1,500 people are calling on Hackney Council to reopen some of its low-traffic zones with some data suggesting they haven’t made an environmental difference
Over 1,500 people have called for the reopening of “key roads” in East London amid Labour rifts over the rollout of low traffic zones and split opinions over whether they provide any benefit.
More than 1,500 people have now signed an e-petition lambasting Hackney Council for following “urban theory and not real life” in its shutting, restricting or diverting the borough’s roads through the rollout of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) with “little input” from residents. The council claims they have provided clear benefits, but opponents point to environmental data that suggests they’ve not improved air quality.
The petition states: “We wake up, and another road is closed. We’re no longer driving through Hackney — we’re being pushed to the outskirts of our own borough.
“The result? Ten-minute journeys taking 30+ minutes, delays in reaching loved ones, essential services [..] disruption for parents, carers, elderly and disabled residents. Local businesses are struggling [and] emergency services and workers are being held back.”
The campaigners say they want cleaner air and less pollution, but argued that funnelling traffic into smaller roads was not a solution but a recipe for “chaos”.
Hackney has 19 LTNs in total, covering half of its total area and making it the London borough with the most traffic restrictions of this kind. Since the Labour-run administration first introduced these zones in 2020 to create a “cleaner, greener” borough, more than two-thirds (70%) of the borough’s roads have become part of LTNs.
The petition has crossed the threshold of 750 signatories needed for it to be debated at a full council meeting, but it also emerges as the council has published the latest data on air quality in Hackney. While harmful emissions like nitrogen oxides had steadily fallen across the borough since 2017, statistics show the rate of decline had not fallen any faster since 2020 – when LTNs were first introduced.
Pollution levels had also remained “stubborn”, especially at key junctions such as Pembury Circus, though the council expects this to fall “dramatically” once roadworks are completed. Particulate matter in the atmosphere also saw a spike in 2023 before falling back below target.
The data prompted Labour councillor Anna Lynch to voice her “lack of confidence” around LTNs, which “hadn’t really made much of a dent in air quality”. She appealed to the council to monitor data so they could know what the overall impact traffic diversions were having on people’s health.
The Homerton councillor said residents in her ward, “particularly areas with lots of social housing”, were suffering from a concentration of emissions due to “incredible” numbers of cars idling. Cllr Lynch described her own recent “dreadful experience” trying to get her relative to Homerton Hospital through an existing low traffic zone.
Her Labour colleague Ian Rathbone added that the policies had upset many residents, who overall felt the benefits were not being explained to them, and even offered officers advice on how to communicate: “You have to explain [these] again and again, every single day,” he said.
The borough’s climate chief Cllr Sarah Young said the council’s research showed LTNs were “absolutely not” providing unequal benefits in “leafier and more wealthy areas”.
She added the council was “really conscious” about tackling the influx of traffic onto main roads, which was its overarching policy. Council officer Tom Richardson added that the council’s messaging around the positives of LTNs were “not always landing with everybody”.
In April, the council acknowledged it had so far failed to sufficiently reduce persistent and stubborn air pollution and transport emissions, and that main roads were still “dominated” by motor traffic. The admission came as the council invited the public to share its input on how to “humanise” Hackney’s streets and try to “build on the rapid expansion of LTNs”.
In September, the council published the results of this survey which found the majority (57%) of residents who took part had a negative view on the low-traffic zones.
The survey findings came weeks after it emerged that Transport for London had suppressed a study which cast significant doubt on LTNs reducing car journeys as proponents have often claimed. The report did however confirm a positive correlation between low-traffic zones and cycle usage across London.
When asked for comment by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Cllr Young said: “We’ve seen clear evidence that LTNs are delivering real benefits, traffic is down by an average of 38% inside [the zones] and 2% on boundary roads, with air pollution falling at most of our monitoring sites. Residents also tell us they’re walking and cycling more.”
She added that the council was “always interested in the full range of data and research on transport schemes” and said the council would continue to listen to residents, carefully monitor data and draw on all available research to make sure the schemes “work for everyone”.
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