Rupa Huq Demands Removal of 'Cack-handed' LTNs


Says Ealing Council must resist the 'poison chalice' of government funding

Rupa Huq says the LTNs have been undemocratically imposed
Rupa Huq says the LTNs have been undemocratically imposed

August 23, 2021

The government has been slammed as “cack-handed” by Rupa Huq for unpopular traffic reduction schemes brought in during the pandemic.

The Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton branded Ealing Council’s Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) as “undemocratic” and “counter-productive” in the Sunday Telegraph on 22 August.

Ms Huq wrote councils must “resist the government’s LTN bullying” through the “poisoned chalice of central funding”.

Furious residents are complaining that their wish to get rid of LTNs are being ignored, the MP wrote.

She added, “The undemocratic imposition of Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods is damaging and counter-productive.

“We can all get behind the goal of reducing unsustainably high vehicle dependency. But the dramatic and undemocratic way these LTNs have appeared was completely wrong.

“Had such schemes reacted to local demand they might have been better received than the road-clogging monsters created by unelected bureaucrats to maximise their access to Grant Shapps’s funding pot.”

The council’s introduction of a “lucrative system of fines” allowed it to extend the controversial scheme for another six months, Ms Huq said.

Ealing Council has made at least £2.8 million by fining drivers who broke LTN rules, a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed previously.

“Rage” at the government’s approach to LTNs has even turned residents against “logical” safe cycling infrastructure, Ms Huq continued.

“Councils shouldn’t be afraid to prioritise residents with improvements that work for them, rather than falling for the promise of cheques from Westminster.

“If the Government wants more LTNs, then it must make them fit for purpose.”

Opposition councillors in Ealing are also calling for the LTNs to be removed “without delay”, arguing that two protests, a 12,430 signature petition and a public consultation meet the government’s requirements for them to be removed.

Ealing Tory councillor Gregory Stafford wrote to Ealing’s council leader, Peter Mason, stating, “The schemes were introduced without consultation 12 months ago in August and September 2020, with only minor changes in February, and opposition has not diminished since they were introduced.

“In his letter of 30 July to council leaders the minister of state requested ‘an objective test of public opinion’ and that ‘schemes need time to be allowed to bed in’.

“By every measure residents do not want the LTNs; and the schemes have had plenty of time to bed in.”

The Department for Transport and Ealing Council have been approached for comment.

Josh Mellor - Local Democracy Reporter

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