 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has split opinions after taking aim at low-traffic neighbourhoods across the UK, setting a goal of reducing the number of eco-friendly areas and putting drivers first. Earlier this week Number 10 ordered a review of all the schemes in the country, with Mr Sunak supporting people to 'use their cars to do all the things that matter to them'. Transport Secretary Mark Harper also announced that the government was stopping the funding of new LTNs in England. So what is a Low Traffic Neighbourhood? A low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) is an area where drivers are restricted from using roads because they have in the past been used as cut-throughs or shortcuts. It is also aimed at making London easier to walk and cycle while lowering the amount of fumes created by traffic in the area. To quote Transport for London: 'LTNs help to make streets around London easier to walk and cycle on by stopping cars, vans and other vehicles from using quiet roads as shortcuts'. They are designed to stop places where families live from being used as a rat-run for through traffic by blocking the roads off with bollards or flower beds. Roads in Stoke Newington have now been more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists since the LTN was introduced in 2021(Picture: Joel Ford) People are still able to ride a bicycle through them and walk along the road, and the road the LTN is on can be accessed in a car by residents. LTNs have been in place in the capital since the 1970s but over the last three years, dozens of new schemes have been implemented as part of the Mayor of London's plan for 80 per cent of all trips to be by active or sustainable modes by 2041. One of which was Church Street in Stoke Newington, north London – where an LTN was set up in September 2021 following a short trial – and Metro went to s){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has split opinions after taking aim at low-traffic neighbourhoods across the UK, setting a goal of reducing the number of eco-friendly areas and putting drivers first.
Earlier this week Number 10 ordered a review of all the schemes in the country, with Mr Sunak supporting people to ‘use their cars to do all the things that matter to them’.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper also announced that the government is stopping the funding of new LTNs in England.
So what is a Low Traffic Neighbourhood?