Fury over council's £50,000 spend on LGBT-friendly rainbow junction

Council sparks fury after splashing out nearly £50,000 of taxpayers’ cash on LGBT-friendly rainbow junction

A ‘rainbow junction’ in support of the LGBT community cost taxpayers almost £50,000, it has emerged.

The four crossings, painted in the coloured stripes of the Progressive Pride flag, was rolled out in Chiswick High Road in February by Labour-run Hounslow council.

But disability campaigners were left furious when it was revealed to be the most expensive rainbow crossing in Britain, at a cost of £48,174, according to the Telegraph.

The National Federation of the Blind of the UK said ‘inclusion must mean inclusion for all, including blind people’ and insisted the money could instead have been spent on safety and accessibility for the visually impaired.

Meanwhile, Tory peer Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne suggested the crossing ‘will inevitably cause migraines and trigger epilepsy’.

The four crossings, painted in the coloured stripes of the Progressive Pride flag, was rolled out in Chiswick High Road in February by Labour-run Hounslow council

The scheme was developed alongside the West London Queer Project, which aims to ‘connect, support and give voice to’ the LGBT community in the area.

Over the course of a year, the crossing itself cost more than £34,000, while the town hall also splurged £9,000 on road markings and resurfacing, £1,900 on traffic management and £4,500 on road safety audits, the Telegraph found.

By comparison, £46,000 was the combined cost of developing rainbow crosses in hospital grounds by 20 NHS trusts between 2019

Hounslow – which supports Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion and recently raised council tax by the maximum amount of 4.99 per cent – rejected the suggestion that it was a poor allocation of resources.

Council leader Shantanu Rajawat told the paper: ‘Important day-to-day services are not impacted by new community initiatives like this.

‘Due to our prudent financial management over many years, Hounslow is in a relatively strong position among local authorities and our balanced budget will ensure we will continue to deliver the quality of services and support residents expect and deserve.’

Hounslow Council has been approached for further comment. 

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