‘LTNs in their current state do not work for people with disabilities’

• I READ with interest David Lincoln’s letter, (Roll out LTNs borough-wide, October 22).

A community nurse, he dismisses points made in a letter of October 15 by Edward Cripwell, from Disability Action Islington, which explained very powerfully the negative impact of low traffic neighbourhoods for the disabled community in Islington.

Mr Lincoln writes from his perspective as a community nurse, and the negative impact of car traffic on cycling health care professionals.

Mr Lincoln dismisses the lived experience of hundreds of disabled people living in Islington and their carers, which Mr Cripwell represented in his letter.

It is evident that Islington Council are not interested in the lived experience of disabled people in Islington.

The last executive committee meeting of the council, where disabled people pleaded with the council to review the schemes, only to be ignored during an off-camera vote, spoke for itself.

To see, again, the lived experience of disabled people dismissed is simply soul-destroying for disabled people in Islington and those who care for them.

It is also plain to see how much cycling lobbies have influenced decisions on LTNs in Islington.

Cycle Islington’s website states: “We meet Islington Council officers almost monthly and the Executive member for Transport 4 times a year. We review major transport schemes and lobby for cycle infrastructure, secure bike parking etc.”

Does Islington meet representatives of vulnerable and disabled people as often as this?

I would conclude with the words of Richenda Walford. In her letter of March 5 this year (LTNs must work for everyone), Ms Walford wrote, as part of the group Low Traffic Islington: “LTNs that don’t work for people with disabilities don’t work for any of us”.

LTNs in their current state do not work for people with disabilities.

This needs to change and the views of the most vulnerable people in society should be sought, heard, and valued in the LTN debate at least as much as those of people lucky enough to be able to walk, cycle and take public transport daily.

ELODIE DENJEAN, N5