Quieter Neighbourhood Schemes
Susan Hall Conservative
Is the Mayor concerned that the Bowes Quieter Neighbourhood Scheme that TfL provided funding for will force more cars onto the A406 North Circular Road increasing pollution in an already poor air quality area?
Sadiq Khan Mayor of London
Funding for the Bowes Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) formed part of a package announced by the Secretary of State for Transport in May as an emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic. In the emergency funding settlement Transport for London (TfL) received, the only money made available to TfL to share with London local authorities was for the express purpose of supporting measures to enable more walking and cycling, including low traffic neighbourhoods, to ease pressure on public transport and prevent a spike in car use. The allocation of all funding was jointly agreed by TfL, City Hall, DfT and No.10.
Changes to all road layouts and access points inevitably take some time to bed in. Following the introduction of the Bowes LTN, TfL has been monitoring bus journey times and traffic data to determine if any signal timing changes or additional measures are required in response to the scheme. Real-time network monitoring has shown that impacts on the A406 North Circular Road in the early weeks have been minimal and have not required any significant changes to alter capacity. Furthermore, TfL is now reviewing more extensive data on bus journey times that has been recorded over the past few weeks. This work is ongoing and will give a better understanding of any impacts, in conjunction with continued network monitoring.
From the evidence of LTNs in other areas of London, we have seen that, once road users adjust, nearby main roads end up with similar levels of traffic as before implementation, while the area inside the scheme benefits from a huge proportion of motor traffic being removed. Our evidence shows that LTNs support a mode shift away from car use and do not simply displace traffic to surrounding streets.