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The trouble with a lot of these things, and I'm seeing it in my area too, is that they are piecemeal schemes with a lot of sorting out the traffic in one area but without huge consideration re: where it's going and how it impacts the other areas nearby.
Without a joined up approach you have little cells trying to get the best for their area and the problem just being shunted off elsewhere. You will get some traffic disappearing but probably not all of the extra traffic.
There's the extra issue that a lot of these schemes are pushed by active resident's associations, etc and these are often in wealthier areas with a higher number of homeowners.
There's something akin to that going on near me at the moment with plans in Crouch End to minimise traffic that will likely push traffic further east to the less wealthy areas in the borough.
Without proper, large scale, joined up plans covering whole boroughs it's likely that this will continue to be an issue. However, those plans are likely to take a long, long time to happen (particularly in boroughs like Haringey where there is minimal political will to do anything) whereas small scale plans can sometimes be pushed through fairly quickly. It's a dilemma.
aggi-
Without proper, large scale, joined up plans covering whole boroughs it's likely that this will continue to be an issue. However, those plans are likely to take a long, long time to happen (particularly in boroughs like Haringey where there is minimal political will to do anything) whereas small scale plans can sometimes be pushed through fairly quickly. It's a dilemma.
You've got to start somewhere ... The alternative is doing nothing. If we want things to improve then things will have to get worse in the short term. An initial piecemeal arrangement will eventually be a broad implementation.
Between Hackney and Islington an area from Hackney fields to Angel, and hopefully Cally Rd soon enough will be covered
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I grew up in Crouch End and my parents still live there so I have some interest in the scheme but haven't been following if very closely. And yes, my parents are active in their resident's association and live in a posh bit although when they moved in 50 years ago it was described as 'Highgate Borders' by estate agents.
I'm not sure the proposed changes will push things east a lot as the railway line has a big impact. Apparently 90-something percent of traffic is through traffic so the impact of closing residential streets isn't going to make a huge difference to that.
My parents are against the scheme. They mostly walk to the shops but use their car for things like visits to their GP more than a mile away which will involve a very round about route for them if one of the proposed road closures goes in.
I'd rather some kind of road pricing scheme where all motor vehicles are GPS tracked. Rat run through residential streets costs you 10x more than going down the main road. No peanlty for going down those streets if you park up for 3 hours. Seems unlikely to be politically acceptable anytime soon though.
Backstop
jellybaby
I get the general idea about LTNs, however I'm relaying the perceived response to a specific scheme and this
very much appears not to have happened.
Of course not all local people are on facebook groups or twitter or write to their councillors/MPs, but there is a surge of dissatisfaction and what I notice is that it's a range of people - not just those who complain about no longer being able to drive to Lewisham town centre in 5 minutes, but also those who say they no longer feel safe to walk or cycle on their own road with their children, and those who say air pollution has made living on their road miserable, and that at least my perception prior to this was that as an area it was fairly pro-walking and cycling, pro local amenities etc and whether it's the actual scheme which is a problem or whether it's terrible PR/communication, it seems to have backfired.
I don't think the clean air campaigners misunderstand the intention, they are responding to short-term increases in slow-moving vehicular traffic on residential main roads. Perhaps there is no less painful alternative, but those that live on the affected roads reporting worsening asthma etc have not been persuaded that this will, in the long term, get better.
@amey is doing a valiant job of being a vocal supporter. An adjacent neighbourhood to the first cell is trying to implement their own LTN as quickly as possible in response to increased vehicular traffic routing around the first - which is at least leading to discussion. Let's hope some of that traffic evaporation happens soon.
There is some concern about what happens if/when the school run starts again - this would be a great target for some good PR.