Latest news with #LowTrafficNeighbourhoods
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Just ignore all the myths about low traffic neighbourhoods: they're popular, effective and here to stay
Hope springs eternal among those who have long opposed low-traffic-neighbourhood (LTN) anti-pollution schemes after last week's high court ruling that Lambeth council in south London had acted unlawfully in ignoring local objections to its latest scheme. 'Low traffic neighbourhoods could be scrapped as campaigners score high court victory – 'sends a clear signal'', was the line on GB News. 'Low-traffic neighbourhoods could be axed,' said the Express. But here's the news: they won't and it didn't. Furthermore, to use this specific case to throw out LTNs would be a backwards step for public health, the economy and the climate. So what should happen next? Councils should hold their nerve and trust the data, which shows that LTNs are worth doing, and worth doing well. Whatever side of the fence you're on, it's important to look at the wider body of evidence. And the evidence shows LTNs cut traffic, clean the air and enable more walking and cycling. Crucially, despite the tone of the debates you might be hearing, LTNs are effective and popular, and they become more popular over time. The evidence also shows that some councils could do more to have meaningful dialogue with residents, especially those who face the biggest barriers to their mobility. Perhaps the biggest criticism of LTNs is that they cause additional chaos and pollution by pushing traffic elsewhere, but this is not what the data shows. The picture derived from studies of actual LTNs in London and around the country is much more nuanced: sometimes traffic in the wider area falls, sometimes it rises, and sometimes it stays the same. Rishi Sunak's own review of LTNs – conducted at the height of hysteria around the so-called war on the motorist – concluded that effects on boundary roads, whether positive or negative, were minimal. In my experience, the substance of the backlash against LTNs is often not so much about the LTN itself, but a reaction against unreliable or nonexistent buses, high fares, poor accessibility or overcrowded roads – all of which need fixing, and none of which would be solved by scrapping LTNs. Priority bus lanes, wider pavements, clean air zones, 20mph limits, cycle lanes and phasing out diesel – as well as meaningful engagement with residents – could all help address these concerns, stop traffic or pollution from rising, and give people more choice in how they get around. When a new LTN comes in, it's easy to point to it and call it the root cause of congestion, but congestion is nothing new. London has been the most congested city in Europe for years. As obvious as it sounds, the root cause of congestion is that there are simply too many cars on the road. It's worth revisiting why modernising our transport network is so important, and why LTNs can help. Air pollution contributes to thousands of premature deaths in our capital each year and aggravates numerous health conditions, with driving being the single biggest cause. The climate crisis demands at least a 20% reduction in traffic, with people across the political spectrum supporting urgent action. Meanwhile, fewer than 40% of Londoners are walking or cycling for 20 minutes or more each day. Roughly five people die on UK roads every single day, but this fact rarely makes the news. More than 20,000 people are injured on London's roads each year, causing untold emotional and physical trauma, and adding to pressures on the NHS and emergency services. The climate charity I work for, Possible, recently estimated that these collisions cost London £1.2bn annually. And with cars getting bigger and heavier, and SUVs becoming the norm, the danger to people walking and cycling grows. Indeed, cutting traffic is extremely popular. Pretty much everyone agrees there should be less traffic – not least to make life easier for those who rely on a vehicle. The evidence suggests that LTNs are a relatively quick and affordable way to do it. At the heart of all this is a simple fact: the only way to cut traffic – something we all agree would be a good thing – is for some of us to drive a bit less. There is no other magic solution. The myths of freedom for the motorist – painted vividly in advertisements that show Land Rovers cruising through completely empty city centres – must make room for the real-life and realisable freedom of kids to breathe cleaner air in their playgrounds, people to walk and cycle with less risk, and for all of us to get to where we need to go without being stuck in congestion. Low-traffic neighbourhoods are often framed as inhibiting our ability to get around. But for many of us, they make getting around more possible and desirable – making space for community, for walking, for cycling. No tool or policy is perfect: there are always lessons to learn. But that can't be an excuse for giving up and doing nothing. The status quo isn't working, and in the bigger picture, the evidence base for the effectiveness and popularity of low-traffic neighbourhoods continues to grow. One court case won't put the brakes on that. Izzy Romilly is sustainable transport campaign manager at climate charity Possible
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Business owner sells last restaurant, blaming LTNs
A business owner said he has sold his last business after facing losses of about £1m over the past three years due to the impact of traffic filters. Clinton Pugh, father of Hollywood actress Florence Pugh, has owned a number of cafes and restaurants in Oxford, including The Lemon Tree and Café Coco. He said he decided to sell his remaining business, Kazbar on Cowley Road, earlier this year due to financial pressures, saying the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) was the "main nail in the coffin". Oxfordshire County Council said LTNs and traffic filters were designed to make residential streets better for walkers and cyclists, and their impact would be "carefully monitored". Mr Pugh, who first opened a business in the city 40 years ago, said the sale of Kazbar marked "the end of an era". He said wider economic factors had impacted trade but described the LTNs as the "main nail in the coffin". "Kazbar's turnover has dropped significantly over the last three years since the LTNs have gone in. So had Café Coco," he said. "I've lost about £1m, if not more." Mr Pugh said the traffic measures had also made it more difficult to attract staff. "If they don't live locally then they don't want to pay for taxis to come in," he said. A council spokesperson said the measures were designed to reduce traffic, speed up bus travel and make walking and cycling safer. "When the traffic filters trial starts after Network Rail reopens Botley Road, expected to be August 2026, it will be a new way to reduce traffic and make it easier to get around the city," they said. The filters will only apply to cars, all other vehicles will be automatically exempt, said the spokesperson, adding there were "17 types of free permit for car drivers to travel through the filters". They said the trial will be carefully monitored and evaluated, including an analysis of footfall and spending data in the city centre, as well as Cowley Road, Cowley centre, Headington, Jericho and Summertown. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Owner blames traffic filters for restaurant sale Oxfordshire County Council
BBC News
10-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Oxford business owner blames LTNs for sale of last restaurant
A business owner said he has sold his last business after facing losses of about £1m over the past three years due to the impact of traffic Pugh, father of Hollywood actress Florence Pugh, has owned a number of cafes and restaurants in Oxford, including The Lemon Tree and Café said he decided to sell his remaining business, Kazbar on Cowley Road, earlier this year due to financial pressures, saying the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) was the "main nail in the coffin".Oxfordshire County Council said LTNs and traffic filters were designed to make residential streets better for walkers and cyclists, and their impact would be "carefully monitored". Mr Pugh, who first opened a business in the city 40 years ago, said the sale of Kazbar marked "the end of an era".He said wider economic factors had impacted trade but described the LTNs as the "main nail in the coffin"."Kazbar's turnover has dropped significantly over the last three years since the LTNs have gone in. So had Café Coco," he said. "I've lost about £1m, if not more."Mr Pugh said the traffic measures had also made it more difficult to attract staff."If they don't live locally then they don't want to pay for taxis to come in," he said. A council spokesperson said the measures were designed to reduce traffic, speed up bus travel and make walking and cycling safer."When the traffic filters trial starts after Network Rail reopens Botley Road, expected to be August 2026, it will be a new way to reduce traffic and make it easier to get around the city," they filters will only apply to cars, all other vehicles will be automatically exempt, said the spokesperson, adding there were "17 types of free permit for car drivers to travel through the filters".They said the trial will be carefully monitored and evaluated, including an analysis of footfall and spending data in the city centre, as well as Cowley Road, Cowley centre, Headington, Jericho and Summertown. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Florence Pugh's father sells his last remaining Oxford cafe saying city's low traffic neighbourhoods have left him facing £1m losses
Florence Pugh 's father has sold his last remaining cafe in Oxford after saying low traffic neighbourhoods have left him facing losses of up to £1million. Clinton Pugh, 66, blamed the sale of bar and restaurant Kazbar on Cowley Road on the controversial traffic calming scheme, which he previously branded a war on motorists. It comes just months after he sold nearby Café Coco, where Florence used to work as a teenager, after nearly 32 years of ownership. Mr Pugh has previously spoken out against the 'hated' LTN scheme - first introduced Oxford in 2021 - which prevents cars from taking shortcuts down residential streets. He said the eco-measures were the 'final nail in the coffin' for his businesses and decimated his takings. Mr Pugh told the Oxford Mail: 'I sold the Kazbar on the day Donald Trump announced his tariffs, and I was so relieved to get out of it. 'It would be bad enough just to have what's happened with the Bank of England and the pressures of inflation. '[Then] you throw in the restrictions on the Cowley Road. The LTNs were the main nail in the coffin.' He said Kazbar's turnover had dropped 'significantly' over the past three years - and he had lost up to £1million since the LTNs were put in. Low Traffic Neighbourhood work by blocking cars from going down residential streets Mr Pugh said business in Oxford, where more 'anti-car' measures such as bus gates are planned, has become 'untenable'. The businessman previously claimed that things had got so bad he had to take a handout from his Oscar-nominated daughter Florence to pay his staff's wages. Mr Pugh has owned three businesses in Oxford - Cafe Coco, KazBar and Cafe Tarifa and worked on the Cowley Road for more than three decades. Spanish-inspired Cafe Tarifa was repossessed in 2023. His four children - Don't Worry Darling actress Florence, Game of Thrones actor Toby Sebastian actress and voice coach Arabella Gibbins and actress Rafaela Pugh - all cut their teeth in Clinton's restaurants, helping out for pocket money and going to school in the local area. Over the last 31 years, the restaurant owner encouraged the gentrification and diversity of Oxford's Cowley Road. Controversial LTNs were installed in the Cowley area in May 2022 - with Oxfordshire County Council facing rabid opposition to them ever since. Mr Pugh has previously spoken out against the 'hated' Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme - introduced in the city in 2021 The LTNs aim to reduce through traffic and make neighbourhoods quieter and became more common during the pandemic, when councils wanted to encourage cycling as a form of commuting. But over the last two years, bollards have been ripped from the ground, run over and set on fire, while the wooden planters cutting off streets graffitied and their plants pulled out. And while Clinton says that 'no one is against a greener, cleaner Oxford', he said the plans had cut off vital trade to the area. When the initiative was first introduced, Clinton said takings at Café Coco, which opened in 1992 and has counted Radiohead and Supergrass as patrons, fell 25 per cent as footfall plummeted. And he was later threatened with a £2,500 fine after he erected a banner on the side of the cafe criticising the scheme. In November 2020, Clinton pasted a billboard protesting the initiative on the side of Cafe Coco - finishing it with the rallying call: 'So much for democracy! Help us fight this arrogance.' Mr Pugh has also been at war with Oxford City Council who ordered him to take down a huge sign outside his restaurant calling out the 'ill thought-out traffic experiment' But Oxford City Council demanded the sign be taken down - only for Clinton to paste another banner on top, emblazoned with 'Censored!', 'So much for democracy!' and '1984? It comes as LTNS were last month described as an 'experiment' that has 'not worked' after being rolled out in Oxford. Oxfordshire County Council is now run by a Liberal Democrat and Green alliance, after no party gained enough seats for a majority in the 2021 election. Councillor Eddie Reeves, leader of the local Conservative group, said that under a Tory administration they would have not continued with the scheme. He said: 'The Lib Dems and Greens came into office to much fanfare in 2021 and put the rocket boosters behind LTNs. 'The LTN experiment has not worked […] they have left a lot of people feeling as though the council do not listen to them.' Liberal Democrat leader of Oxfordshire County Council Liz Leffman said: 'The LTNs were introduced by the Conservatives long before we became the administration. 'There are people living in low traffic neighbourhoods who really like the fact that their children can safely walk and cycle to school, and that seems to me to be absolutely a priority.'
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How do local communities feel about low-traffic neighbourhoods?
A number of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) have been implemented despite being opposed by nearly nine in 10 local residents, it has been reported. According to research by the Times, out of 90 LTNs looked at, neighbours objected in 87% of cases where polling was conducted - but the majority of councils went ahead with them. LTNs involve preventing vehicles from using some residential streets and were deployed by many councils during COVID lockdowns in 2020 to make it easier for people to walk and cycle. They seek to reduce traffic congestion and pollution within a residential area, by making driving less convenient and simultaneously making walking and cycling more appealing. Many are in London. In 2022, extensive polling by Ipsos indicated that the public was split in its support, with 50% of respondents in favour of LTNs. However, when asked to consider any potential personal financial impact, support dropped, with just 22% in support. A separate report commissioned by the government in March 2024 found a mixed response, too: "While the review of existing evidence showed that LTN schemes have had several positive impacts, this remains largely unrecognised by stakeholders or residents (in the four scheme areas where survey research was conducted)," it said, adding: "Low awareness of the schemes among residents and uncertainty about benefits, does not automatically translate into widespread opposition." Such concerns have been raised about the impact of LTNs on drivers. This week, campaigners presented a 1,700-signature petition to Enfield Council, in north London, calling for their blocked roads to be reopened. 'When the North Circular grinds to a halt as it so often does,' he said, 'we're trapped. We can't get in, we can't get out.' It's an issue which stirs deep anger… to the extent that the High Court recently heard Lambeth Council workers in south London were offered a wellbeing day after 'hostility and anger' at a meeting over a proposed LTN scheme left them 'in tears'. Yahoo News has curated recent reports around this issue from its media partners. Read below - or click the headlines to skip ahead > Anti-LTN campaign groups join forces to lobby for law change > Ambulances charged for entering clean-air zone > Edinburgh councillors call for extension of low traffic zone > Motorists who breach LTNs to be fined an extra £30 > Disinformation about LTNs 'soared after Government U-turn' > Council workers left 'in tears' after LTN meeting > Mum's LTN plea after three-year-old 'sent flying' in hit-and-run > Islington residents divided over first low-traffic scheme Campaign groups opposing Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have joined forces for the first time to lobby the Government to change the law. Fifteen community groups have sent a letter to the transport secretary Heidi Alexander arguing that LTN schemes often 'do not have the backing of local people'. Read the full story on the Standard Police cars, fire engines and ambulances responding to life-and-death 999 calls are to be charged for entering a Somerset low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN). From March, emergency services which do not meet the local council's emission standards will have to pay to enter the city. Read the full story on the Telegraph Edinburgh councillors have voted to make a controversial low traffic area in a city neighbourhood permanent. For over a year, roads and junctions in Leith have been temporarily closed or modified as part of a pilot scheme to reduce traffic and make the area more walkable. Now, councillors have voted in a committee to make the modifications permanent, with a few minor changes to address concerns raised from the scheme. Read the full story on Edinburgh Live Motorists who breach low traffic neighbourhood rules or park illegally in London will be fined an extra £30 after Sadiq Khan approved 'unjustifiable' price increases. The move, which will be brought in from April, is expected to add hundreds of millions of pounds to council coffers. Higher-level offences – such as parking on double yellow lines – will now attract fines of £160 in the city's so-called 'Band A' areas like Croydon, Hackney and Islington. This is up from £130. Read more from the Telegraph Disinformation and conspiracy theories about low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) soared last year amid Government opposition to the schemes, according to a study. Cross-party think tank Demos, which conducted the analysis, claimed there is a 'worsening democratic chasm between councils and communities'. LTNs, which involve preventing vehicles from using some residential streets, were deployed by many councils during coronavirus lockdowns in 2020 in a bid to make it easier for people to walk and cycle. Opponents raised concerns about the impact on drivers. The Demos report found the proportion of the most popular social media posts on LTNs it classed as disinformation rose from 5% in 2022 to 28% in 2023. Read the full story from PA Media Lambeth Council workers were offered a wellbeing day after 'hostility and anger' at a meeting over a proposed Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) scheme left them 'in tears', the High Court has heard. The West Dulwich Action Group (WDAG) is bringing a legal challenge and has asked the court to stop the council's plans for an LTN after it made a decision to proceed in July last year. A lawyer for Lambeth Council said the claim is 'without foundation' and should be dismissed. Read the full story on MyLondon (12 Feb) A mother whose three-year-old was 'sent flying' by a hit-and-run driver has called on councillors to restart an apparently stalled plan to introduce a low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme. Jess Smith's son Fionn 'miraculously' only suffered minor injuries when he was struck by a white Nissan Qashqai car being driven at about 20mph in Balmoral Road, Manor Park, on February 11. Read the full story on the Standard (19 Feb) Islington's first 'liveable neighbourhood' scheme has divided residents as work begins to improve pedestrian access in Newington Green. Supporters of reducing cars driving through the area say it will make it both more pleasant and much safer for young families. However, it has also faced backlash over claims it will only push more traffic onto surrounding roads which are already congested due to existing schemes in Hackney, Dalston and Stoke Newington. Read the full story on MyLondon (16 Feb)
