‘Traffic management is a complex issue and requires very specialist expertise’

• NEIL Christie states in his letter (The transition from LTNs to LNs is a significant milestone, March 9) that LTNs, low traffic neighbourhoods, have been “transformative”.

— Traffic on boundary roads has fallen by 3 per cent he says. This is clearly not the case.

The lived experience of those who live or work in Barnsbury, Laycock and Highbury and Canonbury is that there is gridlock and congestion on our main roads, particularly at critical points during the day.

The majority of drivers are not making unnecessary journeys. Vehicles are making deliveries to shops, businesses and residents.

Other drivers rely on their vehicles to make a living or need cars for mobility reasons – the old, disabled and the ill, for example.

— Many bus journeys are significantly longer because of traffic which is at a standstill, a problem compounded by roads which have been narrowed by the introduction of cycle lanes.

Is this transformative?

— Cycling levels have increased overall in Islington from 21.1 per cent in 2019 to 22.7 per cent in November 2022.

Hardly transformative.

— Many cycle lanes are underused for much of the day and evening with cyclists preferring to use residential streets for the journey.

And an increase in cycling on unsuitable roads can make those roads less safe for all. Over a seven-day period in September 2021 more than 2,070 pedal / cycle vehicles were recorded on the relatively narrow, almost entirely residential, Thornhill Road, a road in Barnsbury which runs parallel to the cycleway on Liverpool Road.

It is difficult to reconcile numbers like this with Neil Christie’s assertion that LTNs allow children to play more safely in the streets.

— And what about the children who are unlucky to live on or near our main roads?

Not for them the privilege of playing in the street; more likely they are breathing in fumes from the congestion on our main roads.

— Local businesses are not thriving in LTNs as Neil Christie states. Many have seen increased delivery times and a fall in sales.

— The majority of small shops / and independent businesses in Barnsbury, Laycock and Cally areas are extremely worried about the effects of any further road filters, particularly those which would effectively curtail east-west traffic across Barnsbury and Laycock.

— LTNs are not safe havens, as Neil Christie asserts.

The number of crimes in Highbury, in an area which encompasses much of the LTN, in January 2023 was 112.

The latest figures for January 2024 are 170. And many women who live in the quiet areas of LTNs feel less safe, particularly at night, because of the absence of traffic.

— And are the LTNs transformative in terms of air pollution?

No. In all of the eight reports on LTNs, produced by Islington Council, there is a bland statement such as that in the recent St Mary’s LTN report, “these results suggest that the scheme itself has not had a significant impact on air quality to date”.

So, are LTNs transformative? No, at least, not in a good way.

Do they create more inequalities in our society? Yes.

Islington Council must review its policy towards LTNs.

Traffic management is a complex issue and requires very specialist expertise. The impacts of road filters / closures need to be considered, not just in a local context but on how they will affect the rest of Islington and surrounding boroughs.

GILLIAN COLLIN, N1