Stoke Newington residents and businesses remain divided in the merits of the controversial Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) which became permanent on March 10.
Five low traffic zones and eight traffic filters in Stoke Newington will operate 24 hours a day, while a bus gate on Stoke Newington Church Street will operate from 7 am to 7 pm from Monday to Sunday.
Hackney Council has confirmed the LTN, despite the public being divided according to its own survey, with 50 per cent of all responses supporting the LTN while 49 per cent did not.
The council said in its LTN report that there was an “overall positive response in the N16 area’ which had ”seen a reduction of congestion and vehicle traffic levels in Stoke Newington Town Centre and on Church Street”, and “improved walking and cycling conditions”. The LTN began on a trial basis in September 2021.
Councillor Mete Coban, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport for the council, said in a statement that retaining the LTN is “helping to reduce traffic, promote walking and cycling, drive footfall to local businesses on Church Street, and is widely supported by local residents.”
However, Arsene Nioka, 37, who drives to visit his children and mother-in-law at their home on Church Street regularly, told ELL that the LTN “makes no sense” to him: “It’s just the government doing what they want, when they want, even though the taxpayers are the ones funding all these money.”
Nioka’s child used to take a 20-minute bus journey to get home from school but has now become at least an hour journey: “[Roads around the LTN] have too much traffic. You can take no side so all the cars are sitting on the main road, causing traffic like 10 buses all lined up at once.”
Councillor Simche Steinberger, who is against the implementation of the LTN, told ELL that the council only wanted to “make money” from it: “It’s not doing what they pretend to say. They just want to make money from it at the same time […] because what happens is people go in (the bus gate) and some don’t realize they’ve made a mistake and got fined.”
Local businesses on Church Street remain divided. “It means that more people are walking […] on the High Street and shopping and popping in for a drink, so I think that would be good for us.” said 29-year-old Maurice Rowan, supervisor of The Red Lion pub, where the bus gate was installed right outside.
The owner of Made In Little France, a wine shop on the street, Maxence Masurier, 42, also told ELL that the LTN “is not really affecting” the business and its sales “remained steady”.
However, Masurier questioned the purpose of the LTN: “There are a lot of traffic outside the LTN now. It’s just pushing the problem to other roads. […] I don’t really understand the purpose.”
How the LTN works:
The council drew up five low traffic zones that only allow vehicles to enter and leave from specific streets to create a quieter and greener neighborhood where people can walk and cycle within.
The following spots allow vehicles to enter and exit the zones:
- Stoke Newington High Street at the junctions with Brighton Road, Walford Road, Beatty Road, Victorian Road and Victorian Grove
- Stoke Newington Church Street at the junctions with Kersley Road, Defoe Road and Marton Road
- Albion Road at the junctions with Hawksley Road, Barbauld Road, Albion Grove and Church Walk
- B105 (Lordship Park/Manor Road) at the junctions with Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, Lordship Road and Bouverie Road
The following spot allows vehicles to enter the zones only:
- Stoke Newington Church Street at the junction with Woodlea Road
The following spot allows vehicles to exit the zones only:
- Stoke Newington High Street at the junction with Dynevor Road
A bus gate was also installed on Church Street from its junction with Marton Road to its junction with Lordship Road. All motorised vehicles except local buses, emergency vehicles and authorized vehicles are prohibited from passing through the gate from 7 am to 7 pm every day.
In addition, the council introduced five new traffic filters on top of the three existing filters in the area. Only pedestrians, cyclists, local buses and authorised vehicles are permitted to pass through the following eight roads where traffic filters are applied 24/7:
- Bouverie Road at the junction with Stoke Newington Church Street (new filter)
- Lordship Road at the junction with Lordship Terrace (new filter)
- Oldfield Road 5m south of the junction with Kynaston Road (new filter)
- Yoakley Road at the junction with Stoke Newington Church Street (new filter)
- Nevill Road 5m north of the junction with Barbauld Road (new filter)
- Nevill Road 5m north of the junction with Walford Road (existing filter)
- Clonbrock Road 5m west of the junction with Nevill Road (existing filter)
- Allen Road 5m west of the junction with Nevill Road (existing filter)
To facilitate the LTN, the council reversed the one-way on Edward’s Lane from northbound to southbound and closed a slip road on Lordship Road that leads to Church Street. Double yellow line “at any time” waiting restrictions also replaced numerous parking bays on Lordship Terrace, Defoe Road, Bouverie Road, Oldfield Road, Nevill Road, Yoakley Road and Lordship Road.
