Lambeth's Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
ONE YEAR ON
Sofia Sheakh used to run a street-food business in Lambeth until doctors diagnosed her with a rare debilitating lung problem in 2016. Last year she contracted the COVID-19 virus. An ambulance rushed her to King's College Hospital, and within two days of arriving Sheakh was in a coma.
Sheakh in 2008 before contracting her debilitating lung disease.
But coronavirus failed to end Sheakh's story. She awoke from the coma. Her recovery astonished the doctors, although the illness left her with 75% nerve damage. She now requires five different types of painkiller, including morphine patches.
While in hospital she received a text with an image from her daughter. The image showed a sign at the end of her road stating entry would be barred from 13 June.
The image Sofia Sheakh received from her daughter
The image Sofia Sheakh received from her daughter
Sheakh's house was to become part of the Railton Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN). And she would be at the very edge of it.
Credit: Lambeth Council
Credit: Lambeth Council
What is an LTN?
An LTN is a designated residential area with special measures designed to reduce traffic flowing through it.
LTNs have existed in different forms since the 70s. 18 of London's boroughs now have them after local councils introduced a new wave in May last year. More are expected.
The councils' justification for their swift introduction was the requirement for more walking space during the pandemic. But Transport for London (TfL), which oversees the project, hopes the temporary schemes imposed now will become permanent as part of its wider strategy to make London the most walkable city in the world.
The principal intention of an LTN is to encourage walking, cycling, and public transport use. This in turn is hoped to reduce road accidents, decrease pollution, and improve people's mental and physical health.
The vision is idyllic. The reception - vitriolic.
Residents within and without LTNs have condemned the new schemes. Others have risen up in their defence fracturing deep rifts within once peaceful communities.
The conflict lingers a year since their initial introduction, and rumours of death threats have circulated.
Sheakh will take Lambeth Council to court over the matter on 10 June, supported by OneLambeth - a group set up by people who oppose LTNs in the borough. Other similar groups exist across London.
Scroll on to find out why.
Do LTNs restrict too much access?
An LTN's primary function is to restrict access. That can be a problem when you're disabled.
Sheakh used to use a wheelchair to cover short distances. But since suffering nerve damage, she finds it too painful and has no option but to use the car. Even using the car for long periods causes her serious pain.
"I have to plan everything because everything hurts."
And since Lambeth Council introduced the LTN in Sheakh's area, she claims traffic on the surrounding roads has experienced a massive increase. She's not alone. In fact, this is the common factor among all those South West Londoner (SWL) spoke to who oppose LTNs.
“It’s like kicking a can," Sheakh said. "It’s kicked the can down the road. It hasn’t reduced the traffic, it’s just pushed it away."
Sheakh told SWL the time it takes for her to travel to her GP has risen from six to 22 minutes since the introduction of the Railton LTN. She claimed one trip into Brixton took her 37 minutes to travel less than a mile.
The approximate route of Sofia Sheakh's one mile, 37-minute trip. Credit: Google Maps
The approximate route of Sofia Sheakh's one mile, 37-minute trip. Credit: Google Maps
“Disabled people were not considered," Sheakh said. "They’ve discriminated against me."
LTNs provided the opportunity for Sarah Berry to practise her new hobby.
LTNs provided the opportunity for Sarah Berry to practise her new hobby.
Having less vehicles on the street reduced Berry's anxiety about cycling.
Having less vehicles on the street reduced Berry's anxiety about cycling.
Are LTNs creating safer streets?
The measures causing Sheakh's discomfort are, however, the same measures reducing traffic within the LTNs. And for some, this has initiated a positive change in their lives.
Sarah Berry is a charity worker from Australia who moved to London five years ago. She describes herself as anxious and risk-averse.
Cycling was never an option among the long distances of suburban Sydney, so Berry never learnt. That changed when she moved to the UK.
She said: “I was working in central London and loads of my colleagues would cycle into work every day and look really happy and healthy."
Berry enrolled on Cycle Confident - a scheme providing free and low-cost cycling training in London. But only a short time after realised she was too scared to ride on London's busy roads.
The advent of Railton LTN - which Sheakh lives next to - provided an opportunity.
"If I can’t learn to ride a bike under these conditions, then I’m never going to," she said.
"Having this on my doorstep meant that I was able to build up the confidence to tackle more challenging situations.”
A few days before our interview Berry had completed her longest cycle ride - 20 miles. Although she still experiences a few wobbles, it's become a new hobby of hers.
“A year or two years ago, if you had said to me that soon everyone would be encouraged to cycle around London, I would have told you that it was crazy and that it would never work and no one will ever do it and I will never do it," she said.
"But then I saw first-hand how when you actually make an effort into making places pleasant and nice to get around by bike and by walking, that can really change someone’s mind.”
GP Dr Rachel Bower extolls the health benefits of LTNs like those Berry experiences.
She said the positive behaviour changes when short journeys become inconvenient by car are huge - both for cardiovascular and mental health.
“If people are making healthy choices – walking and cycling, then they shouldn’t be suffering secondary pollution from others."
Some people have, however, noticed new risks to pedestrians and cyclists.
Artist Hannah Williamson from West Norwood was walking through the Streatham Hill LTN when she saw several vehicles mounting the pavement to avoid planters blocking the road.
Hannah Williams saw multiple cars mounting the pavement to avoid LTN planters
Hannah Williams saw multiple cars mounting the pavement to avoid LTN planters
“You just don’t know, there could be a pedestrian coming round the corner," she said. "You can’t actually see around the corner.”
Cameras are set up to catch such incidents, but Hannah worried they might have been facing the wrong direction.
Tahlee Johnson told SWL about her anxiety of another kind of danger: walking home late at night.
Johnson, a shoe designer who has lived in Brixton for 25 years, was the victim of a violent mugging a few years ago.
Listen to Johnson talk about her mugging experience
After the mugging Johnson stopped walking home late at night. Instead, she would take taxis to drop her at her door and wait until she was inside.
But Johnson claimed her local LTN has caused havoc for cab drivers who struggle to find their way to her house without amassing a large bill - a bill she struggles to afford since being made unemployed during the pandemic. On five occasions taxi drivers have resorted to leaving Johnson at the edge of the LTN, forcing her to walk home in the dark.
Johnson's situation may improve as sat-nav providers update software to include LTN measures, meaning taxi drivers can find their way again.
But Lambeth Cyclists chairman Colin Penning believes the accuracy of sat-navs themselves is a main cause of the problem.
Before sat-navs existed, Penning claimed drivers from outside the area would remain on the main roads as they lacked the knowledge of shortcuts through residential streets. But once free services like Google Maps and Waze advanced, the system would suggest alternative routes down side-streets, even if it only reduced travel time by a few seconds.
Residential roads, Penning said, were not built with this type of traffic in mind.
“I don’t think I’ve ever come across anybody who says they’re the magic bullet that solves all the problems," he said.
"They don’t. But cutting people using back roads, side roads, those shortcuts between main roads going past people’s houses - where kids are going to and from school - goes a long way to making these streets safer.”
Where does the traffic go?
But does reduced access to back roads not move the traffic onto other roads like Sheakh claimed?
OneLambeth representative Ben Rymer lives on one of those other roads beside the Oval LTN. His road belongs to TfL's red route network, carrying up to 30% of the city's traffic. He believes traffic has increased since the introduction of the Oval LTN.
Ben Rymer explains some of the problems he experiences as a result of the Oval LTN
Ben Rymer explains some of the problems he experiences as a result of the Oval LTN
“We on main roads are seen as necessary collateral damage," he said.
"We are seen as the price of progress. And I cannot accept that."
Rymer's beliefs are not unfounded. In fact, Lambeth Council's monitoring data discovered a 10% increase in cars on roads outside the Oval LTN in December 2020 compared to baseline figures. This is compounded by a 13% increase in goods vehicles.
Image credit: Nigel Cox
A disincentive to driving
Some say the traffic on boundary roads will decrease once people realise driving is no longer the quickest or easiest method of travel.
Berry added that people living on red routes should be concerned about the baseline level of traffic on their roads anyway, which LTNs only make worse by a small margin.
“People are going to need cars. But when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. When you have a car, there’s a real incentive to do every journey in the car."
A Lambeth Council spokesperson told SWL a similar sentiment: “The only way to reduce congestion on main roads is to reduce the number of trips taken by motor vehicles."
It is yet unclear how councils will address the challenges described by Sheakh, Williamson, Johnson, and Rymer. But despite the virulent protest, almost all those mentioned in this article said they were open to the scheme provided changes were made.
“What we need to see is a really cohesive, comprehensive transport policy that takes all of the relevant stakeholder groups seriously, takes the health situation seriously, and takes seriously some of the difficult challenges about the need to reduce vehicles on our roads, while also enabling mobility for everyone.”
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