{"id":371867,"date":"2025-03-25T15:39:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T14:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371867"},"modified":"2025-03-25T15:39:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T14:39:29","slug":"the-crash-of-londons-latest-ltn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371867","title":{"rendered":"The Crash of London\u2019s Latest LTN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Gridlock on Highgate West Hill, which the proposed LTN would make far worse (photos: dphnjointaction.com)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Mike Wells<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Labour-run London Borough of Camden (LBC) has been forced to scrap<\/a> a hugely controversial Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) scheme centred on Dartmouth Park<\/a> on the eastern edge of Hampstead Heath \u2013 home to Ed Miliband, Benedict Cumberbatch and numerous other Labour luvvies. The plan had been to impose an 18-month \u2018trial period\u2019 with the least possible public consultation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attempting to put the best spin on it, LBC calls this a \u201cpause\u201d, but the scheme \u2013 a pet project of cycle-fanatic Cllr Adam Harrison<\/a>, \u201cCabinet Member for Planning and a Sustainable Camden\u201d and CBC\u2019s Deputy Leader \u2013 was always unworkable. Uproar among locals, who discovered Camden\u2019s brief \u2018nonsultation\u2019 was to be held during last summer\u2019s holidays, was led by the Highgate Society<\/a> which commissioned expert analysis of LBC\u2019s dodgy metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locals packed protest meetings<\/a> and deluged their council with complaints, not least about the scheme\u2019s obvious potential for raising money by fines. With vehicle access from the north, east and south denied to thousands of homes in the LTN, voters demanded to know how ambulances, deliveries and visitors could reach them, or how anyone less than 100% fit would be able to get the shopping home?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among many issues they highlighted were\u00a0inevitable gridlock<\/a>\u00a0on Highgate Road, Highgate West Hill and other bus routes on the proposed LTN\u2019s boundary, and increased air pollution on children\u2019s walking routes to the area\u2019s schools \u2013 ironically the same good schools which attract so many upwardly-mobile Labour supporters to leafy Dartmouth Park\u2019s expensive homes.
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Highgate West Hill is frequently disrupted by emergency repairs to water mains and flooding caused by natural springs (photo: dphnjointaction.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having wasted vast amounts of TfL\u2019s money on consultants while plotting Dartmouth Park\u2019s LTN in secret, Camden\u2019s Labour regime has been handed an expensive lesson in not annoying one\u2019s diehard voters. Its problems include a private company called Commonplace, and an unusually articulate local population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commonplace Digital Ltd is a privately-owned \u201ccitizen engagement platform\u201d which claims to \u201cinspire thriving places, powered by data and collaboration\u201d. On its touchy-feely website rows of smiley, young and casually-dressed<\/a> \u201ccustomer success managers\u201d and \u201cbusiness development managers\u201d promote the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Commonplace actually does is to sell machine-readable online surveys to councils and developers \u2013 relieving them of the trudge of asking local people what they think and reading the responses properly, while still getting the result they first wanted via an ostensibly democratic process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The snag, as we in Bedfordshire know to our cost, is in the questions asked and the boxes you\u2019re allowed to tick. Our council\u2019s Commonplace survey on local cycling and walking issues produced 826 responses, of which over 100 tried to explain \u2013 only possible in the \u201cother comments\u201d box \u2013 that by far our worst problem is how to get across the A1 safely into Biggleswade without using a car: a walk\/cycle underpass is needed, obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chancing the A1 at Biggleswade (photo: Mike Wells)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Waiting to cross the A1 at Biggleswade (photo: Mike Wells)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But in its published LCWIP plan, based on this \u201cengagement\u201d, Central Beds Council felt able to ignore the lethal risks run by locals trotting or wheeling their children across the A1 carriageways, because the online Commonplace survey had asked no machine-readable question about it. The metrics didn\u2019t prove a need, which happily allowed CBC and National Highways to carry on ignoring the danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are increasingly suspicious of the skewed questions asked in Commonplace surveys, and in the case of Camden\u2019s proposed Dartmouth Park LTN, many refused to participate. Instead, 773 locals\u00a0emailed their council direct<\/a>, as well as emailing individual councillors. Here in Beds our ward councillor just leafleted over 800 locals about our Biggleswade problem, asking what they need to get onto town safely, and the scores of replies were a revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask people what they really think, without leading questions or tick-boxes, and what you get is \u2018quote gold\u2019. Many said roughly what was anticipated, though in their own inimitable words; others made important points that hadn\u2019t even occurred to campaigners. Analysing genuine replies like these \u2013 as opposed to machine-readable surveys \u2013 takes time and thought, and Camden is now having to go back to the drawing board and read its hundreds of non-Commonplace responses, acutely aware that having wound up the Highgate Society and Dartmouth Park\u2019s vigilant locals, its cunningly-worded online \u201cconsultation\u201d cannot alone justify imposing a disastrous LTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Labour-run London Borough of Camden (LBC) has been forced to scrap a hugely controversial Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) scheme centred on Dartmouth Park on the eastern edge of Hampstead Heath \u2013 home to Ed Miliband, Benedict Cumberbatch and numerous other Labour luvvies. The plan had been to impose an 18-month \u2018trial period\u2019 with the least possible public consultation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":371869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691834051,691821810,691820075,691819103,691834052,691818154],"class_list":{"0":"post-371867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-consultation","9":"tag-democracy","10":"tag-labour","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-low-traffic-neighbourhood-ltn","13":"tag-net-zero","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Dt-Pk-LTN-A.jpeg?fit=3530%2C1910&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1yJR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":309943,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=309943","url_meta":{"origin":371867,"position":0},"title":"Crackdown on rogue councils over LTNs and 20mph zones","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/03\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Draft guidance will state that authorities must gain support from residents, businesses and emergency services before new LTNs.","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0674ec6cc-1e02-4161-9396-fea3658d5b7f.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0674ec6cc-1e02-4161-9396-fea3658d5b7f.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0674ec6cc-1e02-4161-9396-fea3658d5b7f.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0674ec6cc-1e02-4161-9396-fea3658d5b7f.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0674ec6cc-1e02-4161-9396-fea3658d5b7f.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":269085,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269085","url_meta":{"origin":371867,"position":1},"title":"Cars are winning against the UK\u2019s 15 Minute cities","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s part of the\u00a015 minute city plan,\u00a0where everything was supposed to be within a heavenly short walk from home, so we could give up cars, save the planet, change the atmosphere and get fit too. 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