‘The number of people who actually own a car is irrelevant when it comes to managing traffic and reducing pollution’

• AGAIN we are told that only 26 per cent of Islington residents own or have “access to a vehicle”, (People-friendly streets, yes, but remove dangerous parking too, July 10).

In fact, according to the council’s own draft transport strategy (2019) 31 per cent of households in Islington owned a vehicle in 2016. This figure apparently represents only private vehicles registered at residential addresses.

However ownership was not distributed evenly. In Highbury East, one of the more affluent areas, 56 per cent of households owned a car. In Bunhill, on the edge of the city the figure was 26 per cent.

It is never made clear what is meant by “access to a vehicle”. Anyone is free to take a taxi or a mini-cab whenever they wish. Elderly and disabled people often rely on these to get about especially at present to avoid using public transport.

People may belong to a car club or hire a vehicle occasionally by other means. As a car owner myself, I often give lifts to other people. How does the council factor these into their calculations?

The number of people who actually own a car is irrelevant when it comes to managing traffic and reducing pollution.

The real problem for residents is that outside of restricted hours anyone can park, not just in a designated parking space but on single yellow lines anywhere in the borough.

First and foremost, the council needs to put in more extended double yellow lines especially at junctions. There are dozens of places where vehicles can park within a few feet of a junction and are a hazard.

Secondly, when residents’ parking was introduced, each area was able to chose the restricted hours they thought appropriate. In my neighbourhood these are from 10am to 2pm Monday to Friday only.

This means that anyone can park here from 2pm until 10am the following day during the week and from 2pm on Friday until 10am on Monday. There are often commercial vehicles parked here over the weekend.

Residents who use their cars during the day don’t need to get a permit, and people who live in adjacent areas with longer hours can park in this area in the evenings and at the weekend without needing a permit.

We don’t have match-day parking restrictions although we are in within walking distance of Emirates stadium so that on match days the whole area is converted into a parking lot.

There is surely a good case for making parking restrictions more uniform throughout the borough, especially as regards match day parking.

The policy of closing roads, forcing residents and other vehicles needing access to residential areas to make detours along other residential roads and already overcrowded main roads is less than helpful.

Whole swathes of our main through-roads are now given over to cycle lanes, forcing all other traffic including buses into a single lane creating endless tailbacks and doubling journey times. Motorists would not rat-run if the direct route was quicker.

Rather than rushing through ill-considered policies which favour a few residents at the expense of everyone else, I hope the council will take time to look at the bigger picture and devise a strategy which is fair to everyone whatever method of transport they find most convenient.

MONICA HALL,
N19