September 2024

The focus of this report is on the effects of racism on health and its contribution to avoidable inequalities in health between ethnic groups. It is urgent that society tackle the damage to health and wellbeing as a result of racism.  

Hackney Citizen

23 September 2024

Joe Steen

Air Quality Champions & SEJ members criticise Hackney for putting residents at risk from increased traffic.

The Times

09 September 2024

Tom Whipple

Researchers in USA found children from pollutesd areas had lower social mobility. (Yet traffic in London is rerouted onto rds w/schools & nurseries serving already disadvantaged CYP.)

The Guardian

Gwyn Topham

28 August 2024

Walking up, post- Covid cycling boom continues to fizzle away & private car still most popular. Experts warn of a "mobility divide" w/transport system stacked against the poorest.

The Times

Andrew Ellson

23 August 2024

Sensible guidance on the implementation of local transport-related schemes appears to be cast aside by the new Labour minister to the dismay of groups (like SEJ) campaigning for environmental justice and others.

The Times

John Stewart

22 August 2024

SEJ's John Stewart urges the new Transport Secretay to look beyond LTNs and instead develop a transport policy that works for all.

The Spectator

Andrew Tettenborn

23 August 2024

There are potential problems with Minister Haigh’s stance on LTNs making clear which social class benefits from recent transport policies. The losers do not have the luxury of a delivery- dependent lifestyle.

BBC Future 

The unfolding story of air pollution is one of environmental inequlaity. So, SEJ asks "Why is the Labour Party so happy to ignore it on its own doorstep?".

The Standard

Ross Lydall

August 2024

More that 1,200 residents sign petition demanding Camden and Islington councils delay proposals. Residents have highlighted concerns about the displacement of traffic onto "boundary" or more aptly, "sacrificilai roads".

The Stanard

Ross Lydall

30 July 2024

Despite LTNs causing bus delays and displacing traffic onto other residential roads, London may be set for more in the coming year.

The Guardian

Michael Sun

29 July 2024

Since this article was published south London clean air activists have noted their continuing concerns about the roads where she lived during her tiime in London.

The Guardian

Gary Fuller

26 July 2024

Study finds air pollutiion breathed in during childhood is one of the factors in adult lung health.

The Telegraph

Steve Bird

22 June 2024

TfL apologises to disability charities after collisions left out of safety report.

News from Crystal Palace

16 June 2024

Blocked-off roads: Lambeth’s 1,136 word response to petition opposing West Dulwich LTN – which News From Crystal Palace can just sum up as: Get Stuffed. Cyclists are far, far more important than anyone else.

Hansard

20 May 2024

Record of discussion in Parliament relating to LTN  petitions.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Accessibility

Summary of results of online survey to help inform debate taking place on 20 May 2024

TfL 2024

Note: The study is based on data for people with all types of disability, therefore it does not isolate or identify any bus boarding changes according to a specific disability, such as blind or partially sighted people.

The Tewlegraph

11 May 2024

New guidance to make it clear that before LTNs are implemented, councils must give "proper consideration" to the people they impact. 

One Greenwich - Equity for all

19 April 2024

Greenwich's Transport Dept has been told

to pay compensation and review its complaint procedure after it neglected to respond to a disabled resident’s concerns about LTNs.

October  2023

Deliveries and Servicing Impact Review

Summary Report

On behalf of Building Design Centre

& Angel Islington Business Improvement District

Lived Experience Video

14 April 2024

SEJ member, Ediz gives a quick tour of his local Enfield LTN devoid of cyclists, walkers, and children playing on the streets.

The Times

12 April 2024

Harry Wallop raises concerns, shared by many, about how too many studies passed off as valid research are just 'bunkum'.

SEJ Response sent to DfT

2 April 2024

SEJ has written to the Department for Transport raising serious questions about the published review of LTNs and has made a number of suggestions for a way forward.

OnLondon

31 March 2024

Paul Wheeler suggests that a programme for overall London traffic reduction should be planned & directed by the mayor, rather than by individual LAs with the chaotic outcomes they produce. A focus on public transport and targeting certain types of vehicles should be part of that strategy. 

From X

(with permission)

"I've now read all 79 pages of the govt's LTN review. There is plenty I could say about it but for now I thought I'd focus on unpicking the survey evidence that suggests LTNs are more popular than not. My analysis has found this conclusion to be a very misleading:"

From X

(with permission)

"I have been ploughing through the government's statutory guidance to councils on implementing LTNs so you don't have to."

Talk TV

19 March 2024

Cristo highlights some of the injustices of LTNs and is joined by SEJ's John Stewart who exposes the fact that Ipsos has admitted that "support" for LTNs comes from a survey of those within LTNs only.

Times Radio

17 March 2024

SEJ's Clair Battaglino tells a bit about her experience as an LTN victim, debunks the myth of their popularity & highlights their classsist negative impacts.

17 March 2024

Government Review of some of the research that exists on so-called Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

On London 

14 March 2024

Streatham Wells resident Caroline Thorpe give an honest appraisal of the now suspended LTN.

The Guardian 

13 March 2024

But 98% of Europeans live in areas WHO says have unhealthy levels of PM2.5. Click on the interactive map to learn more about levels in different places. 

The Times

10 March 2024

An honest look at some of the issues surrounding so-called parklets. Cash strapped Councils spend money on parklets which many claim simply provide focal point for ASB.

The Times

09 March 2024

Contrary to an article published in another newspaper, The Times begins a more balanced coverage of the long-awaited review of LTNs.

The Standard

08 March 2024

Lambeth Council to suspend the Streatham Wells LTN after LTN-displaced traffic caused public transport chaos. (Photo of 44 buses standing still made international news.)

The Times

25 February 2024

Andrew Ellson exposes the negative impacts on buses caused by LTN-displaced traffic.

BBC News 

12 January 2024

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is bringing a high court claim against the govenrment in a bid to establish a "right to clean air".

Brixton Blog

25 January 2024

Speakers addressed the crowd outside Lambeth Town Hall, highlighting the unfairness of policies that displace traffic from one set of residential roads to another. The negative impacts usually afflict a higher proportion of less affluent residents and People of Colour. 

January 2024

Sofia Sheikh tells the crowd about her court case and the negative impact of LTNs on her life, highlighting the increased struggle she faces as a woman with a disability.

January 2024

Long-term Lambeth resident, anti-noise and public transport campaigner, John Stewart, instills a sense of hope in the people who are standing up against the social and environmental injustice of LTNs.

January 2024

Bus driver Ediz Mevlet tells those gathered at Lambeth Town Hall about his experience of living on an LTN sacrificial roads. As Ediz say, "Believe your eyes, not the lies".

January 2024

Dr Kat Alcock was supposed to speak in the council chamber but instead she spoke to the people outside Lambeth Town Hall.

The Standard

11 December 2023

Jacob Phillips reports on the difficiulties facing bus passengers and drivers as a result of policies that benefit an extremely small group of those travelling in London.

The Times

08 December 2023

Andrew Ellson examines how transport policies such as the removal of bus lanes & LTNs are impacting journey times and reliability.

The Telegraph

25 November 2023

Alliance of independents believes it is wrong for councils to ‘deliberately cause congestion with LTNs’

The Guardian 

November 2023

An introduction to the relationship between class and climate politics that doesn't go quite far enough.

The Guardian

November 2023

The world's richest 10% (inc most of the middle classes in developed countries) are responsible for half of all global emissions. "A blanket approach by governments to shift to green lifestyles" should only be used to target the better off who have the capacity to make cuts - subsidies and support are needed for those unfairly burdened.

News From Crystal Palace

November 2023

Blocked-off Roads: New Rachel Aldred report on LTNs admits research shortcomings, many limitations, that traffic counters don't count all traffic - and why they're 'not relevant'

Air Quality News

November 2023

BBC

1 November 2023

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the government asked train operators to withdraw their proposals. The Government received 750,000 responses in a public consultation – a record response to any Government consultation.

The Sunday Telegraph

29/10/23

The Sunday Telegraph reported that pro-LTN academic Anna Goodman, who removed & stole an anti-LTN poster from her local shop, has been let off by her university. She is the author or joint author of most of the research into LTNs.

Oxford Mail

26th October 2023

One of the best known Oxfordshire councillors quits Labour Party over its transport policies, including her opposition to low traffic neighbourhoods. "Overwhelmingly working-class people and communities ... have not been consulted properly and their needs and the reality of their lives have not been factored into the creation of these policies."

The Sunday Telegraph

21st October 2023

Will Norman, Sadiq Khan's cycling czar, has been accused of distorting statistics after “cherry picking” data to triple the % increase in cyclists. Norman and Transport for London were said to have unfairly selected cycling counts to justify spending £millions on new cycling lanes despite only a modest increase in people travelling by bike.

9th October, 2023

A campaign to restore taxi access across Bank Junction and other routes where buses are permitted has been launched.

The Telegraph

30 September 2023

Cycling figures drop to pre-Covid levels despite literally hundreds of millions of pounds ploughed into boosting bike numbers and reducing car use. 

Tower Hamlets Council

21 September 2023

The Mayor of Tower Hamlets says: "While LTNs improve air quality in their immediate vicinity, they push traffic down surrounding arterial roads, typically lived on by less affluent residents...The result is division... I have decided that division is not the answer. We need to find better solutions to improve air quality that can unite our residents and businesses."

BBC News

21 September 2023

Lutfur Rahman, mayor of Tower Hamlets, said the LTNs had divided communities: "While LTNs improve air quality in their immediate vicinity, they push traffic down surrounding arterial roads, typically lived on by less affluent residents."

The Sunday Telegraph

17 September 2023

Cycling charity Sustrans handed £92m in grants to introduce LTNs. Sustrans refuses to say how many of its staff are 'embedded' in local councils. 

Our view: Sustrans' role in reviewing LTNs must be cancelled by the Department for Transport. Last month @andrewellson revealed in the Times Transport Secretary Mark Harper's shock that Sustrans was part of the review team – see previous item: Minister wants Independent Review

13 September 2023

With the Government no longer funding them, it is unclear where the money is coming from. SEJ has put in Freedom of Information Requests.

Mildmay LTN: https://islington.media/news/your-chance-to-shape-greener-healthier-more-welcoming-streets-in-mildmay?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Orlo

Barnsbury and Laycock LTN

https://www.letstalk.islington.gov.uk/barnsbury-laycock-liveable-neighbourhood/ 

13 September 2023

With the Government no longer funding them, it is unclear where the money is coming from. SEJ has put in Freedom of Information Requests.

West Greenwich LTN

https://greenwichwire.co.uk/2023/08/22/return-of-the-ltn-council-revives-plans-for-traffic-curbs-in-greenwich-and-blackheath/ 

13 September 2023

With the Government no longer funding them, it is unclear where the money is coming from. SEJ has put in Freedom of Information Requests.

Slade Gardens LTN:

https://sladegardensltn.commonplace.is/proposals/what-is-changing-in-the-area/start 

Stockwell Green LTN:

https://stockwellgardensltn.commonplace.is/

Tower Hamlets

12 September 2023

Congestion up on boundary roads . Emergency vehicles delayed. Air quality gains mainly due to ULEZ. Tower Hamlets is committed to replacing its LTNs with other measures.

The Times

4 September 2023

Excellent comment piece on LTNs by @andrewellson accompanying his story in the Times that appealing against LTN fines for unmarked police cars wastes thousands of hours of police time.

The Times

14 August 2023

Transport Secretary Mark Harper has insisted, after SEJ wrote to him, the DfT LTN review (separate from the PM's review) is independent. “It was an eyebrow-raiser” that parts of the review will be carried out by LTN advocate Rachel Aldred and her team in the Active Travel Unit of the University of Westminster and by SUSTRANS, the wealthy cycling charity. It's like marking their own homework, as Aldred’s team did much of the LTN research, and SUSTRANS advised on the implementation of many LTNs.

The Guardian 

11 Aug 2023

Dr Gary Fuller (Senior Lecturer in Air Quality Measurement at Imperial College, London) makes links between  air pollution & social class.

SEJ supports the government's review of LTNs, but that review must be:

• impartial
• independent
• local

Evening Standard

31 July 2023

"...we think that where they are not working or where there is not local support low-traffic neighbourhood projects should be looked at again."

The Telegraph

29 July 2023

Sunak has ordered the Department for Transport to carry out a review of low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), which often use cameras, giant planters and bollards to turn away cars. A source said he was “concerned by the levels of congestion outside the roads in which they are implemented”, amid fears that the measures simply displace traffic to neighbouring areas. 

Guardian

28 July 2023

It is vital we tackle the injustice that means black or mixed-race people and the poor face worst pollution.

Telegraph

1 July 2023

An academic who wrote “independent” reviews praising low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) was spotted tearing down a petition opposed to a scheme near her home. Dr Anna Goodman was caught on CCTV removing the poster from inside a shop in south London, where businesses are fighting plans to create new one-way routes and ban some turns while fining motorists who break rules. The video has fuelled claims that “impartial” academics paid by the Government to review LTNs are biased campaigners.

The Times

7  June 2023

Now it seems some LTNs don’t even benefit cyclists. The National Audit Office found that the speed at which cycling infrastructure was delivered during the pandemic led to some poorly designed schemes that may have discouraged cycling. “The report also raises questions over the environmental benefit of the schemes. In 2020, when the funding for LTNs and other schemes to encourage cycling and walking were announced, the government said the cash would help Britain to “build back greener”.

London World

31 May 2023

London Councils, a cross-party organisation that represents London’s 32 borough councils and the City of London, says the development could unlock over 110,000 new homes and 130,000 jobs across the capital.

Times Radio

Jane Garvey & Fi Glover

25 May 2023

Unscripted, unrehearsed and certainly not written by council staff. 

Clair passionately states her view  that the negative impacts of LTNs are not just "greenwashing" but a clear example of both environmental classism and environmental racism. Why is this not being acknowledged more widely? How & why are these measures so unequal in their impact being perpetrated by Labour councils?

TFL Publications

3rd November 2023

London’s bus services were the slowest they have been for almost a decade. In the 4 weeks commencing 16 September 2023, the average speed across all routes was 8.7mph. It is time to stop removing bus lanes and put those removed back before more damage to bus services is done.

Daily Mail

23 Apr 2023

SEJ Comment: Cyclist, bus driver, SEJ founding member and dedicated family man, Ediz Mevlit, explains the very serious negative impacts LTNs have had on his family and his community.

10th April 2023

Dublin City FM

25 May 2023

One of SEJ's directors, John Stewart, in discussion with Dublin City FM host Gary Kearney.  John outlines the proven flaws with LTNs, with a special focus on the way many disabled people asre losing out. 

In a wide-ranging discussion, John details not only the flaws in LTNs, but also how people are fighting back against them.

A MUST listen!

Picodi 

March 2023

Lower fares increase public transport use, provide more choice when travelling, enable more people to access jobs & especially assist those on low incomes. The extra revenue would cut subsidies. 

The Times

19 March 2023

SEJ backs cycling, so takes no pleasure in the news bike sales fell to their lowest level for 20 yrs. Recent investment in cycling may yet bear fruit but the findings re-enforce recent TfL research that LTNs are only having a limited impact on numbers cycling.

Bike sales dipped to their lowest level in 2 decades as the pandemic cycling boom turns to bust. 

The Times

22 May 2023

Department for Transport could give no evidence that low-traffic neighbourhoods reduced the number of miles driven. An official responsible for LTNs said no studies on the effect on distance travelled had been requested because “LTNs don’t exist to reduce miles driven”.

The statement has alarmed campaigners who query LTNs’ effect on the climate. Clair Battaglino, of SEJ, said: “Until we see better evidence, claims that LTNs are good for the planet are just greenwashing.”

The Times

1 May 2023

OnLondon  

9th April 2023

Dave Hill asks, "Is the capital becoming a true cycling city or has a lifestyle choice of the affluent been subsidised at others' expense?"

SEJ comment: TfL’s own research shows that the main beneficiaries of cycling policy are affluent white males in their mid-twenties to mid-forties with very limited signs of other categories of Londoners joining them.

The Telegraph

18 March 2023

Research by the Telegraph revealed that just one in 10 cyclists stop to let pedestrians cross to floating bus stops, where busy cycle lanes are wedged between the pavement and a bus stop island, with a zebra crossing bridging the two. The Telegraph survey showed just 8% of cyclists gave way to pedestrians waiting at three crossings in central London. Giving way is required by the Highway Code.

Loving Dalston

March 2023

More evidence has emerged that between 5% and 35% of cars, vans and lorries in slow-moving or stop-start traffic are not being counted. 

The Guardian

30 Dec 2022

Loving Dalston

2023

BBC news

19 Jan 2023

Guardian

27 Jan 2023

BBC

26 Jan 2023

The Guardian 

10 April 2023

"Noise pollution is undoubtedly a class issue. It must be, if only those with certain resources can buy their peace, through soundproofing or access to quieter neighbourhoods".

SEJ comment: The "dis-benefits" for those on residential roads outside LTNs include increased noise related to taffic esp. rerouted HGVs.

Loving Dalston

March 2023

Guardian

22 Jan 2023

Telegraph

25 Mar 2023

difficultparent

30 Dec 2022

OnLondon

29 Dec 2022

PNAS

27 Dec 2022

The Hammersmith Society

16 Dec 2022

EC1 Echo

9 Dec 2022

The Guardian

8 Dec 2022

Philea

30 Nov 2022

EC1 Echo

25 Nov 2022

BBC

1st November 2023

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the government had asked train operators to withdraw their proposals. The Government had received 750,000 responses from individuals and organisations in a public consultation – a record response to any Government consultation. 

Haringay Community Press

25 Nov 2022

Islington Tribune

23 Nov 2022

Sun

22 Nov 2022

inews

16 Nov 2022

LBC

15 Nov 2022

ThisIsLocalLondon

26 Oct 2022

RAC

26 Oct 2022

Fleet News

25 Oct 2022

The Times

24 Oct 2022