‘Save Our Lungs’ campaigners in Liverpool Road

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TRAFFIC campaigners have filed complaints with Islington Council and Transport for London after discovering that none of the promised monitoring has taken place following changes to Highbury Corner roundabout.

Residents in Liverpool Road say the number of cars using their road as a “bypass” has increased since TfLondon closed the roundabout in 2019, resulting in increased health and safety risks.

Having called for action for more than a year, campaigners are now dismayed to find that neither Islington Council nor TfL have done anything to assess the impact of the changes to the roundabout.

Jo Michaelides, who has led the Save Lungs on Liverpool Road campaign, said: “This is the trouble, because there are two organisations involved. One says the other will do it, and that means no one has looked at the impact on local streets.”

She added: “People said in the original consultations ‘this is going to have huge issues for our road’, and they reassured people that they would monitor and manage it, and now they haven’t done anything.”

A consultation report published as part of the decision to make changes to Highbury Corner roundabout read: “TfL and Islington Council will actively monitor and manage traffic conditions on the main roads and surrounding local streets following the delivery of the scheme.

“The appropriate measures to manage the effects of traffic reassignment as a result of the changes will be considered.”

In response to a Freedom of Information request, however, Islington Council said they had not been monitoring traffic, and that the request should be directed to TfL as they had been responsible for delivering the roundabout scheme in 2019.

“However, as of November 2023, TfL said it had “not carried out any monitoring reports since it was completed”.

Ms Michaelides said: “There’s this feeling that this just seems so wrong, when so much money has been spent and reassur­ances made, and now nothing has been done.

“The data is around if they wanted to spend the money getting it,” she added. “I just think they don’t want to get it because it will prove what everyone was saying before was true.”

The campaigners have now lodged a complaint with both Islington Council and TfL regarding the lack of monitoring.

The complaint to TfL read: “Those who live, work or study in Liverpool Road have suffered injustice because of TfL’s failure to fulfil its undertaking to monitor the consequences of the Highbury Corner redesign, and to consider mitigating actions.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “Schemes such as the transformation of Highbury Corner play a vital role in making the road network safer.

“There are a number of factors that could have impacted the levels of traffic on Liverpool Road since the Highbury Corner scheme was introduced, which includes the implementation of changes to local roads in and around Highbury Corner.

“We have undertaken many traffic reviews over the last few years of the operation of the junction at Highbury Corner and have worked to carefully manage the traffic flow through the junction. We’ll continue to monitor roads in the area to ensure they are operating safely and effectively for everyone.”

Islington’s environment chief Councillor Rowena Champion said: “In recent years we’ve worked directly with the local community to create greener, healthier streets, by introducing seven low-traffic neighbourhoods, more than 35 School Streets and new cycleways.

“The benefits of this are clear – air quality has improved overall within and on roads immediately surrounding all our low-traffic neighbourhoods.”