London borough set to open Low Traffic Neighbourhood to target petrol and diesel pollution

The LTN comes after a consultation and final decision made by the Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Sustainability and Transport.

The traffic measure will be imposed through part-time camera-controlled restrictions on certain streets within the borough.

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The restrictions will be in place weekdays during peak hours (7am to 10am and 3pm to 7pm) and will stop through traffic on certain roads in west and east Greenwich.

The LTN follows a consultation with residents to which the council received over 8,000 responses.

The trial will implement extended exemptions for blue badge holders, taxis, private hire vehicles, council refuse vehicles, and individuals and community groups in special circumstances such as children with special education needs

Averil Lekau, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Environment and Transport, said: “How we all choose to move around our borough can impact whole communities in positive and negative ways.

“We have the fourth highest number of babies being hospitalised with respiratory tract infections as well as one of the highest levels of childhood obesity in London.”

She added that traffic is one of the main causes of air pollution and more than a third of the borough’s carbon emissions.

“By reducing it we can make it easier and safer for people to walk and cycle. This is one of the aims of our transport strategy, alongside calling for improvements to public transport and encouraging a shift to low emission vehicles,” Lekau explained.

She stated that the plans were agreed at the scrutiny meeting on July 31. When in effect, roads with restrictions will still be open to people walking, cycling, and using wheelchairs and every address will still be accessible by car.

However, in some instances people driving may have to take a different route. Residents will have the opportunity to give feedback during the trial.

The council said it will closely monitor the impact of the measures and gather air quality, traffic and road safety data.

But the council stated: “It is important to stress that this is an experimental order and that no final decision will be made without consideration of the feedback provided by residents on their experiences during the experimental period.

“At the end of the trial a decision would then be made to keep, remove, or change the trial scheme based on resident feedback and the monitoring data that will be collected at the same time.”

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This is the latest authority to roll out a LTN and follows £12.4million of funding issued by the Mayor of London to boroughs in Brent, Redbridge, Hackney, Lewisham and Croydon.

The money given out will be primarily used to transform public spaces and deliver environmental improvements within popular boroughs. The LTNs will be installed over the next three years, taking up to 28,000 square metres of public space.