A cityscape of surveillance devices & load of bollards

• THE consultation on the Amwell “people-friendly streets trial” ends on January 31.

It is obvious from the questionnaire and the way the two Zoom events were handled that Islington Council doesn’t want to know what residents think of the scheme, they merely want a few choice statistics to justify making the scheme permanent, irrespective of residents’ views.

Surely the questionnaire should ask whether we want the scheme to continue as it is, continue with modifications, or be scrapped?

That it doesn’t speaks volumes. Why are many of us so hostile to the scheme?

Tiny Lloyd Square has been turned into four dead ends, which now bristle with 69 extra pieces of street clutter (35 signs on nine extra black poles and on lamp-posts, nine electronic devices on two surveillance masts, six bollards and eight large bicycles painted on the streets), thoroughly disfiguring the otherwise intact Georgian streetscape.

Has the borough conservation officer really signed off on this, as we were told at the Zoom meeting?

All this visual pollution is only necessary because the scheme distorts the natural circulation around the area to such a mind-boggling extent.

Why are we having to endure this blight? Are we supposed to be grateful that traffic on Lloyd Baker Street has pretty well dried up?

Well, I for one am not! The traffic volume past my door was light, even in the rush hour, and certainly not a problem.

As a cyclist, pedestrian, and motorist, I know that all three coexisted perfectly well in this neighbourhood for at least the past 20 years.

And what do we now have in its place? A cityscape dominated by surveillance devices and bollards, devoid of movement, all life drained out of it. The scheme should be renamed Amwell Soulless Streets.

This is not a rant against LTNs, low traffic neighbourhoods, in general; but against this one specific scheme which is unnecessary and badly designed.

It was conceived and implemented in understandable haste at the start of the pandemic. The council should now have the grace and humility to take it out.

PAUL THORNTON
Lloyd Square, WC1