Councils will have to consider resident support over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
Councils will be obliged to consider whether residents support the implementation of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) in their area before schemes can be introduced, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.
LTNs are an area where vehicle numbers are reduced, and work by preventing vehicles from using certain streets as through roads into other destinations, quite often through using temporary or permanent barriers which stop traffic from being able to drive along a certain route.
Of course the word 'consider' is the escape route, so not particularly radical. As decision makers know, it is possible to 'consider' anything, including what views people ought to have.
This could involve in-person events, online engagement, and leaflet drops to involve the whole community in the process and will mean that authorities must consider whether an LTN has local support before it is implemented...
A consultation will also be launched this summer on measures including the removal of local authorities’ access to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data to enforce such schemes by camera...
The action taken today on LTNs is supported by a wide-ranging review that highlights only 13% of residents have responded to councils’ planning consultations on LTNs, and just 18% feel that their views have influenced council decisions. The report also found that local authorities operating LTNs issue an average of 36,459 penalty charge notices per scheme, with the highest number of penalty charge notices issued for a single LTN scheme exceeding 170,000. That’s why the guidance embeds the need for local support and will ultimately save motorists money.
8 comments:
A LTN should have to have explicit support from at least 50%+1 of ALL residents. After all, whose neighbourhood is it?
Portsmouth will be an interesting case. Miles of Victorian terraced grids, interspersed with tower blocks. Most roads are full of cars bumper-to-bumper in the evening, and many are van based businesses.
As the old Irish joke goes, "I wouldn't start from here if I were you".
decnine - I agree, but the chance of it being done like that doesn't seem high.
Sam - that old Irish joke applies quite widely. It applies to reforming the NHS - "I wouldn't start from here if I were you".
I predict this won't make the slightest bit of difference...
Dave - I predict that you turn out to be right.
Should be easy enough to do. Anyone can rig a consultaion these days, it happens all the time
Bucko - and of course it will be rigged.
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