Forum topic: Fox Lane low-traffic neighbourhood

Mrs Waters makes a strong argument about the consequences of Quieter Neighbourhoods (QN), and certainly every attempt should be made to meet everyones needs. On the other hand Emma Maloney makes an excellent argument for the overall benefits of QN, and I would add 'again' that children lost most most from the car-age and for that reason alone it is time that the dominance of traffic in purely residential areas is brought to an end.

I wish that we could solve every problem, but would draw attention to the fact that Germany was much the first country to create what we call QNs, and I have not come across any long term criticism of what they have done. Meanwhile choices have to made in the interest of the majority of the community whilst thought is given to how individual problems might be solved. And finally the Council's plan was/is to encourage use of main roads, public transport, cycling and walking. Over time many things will be different, and many difficulties resolved.

I cycle more often than I use a car but still have to drive on occasions (such as driving my elderly father to appointments or shopping for him, my elderly neighbours, and my highly vulnerable brother-in-law). The Fox Lane (and Bowes) LTN schemes have doubled the time and fuel consumption of each and every journey I've made - creating more pollution not less.
As a cyclist, all the displaced traffic on other roads has not only exposed me (and pedestrians) to that increased pollution but I'm now forced to weave in and out of the massively-increased traffic jams on Alderman's Hill, Broomfield Lane, and many other roads, often into oncoming traffic - making my travelling more dangerous, not less. Meanwhile it's already very well documented how many buses are themselves caught up in that congestion - removing them as any sort of alternative means of travel.
All this was predictable and predicted but the council doesn't even have proper measurements in place to identify the very real and negative impacts on 000s of residents.
Of course people need to reduce their car usage but these LTNs are making tings worse, not better.

All of this is an issue if you have friends visiting from other parts of town. My friend drove over from Ealing yesterday and asked why there was so much traffic going into Southgate from the North Circular. I explained the LTN and he said they have four or five schemes in his borough all causing the same issues, pushing traffic onto the main roads where people still have to live and now they have even more pollution. So maybe should tell my friends to stay where they are and forget trying to visit each other.

If what you said was true why were bin lorries and ambulances reversing down some of the roads?

Neil L. could you clarify your comment about bin lorries and ambulances reversing down some of the roads. For example which roads were lorries and ambulances reversing down; if difficulties are being experienced it is important for the Council to get to know about the problems because our local administration isn't the only one contemplating change ............................ that stretches all the way back to central government.

It is interesting that no one has picked up on my comment about children's needs which seems to suggest that most contributors are thinking only of their view from behind the windscreen rather than the overall needs of our community. Could someone comment on that? Am I missing something?

Many children need to be taken to school or to a pick up point. Their journey times have increased now.

There is no increased cycling as far as I can tell and, now that winter is approaching, there won’t be much walking either

My Mum’s carer took 20 minutes to get out of Bourne Hill on to Green Lanes last night so my Mum lost out on care. I was facing the same today so was forced to park halfway down Caversham Avenue to get to her in time

And then there’s the 2 motorbike couriers wheeling their bikes on the footpath across the railway on Fox Lane that I had to avoid.

Basically THIS SCHEME NEEDS TO END NOW

David, Hi, picking up on your comment about children's needs, from the perspective of where I live in N21 we have a school street which has timed entry and exit for children and parents during school days. Children don't need access to the roads 24/7 if they are at school and the council already runs a borough-wide scheme of road closures for play streets at weekends so I think much of that is covered. I think the school streets initiative is a good idea but only suitable in certain roads. It doesn't work for instance on main roads where public transport is also running.

While not directly Fox Lane area LTN relevant, today’s report that HMG will be proposing road projects receiving central funding should support bus priority measures, specifically new dedicated bus lanes, certainly reemphasises the ever-clearer bigger picture which does influence LTN’s. “It is likely to be unpopular with drivers.”
To say (yet) again, the transport hierarchy now has cars at the bottom and active transport measures at the top. One realistic conclusion is that a car journey that was once viewed through the windscreen as being OK is in future likely going to be less OK as various transport spend kicks in. Locally we seem to be reasonably close to the front of that curve.