A group of Tollington residents are rallying to push for a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) in the area.
They are calling for Tollington Park to be closed to through traffic and to establish cycle quietways as part of Islington Council’s new People-Friendly Streets scheme.
The community group began as a Whatsapp group of 27 locals and was created for residents to stay connected during the first lockdown.
The first issue raised was the shared collective “relief” about the lighter traffic in the area, and from there a Tollington Park Traffic subgroup was formed of nine individuals focused specifically on the LTN incentive.
Upper Tollington – just give up. Car park as far as the eye can see. We met some residents yday & are going to restart the campaign for a low traffic neighbourhood in Stroud green. If keen, get in touch. @CllrKirsten we’d love your support? pic.twitter.com/yDQfFhlIoB
— Florence Road N4 (@FlorenceRoadN4) August 28, 2020
Their calls have been met with resistance from other locals.
A member of the resident group, who asked to not be named after claiming the group previously received threatening and aggressive attacks by anti-LTN protestors, reflected on the benefits of limited traffic during the lockdown: “Suddenly the air didn’t smell like fumes, we could breathe, […] we weren’t constantly woken by the rumble of trucks.”
“Our road is residential and narrow, with parked cars on both sides. It has a nursery, a primary school, and a secondary school on it, plus several churches that provide creches”, they added. “But it has a huge amount of traffic thundering down it.”
“It also has a lot of property […] that’s crumbling due to the vibrations from all the heavy traffic. It could be an ideal route for a cycle quietway, but at the moment it’s far too intimidating to cycle down.”
In a bid for Tollington to return to its more peaceful days of the first lockdown, the resident group has met with local councillors and traffic engineers.
The group has said Islington Council responded positively to their initial ideas, and the council has outlined the intentions of the LTN in their community plan: “to ensure through traffic uses the most appropriate roads and discourage/prevent it using residential roads while maintaining local access.
“This can be done with low-cost measures such as planters as well as pavement build-outs.”
