KEEP ISLINGTON MOVING
Say No to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs)
What We're About
Our mission is to restore freedom of mobility to those living and working in Islington. We oppose Islington Council's Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) programme, aka "Liveable Neighbourhoods" or "People Friendly Streets". We believe it is a misguided initiative, poorly implemented, to address a problem which is at best exaggerated and at worst dangerously misconstrued. The costs of the programme, especially in terms of unintended consequences, hugely outweigh the benefits. LTNs discriminate unfairly against the many who rely, directly or indirectly, on motorised transport to live or work in Islington. Many of Islington’s constituencies, including some of the most vulnerable, will be severely disadvantaged and the unique character of Islington itself will be compromised. The programme should now be halted, re-evaluated and if necessary reversed. It should not be extended to other wards, if at all, until such re-evaluation is complete.
Why We Feel This Way
These are the main reasons we think the current LTN programme is bad for the majority of people who live and work in Islington:
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Congestion on main thoroughfares, aka "boundary roads", caused by traffic diverted from residential streets.
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Other traffic restrictions, such as inappropriate cycle lanes and the obstruction of bus routes, which undermine the Keep Islington Moving objective.
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As a result, loss of freedom of mobility, and longer journey times, both within and also into and out of Islington, resulting in increased pollution.
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Economic decline due to the adverse effects of LTNs on all local tradespeople and small businesses which rely on motorised transport to make a living.
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Cultural decline, as Islington is transformed from a lively, exciting, mixed-economy inner city neighbourhood into a dull dormitory suburb.
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Adverse effects on some of Islington's most disadvantaged groups: the old, the infirm, those who live on main roads and those who rely on emergency services.
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Disfigurement of Islington's uniquely attractive environment though the ugly "street furniture" of LTNs.
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A deeply divided community.
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Monetary costs. These are huge and include:
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Costs of implementation by the Council
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Costs incurred by small businesses through a decline in trade or increased travelling time
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Costs incurred by motorists in fines and higher fuel consumption
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With respect to the specific case of the Barnsbury conservation area, we believe this to already have a relatively green and highly attractive residential core and a lively mixed-economy boundary with free movement of traffic; this must be preserved.​
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Our Network.
One of the main objectives of Keep Islington Moving (KIM) is to link together a network of individuals and organisations who share a common belief that the Council's LTN programme is misguided and bad for Islington as a whole. The website is intended to equip this network with reliable information and other resources, to support a range of projects which may be focused on different areas within Islington, or different aspects of urban planning, but are all designed to Keep Islington Moving. One such project is to understand and if necessary halt the initiative currently underway under the "LIveable Neighbourhoods" umbrella to extend the LTN programme to Barnsbury.
Our sister site KHM is probably the best source of statistics on how an Islington LTN programme has failed.
This group is currently highly active in fighting the Council's plan to extend its LTN programme to Barnsbury under the "Liveable Barnsbury-Laycock" initiative.
Neighbourhood forum on LTNs
The politics of LTNs are complex. Although the Council is strongly labour, it was Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps who initially funded LTN programmes across the UK. But Islington Conservatives have fought LTNs from the start, and continue to do so as you can see on their website.
Our Approach
Keep Islington Moving (KIM) is a fairly loose, flexible organisation comprising a small core of volunteers with a much larger network of supporters and other organisations, all united by our love of Islington and our opposition to LTNs. KIM is non-political and unfunded. We adopt a "subsidiarity" approach which holds that issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level and we work in this manner with groups such as Keep Barnsbury Moving (KBM) and Keep Highbury Moving (KHM) which are focused on particular areas of Islington, as well as with specific projects set up to address particular LTN issues as they arise. We aim to achieve our objectives through a wide variety of methods including:
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Collating data and developing arguments to support our case against LTNs
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Building local and national awareness of Islington's LTN programme and its flaws
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Engaging directly with the Council where possible, though its own consultation programme, emails, meetings etc and encouraging our supporters to do likewise
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Influencing the Council not just directly but also indirectly via local and national media, including social media such as Twitter and NextDoor
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Lobbying government, other political parties and all relevant institutions such as the DfT, TfL and trade associations
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Liaising with and supporting similar organisations within and outside Islington
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Organising appropriate activities such as leafleting campaigns and peaceful protests on a case by case basis.
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The main tools we have at our disposal to support these endeavours include:
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This website
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A database of statistics, documents, media reports and other LTN-related information
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A contact list of supporters (confidential)
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Social media, especially our Twitter account @KeepIzMoving
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Local and national media, including independent video production companies
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A WhatsApp group for day-to-day communications amongst the core group
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If you would like to join KIM as an active volunteer, or simply as a supporter, then please visit our Contacts page to register your interest.
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