Neighbourhood Enhancement Programme Consultation Report Oval

November 2013

Contents Background to the Neighbourhood Enhancement Programme ...... 3 Oval NEP area ...... 3 Community engagement plan ...... 4 Postcard and outreach campaign ...... 4 Postcard response ...... 7 Co-design workshops ...... 9 Public consultation ...... 10 Questionnaire response ...... 10 Albert Square consultation ...... 21 Albert Square Consultation Response ...... 21 Viva Bonnington Square Piazza Consultation ...... 22 De-clutter and 20mph limit ...... 23 Parallel initiatives ...... 24 Conclusion and decisions ...... 24 The final decision ...... 24 Next steps ...... 25 Contact us ...... 25 Appendix A: Map of Oval NEP area ...... 26 Appendix B: Postcard ...... 27 Appendix C - Consultation document ...... 28

Photo: NEP launch event on Millbrook Road

Report author: Genstacia Bull 2 | P a g e

Background to the Neighbourhood Enhancement Programme The Neighbourhood Enhancement Programme (NEP) is Lambeth’s biggest ever investment in streets and neighbourhoods and, as a cooperative council, we have asked residents to tell us how we can improve streets to make them better places to live.

We are committed to providing and maintaining roads, pavements and public spaces which are safe, clean and attractive and, with your ideas, we can make them even better!

Community engagement for the Brixton and NEP areas was completed in 2012 and the agreed improvements are being delivered there. Community engagement for six further areas –Clapham Town, Coldharbour, Larkhall, Ferndale, Oval and Vassall – has been taking place during 2013. This report describes the community engagement that has taken place in Clapham Town and the schemes which have been developed with the community and explains how the NEP budget will be allocated.

One of the main factors in choosing these areas were concerns over road safety and injury statistics.

Oval NEP area

The Oval NEP area is bounded by Lane in the north; Clapham Road- Road in the east; and South Lambeth Road in the west. The area in the north-west between South Lambeth Road and Wandsworth Road north of Miles Street is also included, as is the part of the Stockwell Gardens estate which lies to the east of Stockwell Road.

The streets south of Dorset Road lie within Stockwell ward.

Clapham Road-Kennington Park Road, South Lambeth Road, Kennington Lane, Harleyford Road-Kennington Oval are part of the Transport for Road Network (TLRN) which is designed for large volumes of commuter traffic; Transport for London (TfL) is the highway authority.

There is a 20mph zone over the majority of NEP area – as far north as Fentiman Road and Kennington Oval and extending southwards to Stockwell tube including Stockwell Gardens Estate. All of Oval NEP is within the Kennington ‘K’ controlled parking zone (CPZ), with restrictions in place Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 6:30pm.

The area opposite Oval tube (Clapham Road/Harleyford Street) has the highest number of accidents in the whole of the borough, and likewise further north up the A23 the junction with Kennington Road has a very high proportion of incidents. However, the highway authority for these accident hotspots is TfL. Excluding TLRN there have been serious incidents on Palfrey Place and Lawn Lane, with accidents of a less serious nature occurring most frequently on Dorset Road, Fentiman Road and Vauxhall Street. 3 | P a g e

Again apart from the TLRN, Fentiman Road has the highest volume of traffic, with Aldebert Terrace and Dorset Road also carrying larger numbers of vehicles. According to speed surveys the only slight concern is on Claylands Road where the average speed1 is just over 25mph, the only place over 25mph in Oval NEP.

Community engagement plan

We engaged with residents through three phases:

• A postcard and outreach campaign, seeking to establish the priority concerns of the community. • A co-design workshop phase, where we worked with residents to convert concerns into practical solutions. • A public consultation phase in which we asked all residents to prioritise a list of possible improvements emerging from the co-design phase.

Ward councillors have been involved throughout the process.

Postcard and outreach campaign

Photo: The postcard mailout kicked off at the NEP launch event in Millbrook Road

1 These averages do not take into account the fastest 15 per cent of vehicles (which would otherwise skew the figures) 4 | P a g e

A postcard (attached as Appendix B) and poster were developed, using the strapline ‘wish you were here?’ The postcard invited residents to consider what they liked and did not like about the street they live on and the streets they regularly use to get to work, school or the shops, and how we should go about improving them. Residents were also able to respond via a short online survey which replicated the questions on the postcard. Residents could also send us an email or phone and leave a message on our NEP comments line.

The postcard was distributed to all 7,172 households within the Oval NEP area in April 2013. Posters and postcards were displayed in council offices, libraries, advice centres, GP surgeries, children’s centres and jobcentre plus/employment centres and street notices were fixed to lampposts across the Oval NEP area during April and May 2013. The postcard was also available on request in key community languages and alternative formats for visually impaired residents.

We wrote to residents’ associations and community groups, providing them with information for their newsletters, websites and blogs. As part of being a cooperative council we encouraged these groups to actively take part and take ownership for generating and delivering their own on-street publicity for the NEP: 17 groups agreed to distribute over 1,000 postcards to their residents and users.

Tradescant Area Residents Association (TARA), volunteered to run a pilot, which involved local residents sending in photographs to illustrate things they liked or did not like about their streets. These photos were captioned and displayed on the walls of a community hall. The exhibition was publicised through a leaflet which TARA produced, paid for by the council. Local residents were invited to write their comments on post-it notes and stick these on the photos showing things people did and did not like. 32 residents participated in some way, either by sending in photos or attending the exhibition or both.

Albert Square and St. Stephen's Association (ASSA) decided to conduct an online survey of residents in their streets to obtain their feedback. They compiled a detailed report summarising the views of the 43 residents who completed the survey.

We contacted Lambeth Living resident participation officers to help us engage residents living on local estates. Where a tenants and residents association existed we contacted them directly asking them to distribute postcards and requesting to attend their meetings.

To ensure we got the views of young people, we also contacted each of the schools, colleges, youth and sports clubs in the area, and invited primary schools to participate in ‘walk to school’ projects.

We worked with language interpreters from Stockwell Partnership to identify opportunities to engage with residents whose first language is not English through interviewing them in their own language and noting their comments.

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We analysed all of the concerns and suggestions we received. We developed a contact database of residents who wished to be kept informed of the progress of the programme.

We received 250 written replies from Oval NEP residents, 100 of which were completed face-to-face with residents whose first language is not English as follows: Portuguese (54); Spanish (7); Somali (12); Arabic (5); Tigrinian (6); Amharic (8) and Polish (8).

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Postcard response

Q1. What do you like about your street? What do you like about your street?

Green Public spaces Trees Transport 4% 16% Shops 5% Cycling (General) 5% 5%

Safe Clean streets 5% 10%

Neighbours 5%

Community Quiet 10% 5%

Parks 6% Likes Nothing Street 9% Lighting 6% Amenities 9%

The top five things residents said they liked about their street were trees, clean streets, community, amenities, street lighting and parks (jointly).

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Q2. What do you dislike about your street? What do you dislike about your street?

Wheelie bins on Street Anti-Social 5% Behaviour 5% Condition Footways 12%

Street Lighting 6%

Noisy Crime & Fear of Crime 7% 9%

Unsafe Condition of 7% Highways 9%

Parking Streets Dirty 7% 9%

Litter 8% Potholes Traffic Speeds 9% 7%

The top things residents said they disliked about their street were condition of pavements, crime and fear of crime, conditions of roads, dirty streets and potholes.

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Q3. How could we improve your street? Suggested Improvements

Rejuvenation of More CCTV Crossing safety disused space 3% 3% 3% Amenities Pedestrianisation / 3% mixed use 3% Condition of Footways More Flowers 15% 4%

Effective speed humps 4% Cycling (General) More cycling Lanes 13% 4%

More bins 5% Condition of Highways 11% Secure Cycle Storage 6%

Cycle Parking 7% Traffic calming More trees 10% 8%

The top five improvements requested (in order of mentions) were:  Resurfacing pavements.  Cycling improvements.  Resurfacing roads.  Traffic calming.  More trees.

Suggestions that lay outside the responsibility of Lambeth’s Transport team and on which we could not spend Transport for London money were discussed with the departments and agencies responsible.

Co-design workshops

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Following the response from the postcards we drew up a set of possible improvements designed to address the concerns raised by residents which fell within the scope of the NEP.

Two drop-in sessions were held, the first at the Kennington Community Centre on Harleyford Street on Saturday 6 July, and the second at the Wheatsheaf Community Centre in Wheatsheaf Lane on Saturday 20 July.

All of the residents who had said that they wished to be kept informed at the postcard engagement phase were invited, as well as residents from the streets most likely to be directly affected by the proposals. Over a hundred residents attended the two sessions.

Public consultation

After drawing up plans based on discussions with residents, we formally consulted all Clapham Town residents. We listed all of the proposals, highlighting them on a map and saying approximately how much each was likely to cost. We sent this with a letter from Councillor Jack Hopkins (Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Neighbourhoods) to every household in the Clapham Town NEP area in September. We asked residents to help decide which street improvement measures we should deliver in their area by saying how they would spend the £200,000 budget, first by telling us their overall priorities and second by telling us what they thought of each proposal.

Additional information and consultation packs were available from libraries and community outlets and online. Residents could also respond online if they preferred.

Staffed exhibitions were held at the Wheatsheaf Community Centre on Tuesday 1 October and Saturday 5 October. Consultation closed on Friday 11 October. The consultation document is attached as Appendix B.

Residents in Bonnington Square consulted residents on their proposals for a Public Piazza immediately before the Lambeth council consultation. Residents in Albert Square asked the council to carry out an additional consultation with residents in Albert Square and surrounding streets on the changes proposed to traffic flow and parking and this was posted on Tuesday 8 October with the consultation closing on Wednesday 16 October.

Questionnaire response

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We received a total of 609 postal questionnaires and online forms for Oval NEP, a response rate of 8.5% from 7,172 households in the area.

1. Bonnington Square: public piazza

Strongly Oppose 12% Strongly Support Oppose 18% 12%

Support 24% No Opinion 34 per cent

42 per cent of respondents supported the public piazza proposals in Bonnington Square, 24 per cent opposed them and 40 per cent had no opinion.

Bonnington Square: Response to proposal by proximity

100% 10.0% 11.0% 90% 20.0% 5.0% 12.9% 80% 5.0% 12.5% 70% 10.0% 10.0% Strongly Oppose 60% 38.8% Oppose 50% No Opinion 40% Support 30% 65.0% 62.5% 25.9% 20% Strongly Support 10% 11.5% 0% Bonnington Square Neighbouring Streets* The rest of Oval NEP

The graph above shows how residents responded to the Bonnington Square proposal according to their proximity.*Neighbouring streets: Ebbisham Drive, Langley Lane, Lawn Lane and Vauxhall Drive.

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2. Claylands Green: traffic calming and greening

Strongly Oppose 8%

Strongly Support Oppose 15% 10%

Support No Opinion 28% 39 per cent

43 per cent of respondents supported traffic calming and greening on Claylands Green. 18 per cent opposed the public realm improvements and 39 per cent had no opinion.

3. Children's route: 10mph speed limit (6 month pilot)

Strongly Oppose 12% Strongly Support Oppose 22% 11%

Support No Opinion 23% 32 per cent

45 per cent of respondents supported the children’s route. 32 per cent had no opinion and 23 per cent were opposed to it.

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10mph children's route: Response by proximity

100% 10.7% 11.6% 90% 14.7% 10.7% 11.2% 80% 12.0% 70% 19.6% 30.5% 60% Strongly Oppose 40.8% Oppose 50% 17.9% No Pref 40% 28.2% Support 30% 23.1% Strongly Support 20% 35.9% 10% 19.8% 13.3% 0% Streets on Immediate Neighbouring Streets* The rest of Oval NEP Route

*Neighbouring Streets: Aldebert Terrace, Ashmole Street, Carroun Road, Cottingham Road, Fentiman Road, Rita Road, St Stephen’s Terrace, Tradescant Road and Trigon Road.

The graph above shows residents’ response to the children’s route by proximity.

4. Heyford Avenue: traffic calming

Strongly Oppose 6%

Strongly Support Oppose 9% 12%

Support 25%

No Opinion 48 per cent

34 per cent of respondents supported the proposal for traffic calming on Heyford Avenue. 18 per cent were opposed to it and 48 per cent had no opinion.

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Heyford Avenue: Response to traffic calming proposal by proximity 100% 1.4% 11.5% 7.7% 90% 16.3% 7.7% 10.4% 80% 15.4% 70% Strongly Oppose 60% 11.5% 50.4% 49.8% Oppose 50% No Pref 40% Support 30% 53.8% Strongly Support 20% 21.3% 26.5% 10% 10.6% 0% 5.7% Heyford Avenue Neighbouring Streets* The rest of Oval NEP

*Neighbouring Streets: Dorset Road, Fentiman Road, Heyford Avenue, Meadow Road, Old South Lambeth Road, Rita Road, South Lambeth Road, St Stephen’s Terrace.

The graph above shows residents’ response to the Heyford Avenue traffic calming proposals by proximity.

5. Meadow Road: build-out and greening Strongly Oppose Oppose 4% 5%

Strongly Support 17%

No Opinion 36 per cent

Support 38%

55 per cent of respondents supported the proposed build-out and greening at Meadow Road. 9 per cent were opposed to it and 38 per cent had no opinion.

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6. Tradescant Road: pocket park Strongly Oppose Oppose 3% 6%

Strongly Support 23%

No Opinion 33 per cent

Support 35%

58 per cent of respondents supported a pocket park on Tradescant Road. 9 per cent were opposed to it and 33 per cent had no opinion.

7. Albert Square: traffic calming and one-way system

Strongly Strongly Oppose Support 15% 12%

Oppose Support 12% 19%

No Opinion 42 per cent

31 per cent of respondents supported the scheme and 27 per cent opposed it. 42 per cent had no opinion.

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Albert Square: Response to proposed scheme by proximity

100% 7.3% 90% 29.5% 13.8% 80% 55.3% 70% 4.5% Strongly Oppose 60% 15.2% Oppose 50% 53.6% No Pref 40% 8.5% 19.6% Support 30% 10.6% 20% Strongly Support 31.3% 19.6% 10% 25.5% 0% 5.8% Albert Square Neighbouring Streets* The rest of Oval NEP

*Neighbouring Streets: Aldebert Terrace, Hampson Way, Lansdowne Way, Portland Grove, St Stephen’s Terrace, Tradescant Road, Wilkinson Street.

The graph above shows residents’ response to the proposal at Albert Square by proximity

8. Cycle and motorcycle parking: various locations

Strongly Strongly Oppose Support Oppose 9% 14% 10%

Support 24%

No Opinion 43 per cent

38 per cent of respondents supported cycle and motorcycle parking at Albert Square, Wilkinson Street and St. Stephen’s Terrace. 19 per cent were opposed to it and 43 per cent had no opinion.

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9. Traffic calming: Aldebert Terrace and St. Stephen's Terrace

Strongly Strongly Oppose Support 10% 10% Oppose 12% Support 21%

No Opinion 47 per cent

31 per cent of respondents supported traffic calming in Aldebert Terrace and St. Stephen’s Terrace. 22 per cent were opposed to it and 47 per cent had no opinion.

Aldebert and St. Stephen's Terrace: response to proposed traffic calming by proximity

100% 7.0% 4.7% 2.3% 90% 7.0% 25.2% 13.0% 80% 25.6% 70% 12.6% Strongly Oppose 60% Oppose 50% 22.4% 59.6% 40% No Pref 30% 58.1% 27.3% Support 20% Strongly Support 10% 18.4% 12.6% 0% 4.3% Aldebert Terrace & St Neighbouring Streets* The rest of Oval NEP Stephen's Terrace

*Neighbouring Streets: Albert Square, Dorset Road, Hampson Way, Lansdowne Way, Old South Lambeth Road, Portland Grove, Saddlers Mews, Tradescant Road and Wilkinson Street.

The graph above shows the response to traffic calming in Aldebert and St Stephen’s Terrace by proximity.

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10. Tree planting and greening: various locations Oppose Strongly Oppose 3% 2%

No Opinion 18 per cent

Strongly Support 48%

Support 29%

77 per cent of respondents supported tree planting and greening at various locations, including Fentiman Road, Meadow Road, Claylands Road, Wilkinson Road and Heyford Avenue.

11. Play streets: Ashmole Street and Kibworth Street Strongly Oppose Oppose 6% 8%

Strongly Support 18%

No Opinion Support 40 per cent 28%

46 per cent of respondents supported play streets in Ashmole Street and Kibworth Street. 14 per cent were opposed to the idea and 40 per cent had no opinion.

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Who responded? Age: Which age group applies to you? 85+ 18-24 75-84 1% 3% 4% Blank 7% 25-34 16% 65-74 11%

55-64 35-44 16% 24%

45-54 18%

The chart above shows that the highest response rate was from 35-44 year olds.

Disability: Are your day-to-day activities limited because of a health problem or disability? Yes, limited a lot Yes, limited a little 4% 6%

Blank 16%

No 74%

74 per cent of residents did not have any disability.

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Ethnicity

10% 3% 5% 2% White Multiple Ethnic group Asian Black No Reply 80%

80 per cent of Oval responses came from people who described themselves as white, 2 per cent are mixed race, 3 per cent are Asian British and 5 per cent are Black British.

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Albert Square consultation

The Albert Square traffic calming proposal included in the NEP consultation document that had a potential impact on traffic in Albert Square, Wilkinson Street, Aldebert Terrace, St. Stephen’s Terrace, Tradescant Road and Walberswick Street. Following concerns from some residents that the information sent to them was not clear, the council sent out additional proposals.

The proposals were as follows:

Proposal 1: Experimental no-entry sign at junction of Aldebert Terrace with Albert Square will stop traffic going straight ahead and take the route while travelling from South Lambeth Road and Clapham Road.

Proposal 2: Experimental no-entry signs in Albert Square to route the traffic from Clapham Road to South Lambeth Road.

Proposal 3: Replace speed cushions with full width cycle-friendly speed humps.

Proposals 1 and 2 were aimed at increasing travel distance for vehicles; proposal 3 was aimed at discouraging speeding, and these three proposals in conjunction with the proposed 10mph children’s route were expected to reduce traffic between South Lambeth Road and Clapham Road via Albert Square.

Proposal 4: Increase motorcycle parking bay lengths by 50 per cent in Wilkinson Street, Aldebert Terrace, and Albert Square.

Proposal 5: Build-out with greening on Aldebert Terrace as a traffic calming measure and environmental enhancement.

Albert Square Consultation Response

We sent out 590 consultation documents and printed out an extra 200 documents for areas where houses have been converted to flats. We received 91 responses which is a response rate of 11 per cent.

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Albert Square: proposal 3 was the most popular

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3 Proposal 4 Proposal 5 No Reply 0 0 5 8 3 Yes 35 30 65 42 61 No 56 61 21 41 27

The graph above shows that proposal 3 was the most popular of all the proposals.

Viva Vauxhall Bonnington Square Piazza Consultation

In addition to the consultation undertaken at the two day design event at Wheatsheaf Hall on 20 July, active residents James Ahmed and James Fraser set up a stall at the Bonnington Festival on Monday 9 September to show their designs for the area. Three very detailed schemes with a variety of traffic and parking impacts were drawn up by James Ahmed, residents were invited to state which one they preferred and to leave any additional comments. After the festival the documents were left in the Italo Café for three weeks for people to comment on.

The responses were passed to council officers: we received 94 responses, the majority of which were in favour of proposal 2.

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Bonnington Square: responses received

2% 7% 9%

10%

Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3 No Preference All

72%

72 per cent of respondents were in favour of proposal 2.

Bonnington Square responses to resident-led consultation

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3 Preference 3 6 2 1 Preference 2 3 2 7 Preference 1 7 70 9

The graph above shows that proposal 2 was the most popular scheme.

De-clutter and 20mph limit We have put aside £30,000 of the £230,000 NEP budget for Clapham Town for introducing a 20mph speed limit, and a 7.5 tonne weight limit (with signs) and to remove unnecessary bollards and posts which get in the way of pedestrians. We will aim to make these improvements within the next few months.

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Parallel initiatives

Carroun Road and South Lambeth Road have recently been resurfaced as part of the Council’s Highways Investment Programme. Kennington Road (pavement), Trigon Road, Palfrey Place, Claylands Road and Dorset Road will be resurfaced by March 2014.

In addition to improving cycling infrastructure, funding available from Transport for London to support the Mayor’s Vision for Cycling may provide further opportunities to enhance our streets over the next two years.

Public consultation on proposals to introduce cycle hangars in Albert Square and Bonnington Square (referred to in the NEP consultation document) and in Meadow Road, Richborne Terrace, Rita Road, St. Stephen’s Terrace and Tradescant Road concluded on 3 October with a high level of support.

Conclusion and decisions

Having worked collaboratively with residents and looked at the available budget we have managed to spread the allocation to cover most items identified with the exception of the children’s route 10 mph speed limit. This is not considered viable because of a borough-wide 20 mph speed limit which is planned for this financial year and next financial year: a 10mph speed limit could create confusion and this proposal cannot be delivered without significant changes to the streetscape to be self-enforcing.

The Bonnington Square proposal has been revised to minimise loss of parking.

The final decision

Oval ward councillors met with council officers to consider the findings from the public consultation and to make a decision on which improvements to implement in their ward. The final decision is provided in this section.

The following improvements will be made by the end of March 2014:

 Tree planting and greening: various locations.  Meadow Road: build-out and greening.

The following improvements will be made by the end of March 2014, subject statutory consultation:

 Tradescant Road pocket park.  Claylands Road: traffic calming and greening.  Bonnington Square: public piazza.  Cycle and motorcycle secure parking: various locations.  Heyford Avenue: traffic calming.  Traffic calming in Aldebert Terrace, St Stephen’s Terrace and Albert Square.

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Residents in Ashmole Road and Kibworth Street can apply to hold a play street via www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/TransportStreets/PlayStreets

Next steps All households in Oval ward will receive a feedback letter in November 2013 informing them of the final decision. Following this a statutory consultation will take place for the improvements that require a new traffic order. Details will be published in local newspapers and advertised on street notices.

Improvements are scheduled for implementation by the end of March 2014.

This report will be available online at www.lambeth.gov.uk/nep and in local libraries.

Contact us

Address: NEP Team 2nd Floor Blue Star House 234-244 Stockwell Road London, SW9 9SP Telephone: 020 7926 9000 email: [email protected]

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Appendix A: Map of Oval NEP area

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Appendix B: Postcard

▲Postcard front page

▲Postcard back page

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Appendix C - Consultation document

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