LTNs ‘unfair and divisive’ says campaigner Stewart

Streets

LTNs do not ease congestion on main roads, says Stewart

Transport campaigner John Stewart has described Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) as “inherently unfair and divisive”. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Stewart argued that LTNs have an adverse impact on those living just outside the schemes. “Life inside the LTN may feel calm and peaceful, but it comes at a tremendous cost to those living outside of it,” he wrote.

Stewart notes that 8.5% of the capital’s population live on main roads while many others spend “a lot of time on them”. The poor are less likely to own a car and in big cities a disportionate number are from ethnic minorities, he wrote.

Many councils have introduced LTNs with “the best intentions” but the schemes do not ease congestion on main roads or help those living on them, according to Stewart, who is chair of the Campaign for Better Transport and the Noise Association. 

Many environmentalists, particularly cyclists, are “evangelical” in their support of LTN, he said. But they have failed to address the concerns of other environmentalists “much less the frustrations of low income of low-income residents who, after decades of silence, are mobilising in greater numbers against LTNs”.

Stewart challenges the view that when road space is cut residents will use their cars less, and LTNS result in less traffic on main roads. “In reality, though some residents will use their cars less and some of the traffic will disappear, the quantities are quite unknown.”

He describes the LTNs as an “experiment in traffic reduction whose outcome is uncertain”.

LTNs are a barrier to dealing with the problem of traffic on main roads, believes Stewart. 

He writes that “radical measures” such as road user charging are needed to tackle congestion. “But transformational change will only ever succeed with the widespread buy-in from the population,” argued Stewart. “And one of the pre-conditions for that is the policy is seen to be fair.”