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Zaria Greenhill writes about Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in Lewisham

Would you ever sit and drink coffee in the street? Or chat to neighbours? Or ride your bike? No? If not, there’s a good chance that it’s because of the traffic, which makes it noisy, smelly and dangerous. Have you heard of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs)? Lewisham Council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and aims to be zero carbon by 2030; traffic contributes about a quarter of our borough’s carbon emissions. Roughly half of all Lewisham’s adults are car-free, but traffic jams have become more frequent, and the air we breathe is often unsafe. Unlimited car use can no longer be taken for granted as the roads fill up and journey times increase, as does frustration, air pollution and road rage. The Locked-down empty South Circular was literally a breath of fresh air. It helped us to imagine what a car-free space could be like, and many of us loved it. An LTN has been in development in east Lewisham since lockdown, which has been difficult but nonetheless a new vision has been born for Lewisham. An LTN is when areas of housing are divided into ‘cells’ with no through traffic, or ‘rat-running’. Residents are expected to use major roads for longer journeys (no cut throughs), but to walk or cycle for local short journeys: school runs, leisure, shopping, and access to public transport. TFL states areas and not actually reduced, bringing more that 20% of all journeys are less than 2km, or 1.2 traffic to some streets in the short term. Generally, miles. A healthy adult takes about 20 minutes to LTNs have a trial period when support is offered to walk that distance, far less on a bike. Those who residents to use active travel, and over time traffic need to use cars are able to, and usually find it diminishes. Railton Road LTN between Brixton and easier with less traffic. Herne Hill reported a doubling in cycling after just This model has been used globally but in two months, and a huge reduction in traffic. London, with irregular streets and historically One of the biggest benefits is the enrichment haphazard development, it’s not easy. Luckily, of communities. People on foot are more likely to our borough is rich in small businesses with the chat to neighbours and we all feel safer and more flexibility to serve 15-minute communities. Imagine comfortable on our streets: they can become accessing almost all daily needs within 15 minutes’ more pleasant places to relax and socialise, to walk? Actually, in SE23, can you do that now? How share things, and even grow food. This is possible about trying it out? and indeed desirable for the future of London. Walking is more pleasant through peaceful As the weather warms and economies get more tree-lined streets. While cycling can be scary, lots challenging, our communities and our relationships of cycle lanes and ‘quietways’ are away from main will be crucial. Let’s build them while we can. traffic routes, through parks and green space and Zaria Greenhill is co-chair of Climate Action residential roads. Use OpenStreetMap, Cyclestreets Lewisham, which has just released a short film or Bikemap to find safe routes. The main down-side about cycling in an LTN, see: of LTNs is that traffic is dispersed into neighbouring https://climateactionlewisham.org/film/