Latest news with #LTN
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Controversial Kings Heath low traffic scheme set for expansion
Birmingham City Council is pushing ahead with the second phase of a divisive Kings Heath traffic scheme, with new 20mph speed limits and one-way streets suburb's Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) has previously split opinion, with restrictions banning through traffic on certain streets proving particularly council said it wanted to reduce traffic in residential neighbourhoods to try to make it safer for people to walk and it also acknowledged the scheme had been "controversial" and there were "strong feelings both in favour and against." So far, so-called modal filters have been introduced to the west of Kings Heath High Street and a section of York Road has been proposed second phase of the scheme would deliver the "planned full expansion" to the east of the High Street and into south would also mitigate the displacement of traffic caused by the "previous partial implementation of the scheme".According to a council report, the second phase would be split into four packages:Revision and consolidation of the temporary measures located mostly to the west of the High measures to the east of the High Street including new modal filters, one-way streets, and traffic calming.20mph speed limit across the project area, including all boundary roads, and traffic calming measures along Coldbath of a bus gate on Addison Road and reinstatement of the right turn from Vicarage Road onto A435 Alcester Road. 'Strong opinions' At a meeting on Tuesday, cabinet members at the Labour-run council agreed to approve the full business case for the first two MacDonald, an NHS doctor appointed road safety commissioner by West Midlands mayor Richard Parker, welcomed the leader at Birmingham City Council, Sharon Thompson added "I think everybody is broadly in agreement that to do nothing is not an option."But the Birmingham Conservative Group said it would scrap the LTN in Kings Heath if it took control of the council, saying the scheme made it harder for many residents to visit high street cabinet member for transport, Majid Mahmood, acknowledged the project had "sparked strong opinions", adding that was why the council had "held seven rounds of consultation, listened to feedback and crucially made changes to the design." This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour council ‘using socialist sledgehammer' to impose LTN
A Labour-run council has been accused of using a 'socialist sledgehammer' to establish a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) without proper consultation. The Kennington Triangle LTN, planned to cover streets in both Lambeth and Southwark, has provoked anger from local representatives who say Lambeth council has not informed them of the decision. The dispute comes months after a judge ruled that the same council must scrap an LTN in West Dulwich, saying Lambeth council had ignored residents' 'legitimate concerns' about the zone. Metropolitan Tabernacle Baptist Church said the Kennington scheme would 'adversely affect' its long-standing work in support of elderly worshippers. The church also runs weekly youth activities for more than 400 children, bringing many of them door-to-door using minibuses. It said the incoming traffic restrictions would block vehicle access, and reduce the street parking needed for staff and their accessible transport. Neighbouring area 'ignored' by council Graham Neale, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Southwark council, said as many as 1,500 homes could be affected on the Southwark side, including two 40-floor tower blocks, but no effort was made to consult elected officials or service providers in the area. 'They've used this sort of socialist sledgehammer. It's just the wrong way of going about it,' he said. He described the process as 'a dog's breakfast', claiming Lambeth officials failed to name any Southwark contacts when asked, and had only engaged with stakeholders inside their own borough. 'They consulted Lambeth libraries, schools, community groups, but nobody in Southwark,' he said. 'Residents have seen Lambeth flyers and are bombarding me with questions.' The LTN has been championed by Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, Lambeth council's deputy leader, who was recently urged to resign after a judge ruled she had misled the High Court over the separate traffic scheme in West Dulwich. Mr Justice Smith ruled in May that the council had ignored residents' 'legitimate concerns' about the zone. It is the first time that an LTN, a zone where traffic is restricted in residential roads and fines are issued to unauthorised vehicles that enter the area, has been shut down by the courts. Campaigners from the West Dulwich Action Group said it set 'a powerful precedent' for residents locked in similar battles nationwide. A Southwark council spokesman said: 'We have worked closely with Lambeth Council to ensure residents in both boroughs have the opportunity to share their views. We will carefully review all responses once this initial engagement exercise is complete and will make a decision once we have weighed up all of the facts, ensuring it reflects the needs and concerns of local residents.' A Lambeth council spokesman said: 'We are committed to consulting with as many stakeholders as possible on these proposals to make local streets safer, cut harmful air pollution and improve people's health. 'That consultation is ongoing, we have distributed the engagement materials to people who live in Southwark, within the scheme area and beyond, to ensure people have a way of participating and provide their feedback. The proposals are still at formative stage and people have until July 7 to respond.''
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
New cycle lane among planned traffic changes in Exeter
A new cycle lane is among proposed changes with the aim of reducing traffic in Exeter to be discussed on Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (Hatoc) has put together plans to close off one road to motor vehicles and change waiting and parking restrictions in the Newtown area of the city.A contraflow cycle lane would be installed on Clifton Hill with a budget of just over £450,000 for all of the proposed project is the first major scheme put forward by the committee following widespread public anger and a subsequent policy U-turn over the low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) in the Heavitree area of Exeter. Foot and cycle The decision will be made by Hatoc - made up of councillors from Exeter City Council and Devon County Council - which is due to meet at County Hall at 14:00 political make-up of the committee has changed since the May elections at Devon County Council and now includes four Reform UK councillors, as well as four Labour members, three Greens, one Liberal Democrat and one plans recommend closing off part of Russell Street to cars and changing parking and waiting restrictions on Belmont Road, Clifton Hill, Clifton Street and Heavitree to a report prepared ahead of the meeting, Devon County Council wants "50% of all local trips to be undertaken by foot and by cycle in Exeter by 2030".
Evening Standard
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Evening Standard
Sadiq Khan is allowing criminals to rampage through London
London's diminished civic environment and public space is a consequence of exactly this kind of high-handed administration. The chronically absent Mayor, safe in his third term, exudes a basic contempt for ordinary Londoners. It's all your fault: your fault for waving your phone about while wearing headphones. Your fault for trying to do a good deed on the Tube. Your fault for taking the occasional trip by car and accidentally ramming into an LTN flower box dumped in the middle of the road. It's not the fault of the man paid £160,000 to take responsibility for the city where daily life should be possible without the need to take up hostile environment training fit for the SAS.
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
London's low-traffic zones ‘cut deaths and injuries by more than a third'
Low-traffic neighbourhoodscut road injuries and deaths by more than a third within their boundaries with no apparent negative safety effect on nearby roads, a study has shown. Based on comparisons of more than a decade of road casualty statistics between 113 London LTNs and other roads that did not have them, the report's authors found that LTNs were associated with a 35% reduction in all injuries, rising to 37% for deaths and serious injuries. In absolute terms, the study concluded, this meant that creating the LTNs prevented more than 600 road injuries that would have otherwise taken place, including 100 involving death or serious injury. On boundary roads, those just outside the LTNs, there was no observable change in the number of casualties. LTNs aim to make smaller residential streets more friendly for walking, wheeling and cycling by using filters to stop through-traffic by motor vehicles. While they have been used in various forms in the UK for decades and are ubiquitous in many European cities, an expansion in their use from 2020 led to pushback from some politicians and parts of the media. A common criticism has been that LTNs simply displace traffic to boundary roads, which become more dangerous. However, studies have found a negligible impact on traffic levels and the new paper, published in Injury Prevention, a spin-off from the British Medical Journal, indicates this is the same for deaths and injuries. Of the 113 LTNs studied, 27 were subsequently taken out. According to analysis by the authors, from Westminster University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, if the LTNs had not been removed there would have been 116 fewer injuries overall, 16 of which involved death or serious injuries. Across the LTNs as a whole, the authors said, an estimated 613 injuries were prevented, including 100 deaths or serious injuries. The study involved analysing road casualties from 2012 to 2024 on all so-called road links – a sections of road between two junctions – in London, some of which became part of or a boundary to an LTN, while others did not were treated as a control group. This allowed the authors to observe changes within LTNs and also compare them with changes on other road links, to take account of separate, longer-term changes in injury rates, including lower traffic levels during Covid. One phenomenon that was apparent between schemes was that the safety benefits of being within an LTN in outer London seemed notably less than those in inner London. Some outer London schemes have been shown as less successful in reducing overall traffic. Even with such caveats, the results across a relatively large-scale study give supporters of LTNs the ability to argue that they provably prevent injuries and deaths, as has also been shown to be the case for 20mph speed limits in Wales. Although modal filters, the technical name for LTNs, have been repeatedly shown to be effective when implemented properly, negative media coverage of the wave of schemes introduced from 2020 prompted a political backlash, with Rishi Sunak's government pledging to clamp down on LTNs. Sunak's government even commissioned a report on LTNs in the apparent hope it would conclude they did not work. When the report found instead they were mainly popular and effective, it was initially buried. Dr Jamie Furlong from Westminster University's Active Travel Academy, who led the new study, said its findings should reassure policymakers about the schemes. He said: 'LTNs have led to considerable reductions in road traffic injuries inside their boundaries for all road users – from pedestrians and cyclists to drivers. At the same time, concerns about nearby main roads becoming more dangerous aren't supported by the evidence.'
