Further Thoughts on the West Ham LTN

When we posted the article on the ‘Blade-Runner’ and the LTN  in West Ham, we were unaware of events in Croydon and of the article that came out in the Telegraph, the day after.

It seems that Croydon Council have instituted a number of new LTNs. Like Newham they have justified these on the basis of improving the health of local residents.

Again, like Newham, a number of local residents are not convinced. Unlike Newham, the Croydon residents (under the umbrella of the campaign group, Open Our Roads) have taken the council to court. In papers presented to the court they allege that the new LTNs are not primarily there to improve public health, rather their principal aim is to raise money for a cash-strapped council.

This must sound eerily familiar to anyone who has followed the Newham saga.

Residents are seeking to quash the new LTNs by way of judicial review, (which is probably less risky than engaging in criminal damage). This is normally a horrendously expensive exercise, but they are being represented pro bono by a barrister. In short according to the Telegraph, their case is that the council ““unlawfully” used low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) as a taxation on motorists to “balance the books” by raising millions of pounds from fines”.

This is precisely the concerns raised by residents in Newham about the new LTN in West Ham.

In Croydon, the Conservative council seems to have reneged on an election pledge to remove LTNs because they now relied upon the income from fines to balance the books.

The Telegraph states the following, “Explaining how local authorities have no legal powers to use traffic measures to “raise revenue” it says that to do so is “tantamount to taxation”.” Interestingly, that is exactly the point we have made.

Are there any Labour councillors in Newham with the guts to enquire how much the council expects to make in fines from the new LTN and find out what private discussions occurred before the proposals came to cabinet? If not, we will have to rely upon the Independents to enquire. The Greens are part of the new authoritarian movement which clearly knows what is good for you and you will simply have to put up with it, so there is little that we can expect from them on this matter.

The Croydon schemes are intended “to make Croydon a cleaner, safer and healthier borough”.

Coincidentally, the Newham schemes are introduced with the intention of “creating a cleaner and healthier borough”. Its almost as if they were writing from the same script.