Charlton residents feel the East Greenwich LTN has just pushed traffic into their neighbourhood
A final decision on whether two Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in Greenwich will become permanent will be made next month. Greenwich Council launched the West and East Neighbourhood Management Trial Scheme last November, aiming to reduce traffic and improve air quality in two areas of Greenwich by issuing fines to motorists who drive through certain areas at peak times.
The council was moving to make the two LTNs permanent after finding that traffic reduced by 66 per cent in West Greenwich and 52 per cent in East Greenwich during the times the restrictions were in operation. However, two councillors have called in the decision and the LTN scheme will be discussed at a meeting of the council’s Overview & Scrutiny Call-in Sub-Committee on November 6.
Conservative Cllr Charlie Davis wants to scrap the scheme altogether, citing public backlash as a key factor. He also pointed to the Labour-controlled council’s own analysis of the trial, criticising the increase of traffic in roads just outside the LTNs. He was critical that the trial had not resulted in a significant change in air quality.
The air quality study did find the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air had decreased in several locations as a result of the scheme. However, the study classed these changes as “negligible” with concentrations not changing more than 4 per cent, and in most cases barely changing at all. The study concluded that the LTN scheme did not have a significant effect on air quality in Greenwich.
Cllr Davis said: “The council’s own report on this scheme shows it has had a negligible impact on air quality and that traffic has increased on almost all boundary roads. This hasn’t reduced car usage, it has just pushed it elsewhere.
“The only reason to go ahead with making this scheme permanent six months early is because of Labour’s ideological obsession with inconveniencing residents who drive and the eye-popping amount of money they are currently making from doing it. The vast majority of residents do not want this scheme and Labour need to start listening to the people who put them in the town hall in the first place.”
The “eye-popping” amount of cash Cllr Davis referred to was the total value of fines issued as a result of the LTN restrictions between January and August this year, which was revealed to be £3.8million at a Full Council meeting last month. Greenwich Council said all this money is ringfenced by law and must be used to fund “transport and highways improvements that benefit the whole borough” including contributing towards London’s Freedom Pass scheme.
Independent Cllr Lakshan Saldin also called in the decision, seconded by Green Cllr Tamasin Rhymes. Although the pair support the notion of LTNs and their aim to reduce traffic and improve safety and air quality, they believe the West and East Neighbourhood Management Trial Scheme has its problems.
Cllr Saldin said: “While LTNs are a key tool, they do not exist in isolation and must be considered in terms of their individual merits, the extent to which they displace problems to other areas, and the mitigation of these issues. We do not believe that at this point the data and mitigations presented support the recommended decision to make the scheme permanent.”
Charlton residents ‘absolutely furious’
One of the areas that has seemingly suffered since the introduction of these LTNs is Charlton. West Charlton Residents Association (WCRA) Chair Eleanor Restall said Charlton residents were “absolutely furious” the LTNs might be made permanent as motorists avoiding the restricted areas were now using a specific rat run route through a suburban area and past a school.
Eleanor said: “Labour [at Greenwich Council] claims it’s creating a safer, healthier and greener place to live, but Charlton residents see only social and environmental injustice. We feel very strongly it’s not right to make this permanent now as big problems remain.”
Greenwich Council’s own analysis identified that traffic on Victoria Way, Eastcombe Avenue and Marlborough Lane had increased significantly during the peak hours the LTNs were in operation. Morning traffic on Victoria Way and Eastcombe Avenue both grew by about a half, while on Marlborough Lane it had increased by a staggering 70 per cent.
The council found that motorists had established an alternative route to avoid LTN restrictions via these roads. The WCRA expected this rat run to emerge all along, even warning councillors of it at a transport meeting back in December 2023 with a key concern being that Fossdene Primary School is on this route.
The council said it could implement targeted mitigation actions such as improved pedestrian crossings or traffic calming measures to cope with the increased traffic on Charlton roads. Eleanor and the WCRA fear that if new measures are implemented, such as imposing another LTN in Charlton, this would just move the problem again and potentially increase traffic problems in Woolwich.
Tim Waters, the Conservative candidate in the Blackheath Westcombe ward, has been conducting a door-to-door survey in East Greenwich to find out how residents feel about the LTNs. He reported that around 60 per cent of the people he had spoken to so far were against the scheme.
Tim said: “The biggest division of opinion was along the fault line of age. The area comprises a long steep incline from Greenwich up to Blackheath and the majority of older residents commented that they did not cycle, the buses were unreliable and they were losing the desire or ability to walk those kinds of distances.
“Even when I encountered residents who lived on the through-roads and therefore benefitted the most from rush hour restrictions, there was an acknowledgement of the problems of displacing that traffic into Charlton.”
He personally condemned the plans and said: “What is obvious is that the spurious claims that these measures make traffic evaporate are absolute nonsense. Boundary roads have suffered terribly, especially in Charlton, and thousands of people have been severely inconvenienced in order to justify a very small benefit for a very few people for just a few hours each weekday, outside of which, normality resumes.”
Greenwich Council was approached for further comment.
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