Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
“Opposing LTNs is not about culture wars”
Probably more people on HoL than at the council read The Guardian, but, if you haven’t seen it, this piece in today’s paper edition (and online) by Joseph Harker reflects on the consultation process his council did — or didn’t — go through in creating their LTNs and could be worthwhile reading for Haringey councillors when the next round of closures is proposed. His point about carrot and stick is crucial to the whole debate (though the title of this post is taken from the printed article’s heading and may not appear in the online version).
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JulieB
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Thank you for sharing. This is how I feel about Haringey Council, they only listen to the people who agree with LTNs and ignore everyone else.
This paragraph from the article is spot on for me, "Those who oppose LTNs are not rabid petrol-headed rightwingers who want to burn up the planet: they’re mostly just ordinary people trying to go about their daily business whose life has been made miserable."
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson
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There is also the misery of traffic taking a short cut through your street which has just started, as it does every weekday, at 6am as I type this.
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Permalink Reply by Guy
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6 am-ish was often when I’d be quietly delivering groceries to an elderly friend in her final years.
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Spot on! We do use our cycles or ebikes as much as health allows, but having a disability and a business to run does make us essential car users. You're villified as a car lover by the LTN lovers, and villified as a cyclist by the anti-LTN people.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Pike
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It was the Tottenham Tories, Haringhell and their rabble on Nextdoor who turned this into a culture war. A bit like this East Dulwich opposition group. The St Ann’s LTN has gone through two ward council elections now and to date anti-LTN parties and their handful of supporters (less than 100 I believe) have roundly failed. The facts and data speak for themselves - the St Ann’s LTN has liberated ordinary working class residents who don’t own cars in social housing from the blight of rat running traffic. Even in boundary roads traffic counts show some falls in traffic numbers. Outliers being the crazy junction with WGR and Langham Rd, and on that matter we should be asking why are more measures not in place and why we need to have uncoordinated roadworks every four weeks.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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YES. The lack or absence of electoral support for the fanatical anti-LTN Tottenham Tories was demonstrated in the 2023 Tottenham Hale by-election where the Conservatives campaigned against LTNs almost exclusively.
It was a de facto LTN Referendum. The untruths, hyperbole and even hysteria of the car-owner Rights Party were rewarded with a small fall in vote-share. And after months of campaigning, the local Tories energised residents with the issue so much that overall turnout … fell by 7%.
If the tiny Tottenham Tories thought this was a vote-winner, they were wrong. It was more of a bye bye election for this "issue".
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