• DISABILITY Action in Islington (DAII) is a charity that supports disabled people to access services and challenge exclusion and discrimination both within Islington and nationally.

In our Tribune letter of July 16, (The low traffic neighbourhood trials are not working) we stressed that severely affected disabled people could not wait up to 18 months for the LTN trials to be made inclusive, and that suffering could not be allowed to continue.

The “people-friendly streets” team agreed to meet us and affected disabled residents in mid-September when we made our concerns clear.

These concerns include increased social isolation, mental health deterioration, missed hospital and therapy appointments with therapists / families getting stuck in increased traffic on boundary roads, reduced independence, journeys that are less viable because of incontinence, journeys that are already painful because of disability being worse as they last longer.

Late last week Islington Council announced (on Twitter) that it would vote this week on changes to “make it easier for Blue Badge holders to travel in Islington”.

While on the face of it this looks like at long last a compassionate act by a caring council you don’t have to dig very deep to see that it quite definitely is not.

The proposed exemption won’t apply to any LTN, low traffic neighbourhood, trials that have been running for a year, which is almost all of them except Highbury.

As for Highbury, the council will not bring in the exemption until it brings in its next LTN trial, which will no doubt rule Highbury out too.

The proposed adjustment will not therefore be applied to ease the suffering of Islington’s disabled residents in any of the existing (18 month) LTN trials. This is appalling news for our disabled residents that are suffering.

If Islington Council refuses to adjust its seven existing trials after 12 months, then why on Earth did it not acknowledge the very visible suffering of its disabled residents months ago, and bring disability exemption into any of the trials then?

The council admits (in its updated Residents Impact Assessment) that “Blue Badge holders with access to their own vehicle are likely to represent a very small minority of residents in LTNs.”

So how compassionate is the proposed exemption in terms of any new LTNs? The answer to that, unfortunately, is hardly at all.

Islington Council itself describes the proposed exemption as “limited”.

It comprises passage for a single vehicle, in a single LTN; there is no exemption for carers, therapists, health workers, taxi drivers and other providers of support to disabled people in their own homes; and exceptional circumstance dispensation will be required to pass through other Islington LTNs’ camera filters with unspecified qualifying criteria (more form-filling, more uncertainty).

If this begrudging proposed exemption is anything to go by then disability in Islington remains firmly bottom of the council’s agenda.

For an unacceptably large number of disabled residents it’s a step backwards into an era that we had thought, in today’s more caring and inclusive society, we had long left behind.

In the leader of the council’s October email to Labour Party members, Councillor Kaya Comer-Schwartz criticises the Tories for being “nasty and shameful” in their approach to social security support.

This could equally well be levelled at this Labour council for its approach to disabled people’s transport needs and those who support them.

The council’s proposed future and very limited Blue Badge exemption is not a silver bullet for the suffering that these LTN trials are inflicting right now on many of Islington’s disabled residents.

If the road restrictions are to continue, and even increase, then any exemption needs to be much wider, it needs to include non-Blue Badge holding disabled residents and those who support them, and it must happen with immediate effect.

None of this is rocket science, so why doesn’t Islington Council see this?

EDWARD CRIPWELL
Advice, Case & Project Worker
For and on behalf of Disability Action in Islington