An anti-Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) group demonstrated outside Islington Town Hall on Tuesday evening against council plans to introduce their Liveable Neighbourhoods programme in Barnsbury.
The Barnsbury branch of Keep Islington Moving, a group organised by residents concerned about the impact of LTNs, gathered outside the town hall in response to a meeting hosted by local councillors to consult residents about their ongoing plans.
The Liveable Neighbourhoods programme will aim to reduce traffic and encourage cycling and walking.
A primary concern among protestors was the increased strain placed upon the elderly and disabled by road closures across the borough.
Rebekah Kelly, who organised the protest, explained the demonstrators’ concerns.
“LTNs have a disproportionate impact on the disabled and vulnerable, and it has been extremely difficult to have those concerns heard. The council have been limiting public engagement to get the results they want and the meetings aren’t well publicised,” she said.
Giuliana, a mother with multiple sclerosis, discussed her fears about the constraints placed upon people with limited mobility.
“I’m frightened that I won’t be able to get a taxi to and from the hospital, and that I won’t be able to order from the supermarket to have my food delivered. Also, that my friends won’t be able to visit me. Today is a good day but some days I’m bedridden,” she said.
She also stressed the need for the council to consider the perspectives of vulnerable people.
“The disabled, the elderly and women, who are now nervous to be dropped off in a taxi at the end of the road and then have to walk back in the dark, are not being listened to. The anti-LTN groups voice our concerns, but the council implement them anyway. They don’t have to listen because we are the minority. I’m all for a greener community but I just feel there must be a better way.”
The protestors, who handed out pamphlets warning locals of “increasing inequality” due to LTNs, are part of a borough-wide response to the council’s perceived disregard for vulnerable groups.
Jo Sargent is a founding member of the group’s Highbury branch.
“Two- or three-minute journeys have become 25 minutes. These things might sound quite small to younger, able-bodied people, but if you’re a district nurse with 10 people to see, that means a huge reduction in the time you get with each patient,” she said.
Elodie Denjean, a Highbury resident whose son holds a Blue Badge, has said that it took two years to obtain an exemption to LTN boundaries.
“There seems to be no open door to any adjustments to the scheme,” she said. “I’m a cyclist and I’m all on board with reducing emissions but there needs to be a less extreme scheme which considers how difficult these changes are for families with disabled children.”
Keep Islington Moving recently released a report based on a survey carried out across the seven wards where LTN trials have already taken place.
Of 957 disabled residents surveyed, 73% agreed that “there is nothing I like about this trial”.
There are also growing concerns about women having to walk home late at night when vehicles are unable to reach their street due to road closures.
Of the 4,085 respondents living on internal and boundary roads, 69% said that they now felt either less safe or no safer as a result of the scheme.
“Coming home at night, it’s totally dead. I don’t feel safe and I know women who don’t go out anymore,” added Kelly.
Neil Christie, a Highbury resident who attended the meeting at the town hall, said that sentiment inside the building was largely favourable.
“In the actual meeting, everyone was positive. The meeting was for the exact purpose of residents being able to be consulted. Across Islington, as far as you can judge, people are broadly on board with efforts to make the borough greener.”
The meeting was the first to take place in person since the last public consultation at Islington West Library in November, which was cancelled due to impromptu protests over limited capacity.
Barnsbury and Laycock will be the eighth Islington ward to feature an LTN and the scheme is set to be introduced in early 2024 following a final public consultation at the end of this year.
“I would encourage the council to engage with groups like Keep Barnsbury Moving the same way they engage with cycle and cleaner air groups. It’s a low traffic neighbourhood, not a no traffic neighbourhood, and we have valid need for our roads,” said Kelly.
Islington Council were contacted for this article and declined to comment.
