‘The council’s ‘people-friendly streets’ needs to be renamed ‘able-bodied people-friendly streets”

• AS a single parent and full-time carer to a 12-year-old son with severe medical, emotional and physical needs, my ability to drive freely and time efficiently around Islington by disability adapted car is critical to my son’s quality of life and independence.

Since the introduction of the LTNs in Highbury, this has been taken away.

As a direct result of the LTNs I now have to drive longer distances spending longer time in traffic which has been forced on to fewer roads.

In real terms this means I can fit less into my day, my son is now spending longer in the car, and I am paying support carers extra time to sit with us in traffic from my son’s hard-fought-for personal budget; not to mention the cost of the car which is all of his mobility benefit but is becoming more and more useless to us.

Since implementation of the LTNs, his school bus journey has increased from 20 minutes to an hour. This is very difficult for him to tolerate and comprehend and, as he has incontinence issues, this length of journey now means he arrives at his destination wet.

Life is physically challenging for my son. He tires quickly and cannot walk very far, or alone. He is very sensitive to sudden or unexpected noise and can become anxious; which can lead to challenging behaviours that put him and those nearby at risk.

Travelling by adapted car is not just quicker, it is physically and emotionally less challenging, safer, and allows us to access exercise that is adapted to his specific needs. The LTN diversions are jeopardising this.

A previously 10-to-15-minute journey, is now a minimum 30 to 40 minutes. This is not only disruptive and upsetting for him but compromises maintaining his physical fitness.

So, these “minor road layout changes” and “small additional journey times”, to which our lives are being subjected, are neither minor nor small.

Islington Council has imposed something which means I have to make major adjustments to already complicated and critical routines.

For my son and me, our car is our lifeline to the outside world, his health, his wellbeing, and his future independence.

I can’t wait until May 2022 for these schemes to be adapted. The council’s “people-friendly streets” needs to be renamed “able-bodied people-friendly streets”.

I want my independence and freedom back. These LTNs have taken away my freedom of movement, our home has been effectively ghettoised and our independence has been compromised.

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