Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
LTN..is it mad? Or is that me?
New LTN started today. I was working at the beginning of Langham Road, and had a small job on Cornwall Road just off St Anne's. So instead of a two minute drive, I had to drive all the way along West Green Road to Duckett's Common, turn down Green Lanes and thence all the way along St Anne's.There was a long queue of traffic and it took twenty minutes. That's 20 minutes of wasted time, and 20minutes of additional fumes along the route. So the traffic is merely displaced to major roads along with additional pollution for the residents there. Not sure what the benefit is...
Tags for Forum Posts: low traffic neighbourhoods, traffic
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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HoL has house rules that don't allow that (but admins don't read eveything). You're right about that quote. Its since been removed.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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I agree Hugh. I'm a white man in lycra, albeit no longer in my 30s. I cycle, I walk, I take the bus and Tube, and I also drive (though far less now as it's not worth it for my mainly relatively short journeys). I live in a LTN on a road that was previously a heavily trafficked cut-through. It is immeasurably better now.
I also see the heavy traffic on some of the boundary roads at certain times of the day. I understand not everyone can cycle or walk. I also believe many simply won't cycle or walk when they could but old habits die hard. Their perceptions of their own safety and ability are probably misplaced but are real nevertheless. I understand the issues with deliveries and the concerns of small businesses. And I've been on the bus from West Green Road to Turnpike Lane in the morning and had to get off early (blame the phasing of the traffic lights at Ducketts Common for that one).
There are also loads of road works at present, which won't last forever. And now we have the new LTN north of West Green Rd. I really do hope the traffic will settle down in the weeks and months that follow so these LTNs can achieve their laudable aims. Inevitably they will need tweaking (and perhaps slightly wider eligibility for exemptions). But the divisiveness and cliched generalisations expressed on this forum, and others, are unwelcome and unhelpful.
We all know the issues. We all know we need to cut down on traffic for so many reasons. Those who own a car, having spent a lot to buy and maintain it, understandably want to use it and not sit in traffic.
The problems of LTNs affect all of us including LTN supporters but it's a balancing act and they feel the sacrifice is worth it. For others, the problems are much greater and they are unwilling or unable to make the same sacrifice. I get that. But let's keep the politics out of it, or rather people can decide at the next election. And by the way, I am not a particularly political person, having voted for all of the three main parties in my time. I know the council has no effective opposition and can do what it likes. But I will put that to one side when judging the success, or otherwise, of our LTNs after the trial period. I just hope others will do the same.
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Andrew — Even if the aims of LTNs are good, it’s the application (especially in Haringey) that’s at fault. Bounds Green and Ladder residents would be among the first to say that neighbouring LTNs (Enfield and the Gardens) merely shunted traffic into their streets instead; we all know that GL is already a nightmare of slow-moving traffic and congestion that the council has failed ro deal with; public transport is under attack; there’s no electrification policy across the borough, let alone the whole GLA area; residents on so-called “boundary roads” have been sidelined.
The Walthamstow Village scheme, much-lauded by so many LTN advocates, cost £20 million for road closures and pedestrianisation in a very small area, which shows the scale of investment needed to fully alter even a limited number of streets for overall public benefit. The government has decreed the end of petrol-powered vehicles, but there’s no national policy to make this work and no commitment by either central government or the GLA to create even a London-wide policy, let alone proper funding.
Even if LTNs are conceived for the right reasons, Haringey’s geography works against them, but the council simply hasn’t got to grips with it. A “one size fits all” philosophy isn’t the right solution here.
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Well Phil, to answer your original question, your assessment is correct. The LTN experiment has failed.
People often genuinely do need cars and need to use them. Time is a resource more available to the middle classes. Cleaners, tradesmen and women, emergency services employees, factory and retail workers need to be out earning and then getting home again to collect and feed children and eek out some enjoyment from their precious limited leisure time (or often get to their second job).
If we are to reduce pollution we need: cheaper more frequent, safer and expanded public transport (potentially impossible after covid; subsidised basic electric vehicles and problem free charging points; lower housing demand to allow people to afford to live closer to work (see earlier point about immigration); phased low cost conversions from petrol and deisel to electric power; active enforcement against drivers of excessively polluting and poorly maintained vehicles; real and dedicated cycle highways across London; AND no LTNs because they make polution worse.
(Comment edited by site admin to remove parts the contravene house rules)
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