They aren’t purely, and even primarily, about biking, however the row about low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), – the place some residential streets are closed to via motor visitors – epitomises broader attitudes within the UK in the direction of safer, extra human-friendly streets.
And amid the day by day froth of generally completely false tales about LTNs closing roads, or slowing emergency service response instances, one factor is commonly forgotten: these schemes are usually highly regarded.
That is proven by new YouGov polling, commissioned by Greenpeace and shared with the Guardian, which discovered that the place individuals had opinions on LTNs, constructive views have been greater than 3 times extra prevalent than detrimental ones.
The nationwide polling, carried out earlier this month, discovered 26% of individuals mentioned they strongly supported LTNs, and 31% would “have a tendency” to. In distinction, 8% strongly opposed them, and the identical quantity tended to. That left greater than 1 / 4 of people that both didn’t know, or have been impartial.
Arguably much more notable was one other ingredient of the ballot, the place individuals got an inventory of seven attainable adjustments to native transport, and requested to choose the 2 they discovered most necessary.
Whereas the most well-liked alternative was fewer potholes, picked as one of many choices by 48% of individuals, 21% wished extra cycle routes, and 34% opted for lowered highway visitors. Simply 8% supported further roads being constructed.
What does all this imply? It means – and I totally settle for that is straightforward for me to say, by no means having stood for elected workplace in my life – that MPs and councillors who welcomed strikes to spice up strolling and biking amid the primary peak of coronavirus ought to possibly see the indignant cries of people that oppose LTNs in context.
The most recent group to blink within the face of opposition led by vocal and infrequently largely internet-based campaigns was Lewisham council in south-east London, which final week wound again a number of parts of a neighborhood LTN scheme.
Extra typically, it could possibly really feel a good distance from the transient interval when ministers have been being lined up at No 10 press conferences to hail strolling and biking because the options to not simply lowered public transport capability, however extra broadly to assist ameliorate the consequences of future pandemics via higher public well being.
This rollback of ambition was emphasised on Monday, when the Each day Telegraph reported a letter from Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, to councils, reportedly warning them that too many cycle lanes have been inflicting visitors buildup, including: “Nobody ought to be unsure about our help for motorists.”
In actuality, as coated by the transport journalist Carlton Reid, the letter was extra nuanced, saying ministers would nonetheless could be “rushing up the biking revolution”. However, Shapps wrote, councils ought to “stability the wants of cyclists and pedestrians with the wants of different highway customers, together with motorists and native companies”.
That final phrase is especially miserable. When executed correctly and over time, schemes to make strolling and biking extra interesting ought to eat into the variety of transient, one-person city automobile journeys, and assist those that don’t have any possibility however to drive. Equally, the proof tends to be that LTNs are good for enterprise, not dangerous.
However the important thing message right here is time. Not each LTN is designed completely firstly, and if executed piecemeal, in isolation, they will trigger spillover congestion on neighbouring residential roads. However that is an argument for extra and higher LTNs, not a return to how issues have been.
As a result of if one factor is evident, it’s that the established order simply gained’t work. It’s an apparent level, however needs to be mentioned: gridlocked residential streets aren’t attributable to a handful of cycle lanes, or social distancing-friendly expanded pavements, or a number of streets filtered with bollards. They’re attributable to too many vehicles, vans and vans – and within the case of the vehicles, usually carrying a single able-bodied grownup a laughably quick distance.
As Reid additionally reported, final month, in addition to a 40% rise within the variety of motor automobiles on UK roads over little greater than a decade, in city areas these automobiles are more and more led by satnav apps down unsuitable sidestreets.
This was introduced residence to me a number of days in the past, after I used a Zipcar van to gather one thing cumbersome about 5 miles from the place I dwell. It’s linked by primary roads, however I wasn’t completely positive of the way in which, so I used the Google Maps satnav on my cellphone.
By default, it directed me alongside a labyrinthine zigzag of residential roads, the kind of route that, till a number of years in the past, solely taxi drivers or locals may have adopted. Now there have been a whole bunch of us squeezing alongside the slim streets.
This new period of city driving means adjustments to the highway community want months to mattress in. When the road I dwell on was closed to via motor visitors in a single route, the primary week or so there have been a near-constant mass of beeping, U-turning vehicles on the related junction. “That is insanity!” the critics yelled. “Finish it now!”
It wasn’t ended. Satnav algorithms acquired up to date, chaos subsided in a short time, rat-running visitors has largely evaporated, and now I’d wager many locals barely keep in mind the previous system.
In distinction, councillors in Lewisham panicked and adjusted course in a matter of weeks.
Once more, to emphasize, I don’t underestimate how tough it’s for councillors to face abuse, hostility and even threats of violence after altering a long-assumed establishment. However for many who are wavering, I’d urge them to bear two issues in thoughts.
Firstly, for those who get rid of an LTN, or one other traffic-taming intervention, you’re not fixing something. But additionally, for all of the noise from a minority, because the Greenpeace survey exhibits, they’re a minority. These adjustments are widespread.
