Latest news with #LTN
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lambeth LTN to be removed immediately, court rules
A low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme in south London must be removed with immediate effect, following an order by the High Court. Lambeth Council was told in May that the imposition of the LTN in West Dulwich was unlawful, and has been denied permission to appeal against the decision. LTNs aim to reduce motor traffic in residential areas by using either cameras, planters or lockable bollards, but opponents have criticised their effectiveness. The West Dulwich Action Group (WDAG), which brought the legal challenge, described the ruling as " a wake-up call to councils everywhere". Low-traffic neighbourhood unlawful - High Court Lambeth Council must also pay £35,000 towards the legal costs incurred by WDAG. The action group said questions must now be asked about the revenue raised by penalising motorists contravening the LTN rules - and whether the more-than £1m total raised in penalty notices will have to be repaid. A WDAG spokesperson said the group had called upon Lambeth Council to clarify whether it would issue refunds. "This is not just about legality — it's about fairness and public trust. If the law was broken, the money should be paid back. "This case should never have gone to court. It could have been resolved through proper, respectful dialogue. Instead, Lambeth chose to defend litigation over listening — and the public has paid for it." In response to the decision, Lambeth Council said it "remained committed to delivering our programme to reduce road danger for those most at risk and make our streets calmer, more community-friendly places. "The High Court has ordered the removal of West Dulwich street improvements. No further fines will be issued, and we are removing the scheme as soon as it can be done safely." Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Health responders exempt from Oxford's Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
Healthcare workers who assess and treat patients in crisis at home will be allowed to drive through restrictions in Oxford's two low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).Introduced in 2023, the schemes stop motorists taking shortcuts through residential areas in East Oxford and Health NHS Trust supported the exemption for its urgent community response (UCR) workers, which could equate to about five or six vehicles a permission was granted by Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for transport management, Andrew Gant. But he said it did not mean other exemptions in the LTNs would be approved."The numbers involved here are tiny and it's not the case that making one change automatically implies that other changes will follow," he said."Each proposal or suggestion is dealt with on its own merits."He added that the council's plan for other measures, including traffic filters, would continue as part of a "multi-pronged approach" to cut congestion in Pugh, Oxford Health's head of transformation, said it was critical that urgent community responders got to people as soon as said delays can lead to "serious knock-on effects" for people and ramifications on the wider healthcare workers often help older people who are having a health crisis or difficulties at home and seek to prevent transferring them to hospital, if council has spent nearly £4m on the LTNs and its quickways cycling routes in Oxford since 2021. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Telegraph
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Reform councils vow to axe LTNs
Reform UK has vowed to reverse low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in all of the councils it controls. Nigel Farage's party has announced that it will block most new schemes and reverse existing ones in the 10 councils it now controls after its sweeping local election victory. LTNs were introduced during the pandemic in 2020 as part of a suite of green policies aimed at encouraging walking and cycling. Cited as a way to reduce pollution, they involve shutting off the majority of side roads in an area to cars. There are now more than 100 permanent Labour-backed LTN schemes in the UK, with the Government also pushing for more 20mph zones in what has been branded a 'war on motorists'. But Zia Yusuf, the Reform party chairman, told The Telegraph: 'LTNs have proliferated too quickly and there are far too many of them. 'We view these schemes with the same suspicion as mass immigration and Net Zero. They are policies which are supported by and made to benefit more affluent people, who are then insulated from the negative consequences. 'You can expect, if you live in a Reform council, for there to be a much higher bar for any proposals for LTNs and for the large-scale reversal of these existing LTNs.' Mr Yusuf said that the 10 councils – including in Durham, Kent and Nottinghamshire – would soon become 'islands of freedom for motorists, where people who want to use their cars are able to do so'. Reform council candidates across the country campaigned against LTNs during the local elections. The party has said the schemes hollow out local high streets, make life difficult for drivers and push congestion into poorer areas. Earlier this month, a judge ruled London's Lambeth council had acted unlawfully by creating an LTN and ignoring residents' concerns it would cause more traffic congestion. Campaigners in Bath, meanwhile, conducted a recent survey that found an LTN next to a university campus has led to a 700 per cent jump in traffic past a primary school and nursery. While LTNs are intended to reduce pollution and make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists, they have been used as cash cows for councils which make millions in fines. London's Hammersmith and Fulham council is raking in more than £1million from motoring fines from a single LTN, while the capital's Croydon council is among local authorities that have also raised millions. The schemes are usually policed by blocking streets with planters or bollards or by using cameras, with drivers facing fines for driving down them. Seventy-two LTNs opened during the pandemic as part of a £2bn active travel scheme overseen by Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps, the then prime minister and transport secretary. The Tories subsequently withdrew this funding in 2023 as Rishi Sunak vowed to end measures that he saw as amounting to an anti-car agenda. Local councils were told to independently fund the scheme without Westminster's help. Just over half (54.3 per cent) of the length of all streets in council areas now controlled by Reform are the equivalent to LTNs, according to crowd-sourced data from CycleStreets. The party wants to use its new councils to show British voters how it would run the country. Last week Reform promised a flurry of legal challenges to close down existing asylum hotels in areas it controls and stop new ones from opening. Mr Farage has also vowed to scrap all equality, diversity and inclusion roles as well as climate change-related work. In a message to Durham council employees with roles similar to these, he said: 'These include those working on climate change, diversity initiatives or even just from home. You all better be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly.' Reform won 677 council seats at the local elections earlier this month and took control of ten councils. Polling suggests it is on course to win the next general election and that Mr Farage will become the next prime minister. The party hopes to follow its extraordinary result with further gains at the Welsh Senedd elections next year. In Wales, the devolved Labour administration has established a 20mph speed limit on many roads. Reform hopes to win votes in the Senedd elections by pledging to reverse the move. It has the potential to pick up dozens of seats and is polling second in Wales behind Plaid Cymru. Mr Yusuf told The Telegraph: 'In Wales these sweeping 20mph speed limits which Labour have brought in are hugely unpopular. You can expect us to campaign to reverse this and we will be taking the fight to Labour on this at the Senedd elections next year.' Reform has claimed it will tackle 'the Blob' in local government after its victories earlier this month. The term refers to a permanent class of civil servants who push Left-wing agendas and are resistant to change. Mr Yusuf said: 'We are seeing the Blob alive and well on local councils. We have found neighbourhood teams that should be responsible for bin collections but now have a mandate for climate change. It's the Blob writ large. 'In one council they said we needed to fill 27 cabinet and portfolio positions within 72 hours. It turns out only two of those positions are statutory. Many of the leading member positions are essentially made-up jobs relating to climate change, equality and community cohesion.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
I've just received two penalty notices. This war on motorists has gone far enough
If you drive around this country on a regular basis you might be forgiven for thinking that everyone in power hates cars. Whether they're running national government or local councils, it appears that if you sit behind the wheel of a vehicle you are seen as the enemy. How else to explain some of the baffling measures introduced in recent years to make driving more expensive, more difficult and a lot less fun than it used to be? Smart motorways, clean air zones, bus lanes, speed bumps, emergency gates, cycle superhighways and low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) have all conspired to frustrate and annoy motorists going about their daily business. But finally, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel – even if the tunnel has just acquired a new toll charge that it never used to have. For the past five years LTNs have been a battleground between local residents and campaigners all over the country. They grew up mainly as a result of Covid restrictions being put in place by over-zealous local burghers who saw restriction of travel as a silver bullet to reduce pollution. And campaigners who saw an opportunity to get people out of their cars and into – as they call it – more active forms of travel. The trouble with LTNs, though, is that they are rarely well through out. Closing off entire streets to through traffic just pushes the congestion somewhere else – usually onto main artery roads that they become permanent traffic jams pumping yet more fumes into the air. In some parts of London the battle for parking spaces, delivery van access and exemptions for disabled badge holders were painted as culture war issues pitting Net Zero zealots against entire communities who were objecting to their imposition. Now it looks as though the law has finally stepped in to bring some common sense to the discussion. Just last week the High Court ruled that Lambeth Council in South London was wrong to ignore local objections to its latest scheme. Not only that, it acted unlawfully. The council could now be forced to do away with the bollards, the planters and all the other paraphernalia that has been the bane of people's everyday lives in West Dulwich. To add insult to injury the judge in the case, Mr Justice Smith, criticised the council for ignoring a report from campaigners at the West Dulwich Action Group who highlighted the unintended consequences of the LTN. Lambeth Council say they are still measuring what the impact of the judgment will be before they decide what to do next. But residents are angry that they spent public money defending a lawsuit that they knew they couldn't win. For their part the council claims LTNs are helping them to combat climate change. Just how they're doing that is anyone's guess. The flip side of all those fines of course, in addition to effectively being an extra tax on road users in the borough, is that some businesses have been hurt, impacting the local economy. There have been similar objections raised elsewhere in the country. Business owners in Oxford have been complaining about restrictions which force people to drive ridiculously circuitous routes to get from one part of the city to another. And in Manchester the clean air zone has once again been put on ice while the pros and cons of installing it are weighed up. Taxi drivers in Newcastle are refusing to enter some parts of the city because of the cost of charges and fines. One thing is for certain, if victorious LTN challenges become the norm there will be many councils looking for more ways to raise revenue. In some areas they are installing ever more sophisticated traffic cameras that aim to catch people using their phones while driving. In the part of London where I live they've come up with an ingenious wheeze. Simply change the usage of the road at specific times. Last weekend I awoke to not one, but two penalty charge notices, for driving my car down a street that I've used for years without any problems. It turns out that it has now been designated for use by pedestrians and cyclists only during the hours of 8.30-9.15am and 3-3.45pm. Naturally the new sign explaining all this is not very easy to see and looks like it applies to a different street. That'll be £160 for each penalty notice to Southwark Council – discounted to £80 each if paid within two weeks. Of course I've appealed but I'm not holding out much hope. After all, this is a racket we're all involved in. I fear that, even if LTNs are no more, green zealots will concoct new and ever more imaginative methods of rinsing drivers. Mike Graham presents Morning Glory every weekday from 6am-10am on Talk Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
I've just received two penalty notices. This war on motorists has gone far enough
If you drive around this country on a regular basis you might be forgiven for thinking that everyone in power hates cars. Whether they're running national government or local councils, it appears that if you sit behind the wheel of a vehicle you are seen as the enemy. How else to explain some of the baffling measures introduced in recent years to make driving more expensive, more difficult and a lot less fun than it used to be? Smart motorways, clean air zones, bus lanes, speed bumps, emergency gates, cycle superhighways and low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) have all conspired to frustrate and annoy motorists going about their daily business. But finally, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel – even if the tunnel has just acquired a new toll charge that it never used to have. For the past five years LTNs have been a battleground between local residents and campaigners all over the country. They grew up mainly as a result of Covid restrictions being put in place by over-zealous local burghers who saw restriction of travel as a silver bullet to reduce pollution. And campaigners who saw an opportunity to get people out of their cars and into – as they call it – more active forms of travel. The trouble with LTNs, though, is that they are rarely well through out. Closing off entire streets to through traffic just pushes the congestion somewhere else – usually onto main artery roads that they become permanent traffic jams pumping yet more fumes into the air. In some parts of London the battle for parking spaces, delivery van access and exemptions for disabled badge holders were painted as culture war issues pitting Net Zero zealots against entire communities who were objecting to their imposition. Now it looks as though the law has finally stepped in to bring some common sense to the discussion. Just last week the High Court ruled that Lambeth Council in South London was wrong to ignore local objections to its latest scheme. Not only that, it acted unlawfully. The council could now be forced to do away with the bollards, the planters and all the other paraphernalia that has been the bane of people's everyday lives in West Dulwich. To add insult to injury the judge in the case, Mr Justice Smith, criticised the council for ignoring a report from campaigners at the West Dulwich Action Group who highlighted the unintended consequences of the LTN. Lambeth Council say they are still measuring what the impact of the judgment will be before they decide what to do next. But residents are angry that they spent public money defending a lawsuit that they knew they couldn't win. For their part the council claims LTNs are helping them to combat climate change. Just how they're doing that is anyone's guess. The flip side of all those fines of course, in addition to effectively being an extra tax on road users in the borough, is that some businesses have been hurt, impacting the local economy. There have been similar objections raised elsewhere in the country. Business owners in Oxford have been complaining about restrictions which force people to drive ridiculously circuitous routes to get from one part of the city to another. And in Manchester the clean air zone has once again been put on ice while the pros and cons of installing it are weighed up. Taxi drivers in Newcastle are refusing to enter some parts of the city because of the cost of charges and fines. One thing is for certain, if victorious LTN challenges become the norm there will be many councils looking for more ways to raise revenue. In some areas they are installing ever more sophisticated traffic cameras that aim to catch people using their phones while driving. In the part of London where I live they've come up with an ingenious wheeze. Simply change the usage of the road at specific times. Last weekend I awoke to not one, but two penalty charge notices, for driving my car down a street that I've used for years without any problems. It turns out that it has now been designated for use by pedestrians and cyclists only during the hours of 8.30-9.15am and 3-3.45pm. Naturally the new sign explaining all this is not very easy to see and looks like it applies to a different street. That'll be £160 for each penalty notice to Southwark Council – discounted to £80 each if paid within two weeks. Of course I've appealed but I'm not holding out much hope. After all, this is a racket we're all involved in. I fear that, even if LTNs are no more, green zealots will concoct new and ever more imaginative methods of rinsing drivers.
