More information about the Hackney Together People’s Town Hall Meeting outside Hackney Town Hall on Wednesday 26 January from 6pm.
The theme for the People’s Town Hall meeting will be ‘Hackney’s Low Traffic Neighbourhoods: Success or Failure?’
For some odd reason when we typed ‘Hackney’s Low Traffic Neighbourhoods: Success or Failure?’ our office filled with the smell of sulphur, our writer’s head start revolving at an alarming rate and Satan (right) appeared.
Which is odd because he was not due here until the weekend. Anyway….
Isn’t a nice to read something about LTNs that simply poses a question rather than promising you eternal damnation if you do not agree with it?
So why not pop along and see what they are up to on the 26th?
Moley has no doubts whatsoever that the LTN fanatics will turn up and try and hijack the event ‘cos that is what they do.
Well, that and comparing Lycra chafing treatments.
In these circumstances Moley loves to play spot the infiltrator (pretty easy, they look very middle-class, are usually male and tend to have a bike with them), so Mole might go along to see how many he can spot!
All cyclists are angels. Fact.
Much to the disgust of those who consider that everyone who rides a bike is an angel (in the literal sense) and that anyone who does not ride a bike is a devil there will be some very good discussions such as those below. (We unashamedly take this from the Hackney Together media release).
Key topics for discussion will be:
- Clean air equality: We all have the same right to cleaner air. Do Low Traffic Neighbourhoods create high traffic corridors on their boundaries? If so, is this acceptable?
- Environmental & Social Justice: Have the negative impacts on residents, especially the more vulnerable members of our community been properly assessed?
- Environmental impact: How “green” are LTNs? Is a policy that diverts cars from some routes to others really environmentally sound? Do LTNs really discourage car ownership or even car usage? Or are people now driving longer or just in different directions?
- Impact on daily life: What are the impacts on schools & nurseries, businesses, bus users, pedestrians, those who need to drive for a living and those who require a car for mobility?
- Social cohesion: Are the LTNs fuelling divisions within communities and between communities in the borough?
- Local democracy: Should Labour be pushing ahead with this unpopular policy? What options do we have in the May local elections?
As the results of the consultations on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) come to light, Hackney Together believe it’s vital to have an open discussion about their impact through our own lens rather than that of the policy makers. We believe it is important to discuss their impact on the health, wellbeing, and daily lives of those living, working, and studying not just within LTNs, but on the boundary or sacrificial roads.
Cleaner air for ALL, not just for some
Hackney Together believe in cleaner air for all, not just for some. We will be asking some difficult questions such as:
- Should the council be focusing on tackling pollution on the already busy residential roads, rather than closing roads in quieter areas?
- Why should the residents of boundary roads (more likely to be low-income households and/or from BAME communities) be made to live with far greater levels of congestion, bad air, and collisions?
- The re-routing of traffic on fewer roads has meant schools and nurseries outside LTNs are now experiencing unacceptable levels of pollution for a large part of the school day and while children are walking to and from school.
- We must also consider the environmental credentials of an initiative that displaces traffic from some roads onto others, creating congestion canyons for many hours each day.
- It is well known, for example, that idle traffic (stop/start car queues) creates many times more pollution than moving traffic. Can LTNs be anything more than a clear example of “greenwashing”?
The aim of this gathering is not simply to “protest” but to remind Hackney’s Labour administration that it is possible to engage with residents and local businesses in an open, honest, and constructive manner.
We welcome participation from Hackney’s entire community. Invites have been sent to various political parties and interest groups. Anyone planning to stand as an independent candidate in Hackney in May 2022 is especially welcome to participate.
Find out more by emailing: info@hackneytogether.org
Enquirer Comment
Can you hear that squeaking noise? Listen… hear it now?
That squeaking is the sound of the LTN fanatics and their political chums as they realise that there are a lot of people who are, like Hackney Together, genuinely concerned for our communities but have no intention of ramming their propaganda down the throats of the electorate.
Well done to Hackney Together and our entire editorial team wishes them success.
We think the chances of something similar happening in our dear borough are around zero, and instead are going to have a whip round (well, apply for a council grant) for some tanks and stuff to start a revolution.
Anyone know how to drive a tank? More importantly do we really need any?
LTNs have done nothing for the environment, except to make the air toxic with most peoples angry breaths, it was all done under the guise of Covid, and needs to be reversed
Asbolutely!
Cars are getting cleaner and cleaner, even if they are not electric or hybrid. Has this LTN affair in the name of pollution but with other things quietly on the agenda been pushed through asp before the pollution argument manages to mostly go away on its own? The whole thing looks like an alliance between the hard left and hard core cycle fraternity who probably overlap to me!
Nail hit on the head there!
What do you conspiracy theorists think the ‘hard core cycle fraternity’ actually get out of this? Come on now, tell us how they are all becoming millionaires off the backs of the ltns!
Thanks Sonia for demonstrating the exact behaviour that exposes you and your mates for what you are, incapable of making a comment without sneering down your noses at ordinary people.
“Cleaner air for ALL, not just for some”
A noble plan, I wholeheartedly agree. But surely that means less cars on the road overall?
I worry that this slogan will just encourage them to introduce road pricing on ALL roads. There is already rumours of the mayor planning this.
Yes I think that is very true Jeff. Key problem is that, amongst other things, we need less cars to tackle global warming. However the reality is that our society is built on the internal combustion engine and many depend on it for their daily lives. The idea that cycling will solve everything is nonsense and seems to have morphed into a political movement. The other issue is that individuals who have access to cars do not connect them with global warming. And whenever any of us order something online we forget that whatever it is will be delivered via a lorry and or van. There will probably have to be some catastrophic event before we get our act together. Cheer, Mark