing to consider a dossier of evidence they presented that highlighted potential problems with the scheme, amounted to a 'serious failing'.
During the case, court documents revealed that Chowdhury, who is also a member of Labour's National Policy Forum, ignored five emails and two recorded-delivery letters sent by Jonathan Fowles, a resident. His correspondence was asking to meet to discuss data analysis he had conducted, indicating that the proposed LTN risked increasing accidents and pollution.
After receiving no reply, Fowles, who is a member of the West Dulwich Action Group, which brought the case against Lambeth, attended Chowdhury's drop-in surgery to try to speak to her in person.
A recording of the meeting shows that when challenged, Chowdhury's immediate reply was that she had ignored Fowles because she believed he was against LTNs and acting in bad faith.
Yet Chowdhury's witness statement to the court states: 'I do not consider that there has been at any point a 'refusal to engage with those who might be critical of what the council was proposing'.'
On the specific meeting with Fowles, she adds: 'At no point did I say the words 'anti-LTN' nor suggest this was the reason for not continuing to correspond with Mr Fowles. At no point during the surgery did I say anything to the effect that 'my previous refusals to engage with West Dulwich Action Group were because the correspondence had been anti-LTN'.'
The recording of the meeting reveals she said: 'The issue why I haven't responded to you is that in your emails you said that you didn't have a position on LTNs either way, but then I went back a couple of years and noticed you sent me an email where you were against LTNs so that was a red flag and if I'm honest I just thought, well, I didn't think you were being completely honest with me and that's why I resisted.'
Fowles denies that he sent any such email and when Chowdhury was given the opportunity to share the email with both the court and The Times, she did not.
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Fowles also denies that he was ever against LTNs but says that even if he was, it should not have disqualified him from correspondence or meeting the councillor.
Making false claims in a witness statement is contempt of court if it was done knowingly. If someone is found in contempt, the court can impose a prison term of up to two years or an unlimited fine.
The Times understands that Chowdhury was aware that her conversation with Fowles was being recorded. The council's legal team were also given Fowles's witness statement before the case was heard, which included a transcript of what was said at the meeting, but Chowdhury still chose not to submit a new statement to clarify the record.
The judge's ruling acknowledges a 'factual dispute' over what was said at the meeting but states that it was 'unnecessary to resolve' because it was irrelevant to the outcome of the case.
However, Fowles wants Chowdhury held to account. He believes the deputy leader's conduct breaches Lambeth's code of conduct, which says councillors must maintain an open mind towards those who hold a different view and deal with their representations 'fairly, appropriately and impartially'.
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He said: 'Rezina Chowdhury should resign. I was never against LTNs and just wanted to correspond with her as a concerned resident but she did her best to avoid meeting me simply because she thought I held a different opinion to her own.
'In my view, that alone should be grounds for her sacking because it breaches Lambeth's code of conduct but her appalling behaviour did not stop there. Her witness statement denies saying what she did in fact say to me and in doing this, she is effectively accusing me of lying in my statement. But the recording clearly shows that she is the one who is lying.
'To lie to the court is unacceptable behaviour for anyone, let alone an elected representative and she should do the decent thing and step down.'
Chowdhury declined to answer a series of questions posed by The Times but said in a statement: 'My statement to the High Court is as I recall.'
She added: 'We implemented the West Dulwich Street Improvements to reduce road danger and create a neighbourhood where residents can live safer, happier and healthier lives. We engaged widely with residents, community organisations and businesses as part of this process.'
Lambeth council said: 'We have a complaints process, and anyone is able to use that process if they believe they have evidence of a breach of the council's members code of conduct.'
The 57-year old Labour politician was appointed Lambeth's cabinet member for 'sustainable Lambeth and clean air' in 2022, making her responsible for the borough's LTNs and other climate initiatives.
Her previous professional experience was working for polling and research companies and Public Health England, having graduated in race and ethnic relations at Birkbeck, University of London. She owns a home worth more than £1 million within one of Lambeth's recently introduced LTNs.
In an interview last year, Chowdhury admitted that she did not like 'getting bogged down in lengthy' consultations but critics say her failure to consider the views of residents has proved costly for local taxpayers.
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The High Court's ruling that the West Dulwich LTN was unlawful is the second time in less than a year that one of Lambeth's LTNs has had to be removed. Last year, the borough was forced to withdraw the Streatham Wells LTN under pressure from Sir Sadiq Khan before the London mayor election after it caused such delays on one of the main routes out of south London that local buses were taking two hours to travel three miles.
The introduction and then removal of these two LTNs, including the legal battle the council fought against residents, has cost local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Residents who have met Chowdhury on constituency matters say that she can be sympathetic and personable. However, those who have met her to raise concerns about LTNs say she is 'dismissive' and 'arrogant'.
Critics believe Chowdhury's obsession with LTNs is clouding her judgment. Last month she retweeted an abusive attack on a group of volunteers who were sacrificing their spare time to repair a children's paddling pool in the borough.
The Streatham Action group put up a post thanking volunteers for their time but another X user took this as an opportunity to attack the group, accusing them of being a 'load of wealthy white nimbys in massive houses tutting about not being able to drive their cars recklessly with 20mph limits, LTNs, and shock-horror cycle lanes'.
Chowdhury retweeted the post and only removed it after a backlash. When approached by The Times to explain her actions, she declined to comment.
After the Streatham Wells and West Dulwich LTN incidents, the Lambeth Conservatives and the Lambeth Liberal Democrats are now calling on Chowdhury to go.
However, so far, there has been no indication that she plans to do so, refusing even to issue an apology for hers or the council's mistakes.
