Carlton Reid12:14pm EST
The introduction of Hackney’s LTNs over the summer did not cause a rise in traffic levels at nearby monitoring sites beside main roads, found an analysis of Transport for London (TfL) traffic data.
Audit of Prince of Wales Road westbound
An additional 850 m high-quality link added to the cycle network; Bus stop bypasses; Junction improvements at Malden Road and Haverstock Hill; Good integration with side roads; Blended junctions at every side road on both sides of PoW.
New analysis ‘recommends that London boroughs without LTNs introduce them – transportxtra
LTNs enjoy majority support as a planning tool and this has been growing. However, they are controversial when introduced, and it is important to get details right as well as to allow trials time to bed in and for monitoring and evaluation
An analysis of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) has been published by Possible, a UK based climate charity working towards a zero carbon society, the KR Foundation and the ActiveTravel Academy. LTNs are increasingly being used in London and other cities and countries to reduce through motor traffic in residential areas, aiming also to increase local walking and cycling.
The analysis, written by Professor Rachel Aldred and Dr Ersilia Verlinghieri of the Active Travel Academy, is the third report written as part of the Car-Free Megacities project funded by the KR Foundation and led by Possible. It examines the location and geographical extension of LTNs introduced in London between March and September 2020, and disparities between boroughs.
You Have No ‘Right’ To Drive A Car Through Our Neighbourhoods, Even If It’s Electric | HuffPost UK
It’s time private cars were placed at the bottom of the transport hierarchy, writes Jon Burke.
“Not TV or illegal drugs but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of…communities,” the late heroine of human-scale cities, Jane Jacobs, once declared.
This sentiment – with which I wholeheartedly agree – is clearly shared. Following the prime minister’s announcement that no new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be sold in the UK beyond 2030, I tweeted that Hackney would be ready to respond with one of the largest electric vehicle charging programmes in the UK.
But outraged Twitter followers were quick to remind me that “electric vehicles will not save us!”.
The uncomfortable truth is, when it comes to the motor vehicle, we cannot live with them, but we cannot – entirely – live without them.
Environmentalists are right to be sceptical of the latest government announcement. Not only will no single measure address the major challenge of our ballooning land transport emissions, but this specific one will have limited impact on the UK’s ability to hit the IPCC’s “higher confidence” 2030 target of 45% fewer global warming emissions than 2010.
It will also, manifestly, not address many other problems arising from our growing addiction to cars. But, environmentalists would be wrong to presume that the proposal is entirely without merit.
“Addiction” might seem like an overstatement, but the statistics speak for themselves. In less than 30 years, the number of motor vehicles on our roads has almost doubled to 40 million, and this phenomenon has been accelerating, with around half of that growth coming in the last decade alone.
London hospital trust to pay £250k to install LTN for public health benefits | The Guardian
Guy’s and St Thomas’ charity will fund low-traffic neighbourhood to tackle air pollution and obesity in Lambeth and Southwark
Carlton ReidTue 17 Nov 2020
The health and social benefits of reducing motor traffic are so substantial that a hospital charity is paying to install temporary low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) measures in a London borough.
Southwark council will be given £250,000 by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charitable Trust to install planters and removable bollards in three areas.
Low-traffic neighbourhoods are areas where measures have been taken to reduce traffic and improve access for cyclists and pedestrians. They have been popping up around the country in recent months, and last week transport secretary Grant Shapps announced a £175m fund to support more LTNs.
A similar plan was ditched by Labour in 2007, after an online petition against it gathered 1.7m signatures within days.
Mythbusters: eight common objections to LTNs – and why they are wrong | The Guardian
Low-traffic neighbourhoods have existed for decades but plans often spark fierce debate. We look at some of the biggest concerns
Not all low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are perfect, or do exactly what is intended. But often the objections are based on assumptions that vary from the misplaced to the downright incorrect. Here are some of the myths.
They disproportionately benefit privileged people
It is often argued that because many LTNs focus on residential streets and because property prices tend to be lower on busier roads, all the schemes do is push pollution and noise towards poorer people. But the evidence does not bear this out. A University of Westminster study found that among all age, income and ethnic groups, almost 90% of people live on roads that could be part of an LTN, and that there were few noticeable differences across the various demographics.
More generally, moves to reduce overall motor traffic, which LTNs aim to do, tend to help poorer households, which are less likely to own and use cars but still suffer the impact of their ubiquity.
‘It isn’t safe to walk’: how would young people plan UK streets? | Environment | The Guardian
A radical project in east London is putting children and young people at the heart of the debate over liveable communities
Harriet GrantThu 19 Nov 2020 11.09 GMT
“I have good memories of playing out,” says 17-year-old Sajidul Islam. “Big games of football with all my friends.” He thinks young people should be asked more often what they like about their neighbourhoods. “But I think they prefer to ask people with degrees.”
His classmate Ahona Zaman describes her journey to school, walking through a dark underpass beneath a dual carriageway. “I love cycling but it’s too dangerous.”
These teenagers in Poplar, east London, are growing up in an intensely urban neighbourhood. Low-rise houses, brightly painted shops and cramped parks push up against the constant hum of the A12. The streets are boxed in by major roads, and cranes and towers fill the skyline.
So you want to set up a low-traffic neighbourhood? Here’s where to start | The Guardian
Our guide to everything from getting council approval to winning over the critics
Laura Laker
Fri 20 Nov 2020
How do I get started?
For all the attention low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are getting, they are very simple things. Strategic “point closures” allow vehicle access to all addresses in a neighbourhood, but reduce through traffic. They can be done with planters, or lockable bollards, or a combination of both.
In London, impressive maps of potential emergency LTNs (funded by the government’s emergency active travel fund) were swiftly drawn up using existing data on housing density, indices of deprivation, access to green space and potential trips that could be converted to cycling and walking. This helped to show where LTNs would best help residents stay healthy and avoid public transport during the pandemic.
Across the rest of the country, Sustrans, the walking and cycling charity, and the London Cycling Campaign and Living Streets have documents to help. But if there aren’t already LTNs in your area, you may have to do some of the legwork yourself.
Low-traffic schemes benefit everyone, not just better-off, finds study | The Guardian
Exclusive: authors find ‘no clear social equity problem related to low-traffic neighbourhoods’ after studying slew of projects sparked by Covid restrictions
There is no evidence schemes that try to limit “rat-running” traffic along residential streets disproportionately benefit better-off households, research has concluded, contradicting a common view cited by objectors.
A study of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), which have mushroomed as part of efforts to boost walking and cycling amid coronavirus, found that the vast majority of people lived on streets that could be part of such schemes.
Road pricing could offset loss of fuel duty from electric cars | The Guardian
Rishi Sunak looking at how to recoup lost revenues after ban on new petrol and diesel cars potentially from 2030
The government is exploring options for dealing with a £40bn black hole in the public finances, which would result from a proposed ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars within a decade.
Boris Johnson is expected to announce this week the cut-off date for the ban will be brought forward by five years to 2030, in a step designed to underscore the government’s commitment to a green economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the Treasury is understood to be concerned that a faster transition to net zero will require fundamental changes to the tax system to ensure it keeps pace with the economy of the future.
Taxes on motoring raise about £40bn a year for the exchequer from people buying cars and paying fuel duties, accounting for about 5% of total government revenue, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.