More than 30 new low traffic neighbourhoods could be implemented in London as LTNs remain a “key part” to improve public health by encouraging active travel

The funding for more 30 new low traffic neighbourhoods, or LTNs has been made available to the boroughs by Transport for London (TfL), the local government body under Mayor Sadiq Khan reiterating its support for the schemes as a “key part” of the Healthy Streets approach.

In July last year, a poll found that Londoners were in overwhelming support of the traffic calming schemes, with a whopping 58 per cent in favour of LTNs and only 17 per cent in opposition to blocking residential streets to rat-running motorists.

The same poll also found that 60 per cent of Londoners said that more priority should be given to pedestrians, with 25 per cent also believing that private cars should be given less priority on London’s streets.

Despite this, majority of the discussion and coverage in the media surrounding LTNs has continued with negative connotations, focusing on teething issues, or dissent from what active travel campaigners have dubbed as the “vocal minority”, although there have been reports and studies pointing out increases in traffic congestion on main and boundary roads.

Now four years on since the introduction of about 120 LTNs in the capital during the Covid lockdown by the Tory government to make walking and cycling safer and more attractive to Londoners, The Standard reports that TfL has provided councils with funding “for the development of more than 30 more potential LTN schemes”.

It said LTNs “remain a key part of the Healthy Streets approach and we continue to support boroughs’ implementation of schemes with both funding and technical support”.

TfL also added that it regards LTNs as a key part of its expansion of cycle lanes, as many cycleways are on roads shared with vehicles.

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One of the latest LTNs to be approved was in in West Dulwich under the Lambeth Council. However, TfL said that that the scheme could see an increase in the number of vehicles on the boundary road – the South Circular Road – by 100 to 200 an hour, and asked the council to ensure buses are not delayed on other nearby main roads as a result of the LTN. 

Research published last year by TfL found LTNs introduced since 2020 had 50 per cent fewer road casualties and 74 per cent less traffic. The LTN funding data was revealed in TfL’s annual progress report on the Mayor’s transport strategy – Mayor Sadiq Khan’s long-term vision to have 80 per cent of journeys walked, cycled or made by public transport by 2041.

The document revealed that the so-called “modal share” of active transport had increased from 62.3 per cent in 2022 to 64.2 per cent in 2023. Some 36 per cent of daily trips in London last year were made by “private transport” – namely the car – while only 34 per cent were made by all forms of public transport.

TfL allocated £86.6m to the boroughs in 2023/24 for schemes, such as LTNs, pedestrian crossings, 20mph speed limits and more cycle and bus lanes. 

In the current 2024/25 financial year, an initial £66m was given to the boroughs for schemes including LTNs and school streets. The funding is expected to top £80.4m by the end of the year.

TfL is also reportedly not on track to meet the mayor’s target of zero road deaths or serious injuries by 2041. In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, the number of fatalities increased from 75 to 102, while there was a 10 per cent annual increase in serious injuries to 3,859.

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Earlier this month, campaigners who compile the annual “healthy streets scorecard” said TfL and borough councils were “dithering” while mayor’s active travel and road safety targets “slide ever further into the red”.

In the past, the Prime Minister and the Tory government have been accused by the charity CyclingUK of seeking to exploit divisions over LTN when a review into the traffic-calming measures was announced.

A joint group of cycling and walking campaigners, including CyclingUK, British Cycling and Sustrans, said last September that the government’s ‘Plan for Motorists’ will “rob people of choice” and force them to drive, destroying any hopes of a cycle-friendly future.

In March, it was reported that the government even tried to bury its own report on the enquiry into LTNs because it concluded that they are effective in reducing traffic and generally popular among residents.

When the report was eventually made available to the public a couple of days later, London’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner Will Norman also joined in attacking the government for continuing with its “load of angry rhetoric against LTNs, 20mph & even bus lane cameras”, despite its own research proving the benefits.

Last month, the think tank Demos, as part of a report exploring the implementation of LTNs across the UK in recent years and the “explosion” of conspiracy theories – particularly surrounding 15-minute cities – that accompanied this policy, recommended that politicians should be punished for spreading and amplifying disinformation about active travel schemes.