KEEP ISLINGTON MOVING
Say No to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs)
Media
Increasingly, the public is becoming aware of the flawed nature of the LTN project through informed media coverage via the local and national press, video outlets and more. We've selected some of the best recent reportage here.
Islington Free News Media
Video of "Liveable Barnsbury Meeting", 15.11.22
This extraordinary video records the scenes outside Bridgeman Road Library in Barnsbury when a large group of people found they were unable to gain access to a meeting organised by the Council for residents to "have their say" about plans for a "Liveable Barnsbury" (despite little advance notice, the Council had booked too small a venue - the meeting was eventually cancelled). The footage is important in two respects: (1) it includes several face-to-face interviews with a wide range of ordinary but highly articulate residents explaining why they vehemently oppose the Council's LTN programme (aka "Liveable Neighbourhoods); (2) it illustrates the widespread frustration and anger of the local community at the Council's failure to consult with them on this issue in a fair and effective manner.
The Times
Editorial on Barriers to Movement, 25.10.22
Excellent Times leader which concludes: "What is now needed is for councils to listen to the complaints and rethink hastily imposed schemes".
The Times
Article on DfT data
Article on how revised Department for Transport (DfT) data undermines the key rationale for implementing LTNs in the first place and shows how LTNs have made congestion worse on boundary roads, 25.10.22
Islington Tribune
Letter from Rachel Bolt, KHM, 20.5.22
A big majority of Islington residents don't like LTNs
Islington Tribune
Letter from Rachel Bolt, KHM, 25.11.22
Islington LTNs don't reduce pollution
Twitter Thread
Includes ITN News at 6.00 Report 17.3.22
Highbury LTN increased pollution by 26%
Vision News
Extract from story published online 1.12.22 - click here for full article
Oxford Council have approved shocking plans to lock residents into one of six zones using sophisticated CCTV filtering. Is this the logical conclusion of Islington's LTN programme?
Islington Tribune
Letter from Paul Dale, Barnsbury, 9.12.22
There is no "traffic problem" in Barnsbury and no need for a "solution" - we're perfectly "liveable" as we are!
Letter to Islington Council
Letter from Barnsbury resident to Councillor Rowena Champion, 26.1.23
Here's a remarkably thoughtful and reasonable letter from a resident of Lonsdale Square in Barnsbury. I suspect the sentiments it articulates so well are typical of long-term Barnsbury residents who have no strong opposition to traffic management in principle, but who resent attempts by the Council to impose a politically motivated solution which threatens to be severely detrimental to their own way of life with no obvious benefits for the majority of their neighbours. We love living in Barnsbury and with regard to LTNs we wish the Council would just leave us alone!
Not surprisingly, the Council have so far failed to respond to the letter.
Sunday Telegraph
Article by Ewan Somerville, 12.2.23
Shops on Myddleton Road in Haringey are leaving in droves as a result of the Council's misguided LTN
Petition
Launched by Mark De-Laurey, Deadline 9 August 2023
What looks like a very sensible petition has been launched to "Carry out an independent review into Low Traffic Neighbourhoods". If you believe it is high time there was a proper cost-benefit analysis of LTNs then please do sign by visiting https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/632748. At 10,000 signatures the Government must respond; at 100,000 there must be a debate in parliament.
Letters to Islington Tribune
Two LTN-sceptic letters from KIM stalwarts published in the Tribune on the same day! The first, from one Nick Collin (!) deplores the "greenwashing" which the Council is now deploying in an underhand attempt to push through the Barnsbury LTN. The second, from Christopher McCann of Lonsdale Square was originally sent to Councillor Champion and posted here above. Receiving no reply, Christopher sent it to the Tribune instead and here it is!
Islington Free News Media
Video of "Liveable Barnsbury" Protest outside Islington Town Hall, 7.3.23
Another Anti-LTN protest, another sensational video from IFN Media who were once again on hand to record proceedings. The circumstances this time were a series of "workshops" organised by the Council to let residents "have their say" about the proposed "Liveable Barnsbury" initiative, aka "imposing another unwanted LTN on another Islington ward", in this case Barnsbury. At each workshop session, residents were invited to put stickers on a map of Barnsbury-Laycock to indicate where they wanted improvements - cue for a small minority to call for their own streets to be blocked off or filtered at the expense of their neighbours. Not very democratic. Worse, most of those trying to register for the workshops found they were already booked up, we suspect by the cycling/Pro-LTN lobby who had been given advance notice. You can hear what residents think of this as well as their views on LTNs generally in this excellent video - well worth watching in its entirety. There is even a cameo appearance by your own website manager, right at the beginning!
Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail
Articles published 29.3.23 and 31.3.23 - "Pictured: 'Insane' new road layout that makes London borough 'look like Legoland' unhappy residents have claimed."
As part of the St Mary’s ward LTN, Islington Council has redesigned Charlton Place, off Essex Road and adjoining the popular Camden Passage area, famous throughout London for its antiques. Traffic will be banned from using the street between 8.15am and 9.15am and 3pm and 3.45pm using surveillance cameras. Lorries weighing over 3.5 tonnes will also be banned. The wavy kerb is designed to make cars slow down, restrict parking, and create a "safer cycle route".
Traders in Camden Passage say the scheme is already stopping shoppers visiting their historic shops and the lack of parking means loading and unloading is now very difficult. Others say the scheme is not worth it and is already losing them money. An overwhelming 97% of businesses objected to the development when petitioned.
One trader, who has been selling his wares in the area since the 1970s, said: “It’s a load of nonsense. There’s something wrong with the people who designed it. Here is supposed to be a conservation area but they’re turning it into something out of Legoland or Alton Towers or something. They’re complete and utter idiots using traffic as an old excuse.”
Another business owner said: “I’m definitely against it. I think it’s a complete and utter waste of money. There’s not a problem with traffic around here, there’s been no increase in traffic. And this is limiting people coming and shopping in the area."
And there are complaints about consultation.
“The council said it wouldn’t affect my businesses, all I’ve had is a leaflet dropped off saying they are doing the works but that was two or three weeks before. There’s been little pre-warning. They said they went door to door, but that’s a complete lie.”
“It’s insane, it seems to be a vanity project. They’re not hearing our voices.”
