High Court rejects challenge to Lambeth’s Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
A High Court has dismissed claims that Lambeth Council’s decision to introduce Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) was unlawful after a challenge by local residents.
OneLambeth, an apolitical group of residents has challenged the 'low traffic neighbourhoods', saying: “We came together to share our deep concerns over the way LTNs have been implemented in our Borough, particularly the undemocratic way they were imposed and the lack of meaningful consultation with those most affected by them, the apparent conflicts of interest, damage to businesses and traders, and their impact on families and schools on main roads.“
According to OneLambeth, in May 2020, Lambeth Council began closing residential roads to create Low Traffic Neighbourhoods without consulting residents. The organisation believes that the LTNs now divide communities throughout the borough, discriminate against the elderly and disabled, hamper emergency services, increase congestion, damage businesses and heap pollution on schools and residents near main roads.
A legal challenge saw one person stand for all residents who oppose the LTNs. This person was Miss Sofia Sheikh who lives on the edge of the Railton LTN. A covid survivor with a debilitating lung condition, Sofia’s access to hospital and the ability of carers and London ambulance service to reach her have been severely impacted by the introduction of LTNs, OneLambeth had said.
But despite these claims, a High Court Judge rejected the challenge made against the council’s LTNs. Following the announcement, Cllr Claire Holland, Leader of Lambeth Council, said: “We welcome the judge’s decisive ruling today, dismissing the claims on all counts.
“Lambeth has been clear from the start that we had to act swiftly and urgently in the face of the huge challenges that the coronavirus pandemic posed to our borough, and in particular the immediate risk of it making existing inequalities on our streets and in our neighbourhoods worse.
“The council has set out from the outset that implementing measures to make our streets safer and healthier was fully in line with statutory guidance and national policy objectives. We rejected any suggestion that these schemes are discriminatory in any way or were installed illegally.
“We’re glad that the judgement is clear on that, and particularly that considerations of equality were accounted for at the earliest stage of the LTN. The judgement also reinforces our approach of continuing to consider those objectives using data collected throughout the experimental period, ensuring that the impacts on those most at-risk remains front and centre of our approach.
“The start of the Covid-19 pandemic saw capacity on public transport reduced by up to 80 per cent to accommodate social distancing. With around 60 per cent of households in Lambeth not having access to a car, and with access typically lower for women, Black and disabled residents in particular, we needed to make our streets safer to enable them to walk, cycle, scoot or wheel safely in their local area and access local facilities during the pandemic.
“The council’s response was an emergency transport plan, produced last summer for the benefit of all Lambeth’s residents but primarily focused at tackling the acute inequalities that we envisaged the pandemic would exacerbate in our borough. This plan included pavement widening, temporary walking and cycling infrastructure and low traffic neighbourhoods.
“The council is carrying out regular, detailed, open and transparent monitoring of the programme and has already taken on board feedback from local people to make improvements where necessary.
“We will now redouble our efforts to involve all of our communities in a conversation about how we rebalance our streets so that they are more equal, safer and put people first.”
