A controversial low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme is to be scrapped after it turned a three-mile bus journey into a two hour crawl. The Telegraph has more.
The scheme, at Streatham Wells, south London, has been suspended by Labour-run Lambeth council after it caused huge traffic congestion in the suburb.
The local authority, which announced the U-turn on Thursday, admitted the scheme had caused an 8% increase in traffic on boundary roads
One bus reportedly took 121 minutes to travel just 2.9 miles after the A23 arterial road, which runs along one side of the LTN, became heavily congested with traffic trying to avoid the scheme.
The about turn comes after Sadiq Khan described the LTN as a “huge problem” earlier this month. It is the first time he has criticised one of the schemes.
Speaking after the decision, a spokesman for the Mayor of London suggested it was “the right thing to do”.
Councillors implemented the LTN scheme last year as part of an 18-month trial intended to improve air quality by blocking vehicles from accessing certain residential streets.
But local campaigners, including the Streatham LTN Watch group, said the schemes merely displace traffic onto neighbouring roads and worsen congestion around the fringes.
The backlash, which led to protests from a 60-strong crowd outside the council’s HQ in Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton, has forced the authority to backtrack on the scheme.
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