Low traffic neighbourhoods: What are they and why are they controversial?

Published

11 months ago

July 30, 2023

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A review has been ordered by Rishi Sunak of divisive low traffic neighbourhoods.

The prime minister’s move comes as green policies and the path to net zero promise to be a key battleground in the run up to the next general election.

The Tories narrowly held Boris Johnson’s former seat after tapping into local concerns about the expansion of London’s ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) by the city’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.

But nature campaigners have warned they will “not stand by” while politicians use the environment as “a political football”.

Mr Sunak is due to meet energy bosses this week to set out his plans for the UK’s fossil fuels and green industries.

So what are low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and why are they controversial?

Designed to encourage cycling and walking by limiting driving in side roads, the rollout of LTNs was paved by the government in 2020 with £225m in funding. They were implemented in areas from spring of that year.

Schemes include segregated cycle lanes, wider pavements and closing roads to motor traffic.

The key aim is to reduce air pollution, noise nuisance and traffic accidents by getting people out of their cars and tackling rat-running, where people use residential streets as short cuts.

How do they work?

LTNs use barriers, bollards, road signs, and planters to restrict cars, vans, and other vehicles, while allowing pedestrians and cyclists through.

How many are there?

There is no official public tally but it has previously been reported there are around 300 schemes already running or planned across the country, including London, Bristol, Oxford and Newcastle.

Other cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield have also introduced LTNs.

So LTNs work and are popular?

It depends who you talk to with the success of schemes disputed.

Supporters argue the measures have cut noise and air pollution, encouraged people to opt for more healthy and environmentally friendly types of travel, strengthened communities and helped local businesses with the extra footfall.

But critics believe while they may have improved areas where they are located, they push the problems elsewhere.

This includes creating congestion and causing longer journeys, generating more polluting emissions.

Many LTNs are also not recognised by satnav leading to traffic snarl-ups.

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Although some claim LTNs make it easier for emergency services to reach their destination, others argue they do the exact opposite, hindering the response to 999 calls as vehicles cannot get through.

It is not just practical considerations, Conservative MP Nick Fletcher has previously suggested the traffic control measures were part of an “international socialist concept” which would take away personal liberties.

Some people have been so infuriated that they have vandalised LTN measures such as setting fire to planters blocking roads.

What about ULEZ?

The Ultra Low Emission Zone – more commonly known as ULEZ – aims to reduce air pollution in London and other big cities by charging heavy polluting vehicles to drive on central roads.

Mr Khan wants to expand the zone to the borders of the capital, but he’s been met with fierce opposition.

Even Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on his colleague to “reflect” on his decision in the wake of the party’s defeat at the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.

Politics

SEC shoots down Ripple’s argument for a lower penalty

Published

4 hours ago

June 17, 2024

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SEC shoots down Ripple’s argument for a lower penalty

The SEC argued Ripple’s proposed lower civil penalty wouldn’t be enough, and there’s no comparison to its settlement with Terraform Labs.

Politics

Nigel Farage to launch ‘contract with the people’ in Wales following poll boosts

Published

5 hours ago

June 17, 2024

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Nigel Farage to launch 'contract with the people' in Wales following poll boosts

Nigel Farage will kick off Reform UK’s policies in South Wales on Monday, where he is poised to put pressure on the Tories over immigration and tax.

The Reform leader will launch his party’s “contract with the people” – which they will not call a manifesto – in Merthyr Tydfil to highlight “what happens to a country when Labour is in charge”.

The Senedd in Cardiff is the devolved legislature of Wales and is currently run by a Labour-administration.

The launch will follow a productive few days for Reform that saw his party overtake the Conservatives for the first time – prompting Mr Farage to declare his party the “opposition” to Labour.

Election latest: Pub registered as political party; Farage to launch Reform manifesto in Wales

His fortunes increased further after another poll by Survation for The Sunday Times showed the Tories could be reduced to just 72 seats in the next parliament, while a separate survey by Savanta for The Sunday Telegraph showed Reform up another three points.

Reform has consistently pushed the Conservatives to adopt a more hardline stance on immigration and tax cuts.

In a flavour of the policies that will be unveiled tomorrow, the party said earlier this month that it would like to see a tax on businesses who employ overseas workers.

This would see firms pay a higher 20% rate of national insurance for foreign workers, up from the current 13.8%.

Reform is also opposed to Labour’s plans to end private school tax exemptions, and wants the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, overseen by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, in order to use offshore processing centres for illegal immigrants and prevent them from claiming asylum.

Some Tory candidates and former MPs on the right of the party have been agitating for Mr Sunak to advocate for an exit from the ECHR – something he has been reluctant to do but has left the door open to.

Other Reform policies include offering vouchers to go private if you can’t see a GP in three days, scrapping interest on student loans, increasing police numbers, keeping “woke ideologies out of the classroom”, abolishing the TV licence fee, reforming the Lords and reducing “wasteful spending”.

Mr Farage used an article in The Sunday Telegraph to criticise Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, for an interview he gave to The Times on Friday in which he urged voters to reject the Reform leader’s “inflammatory language” and “dog whistle” politics.

In response, Mr Farage wrote: “If Lord Cameron is worried about damaging divisions, he should look a bit closer to home.

“The terminally divided Tory party has proved itself incapable of effective government over the past 14 years – and is set to be even more hopelessly split in opposition, after it gets hammered on 4 July.”

The Reform leader will also turn his fire on Labour, saying he had chosen Wales to launch his “contract with the people” “because it shows everyone exactly what happens to a country when Labour is in charge”.

“Schools are worse than in England, NHS waiting lists are longer than in England, COVID restrictions were even tighter than in England and now Welsh motorists are being soaked by literally hundreds of speed cameras to enforce the deeply unpopular new 20mph blanket speed limit in towns and villages,” he said.

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“Meanwhile, the Tories have been the official opposition almost solidly since 2016 and have achieved zilch, which probably explains why we are neck-and-neck with them in the polls in Wales.

“So, if you want a picture of what the whole country will be like with a Starmer government and a feeble Conservative opposition, come to Wales and then hear us unveil a better future for all of Britain”.

Rishi Sunak has repeatedly said a vote for Mr Farage’s party amounted to handing a “blank cheque” to Labour, whom the polls predict will form the next government from 4 July.

The full list of candidates standing in Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare are:

Workers Party of Britain – Anthony Cole
Communist Party of Britain – Bob Davenport
Independent – Lorenzo de Gregori
Green Party – David Griffin
Conservative Party – Amanda Jenner
Labour Party – Gerald Jones
Liberal Democrats – Jade Smith
Reform UK – Gareth Thomas
Plaid Cymru – Francis Whitefoot

Politics

Two-child cap to hit extra 670,000 children in next five years, thinktank warns

Published

7 hours ago

June 16, 2024

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Two-child cap to hit extra 670,000 children in next five years, thinktank warns

An extra 250,000 children will be hit by the two-child benefit cap next year, rising to an extra half a million by 2029, a leading thinktank has warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the number of children who will fall under the cap – which limits child benefits for the first two children in most households – will reach 670,000 by the end of the next parliament if the policy is not reformed.

The two-child benefit cap, which restricts Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit to the first two children, was brought in by the Conservative government in 2017.

Campaigners have long called for it to be abolished on the grounds it would lift thousands of children out of poverty.

It comes as a separate study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found 40% of people who work in primary schools and GP surgeries have considered quitting their job because of a “shameful” level of hardship among the population.

Election latest: Minister says election ‘not about the past’ as poll suggests Tory wipeout on 4 July

The JRF found the service providers were “staggering under the weight of hardship” by having to provide extra support to the nearly four million people struggling to pay for essentials including food, heating and clothing.

The IFS said the two-child cap has helped drive up the share of children in large families who are in relative poverty from 35% in 2014-15 to 46% in 2022 – a period when poverty for families with one or two children fell.

The Labour Party has faced pressure to drop the cap – including from former prime minister Gordon Brown – but has so far refused to commit to ending it, citing the current state of the country’s finances.

The pressure intensified further after figures on the right, including former home secretary Suella Braverman and Reform leader Nigel Farage, both called for the cap to be scrapped.

Abolishing the cap does not appear in either the Tory or Labour manifestos, with only the Green Party and Liberal Democrats making the commitment in their offers to the public.

The IFS said removing the cost of the limit would cost the government about £3.4bn a year, equivalent to freezing fuel duties for the next parliament.

The limit currently affects two million children and more children are added each year because it applies to those born after 5 April 2017.

The IFS said when fully rolled out, the cap will affect one in five children, rising to 38% of those in the poorest fifth of households.

It said 43% of children in households with at least one person of Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin will be affected, while those who fall under it on average will lose £4,300 per year – representing 10% of their income.

IFS research economist Eduin Latimer said: “The two-child limit is one of the most significant welfare cuts since 2010 and, unlike many of those cuts, it becomes more important each year as it is rolled out to more families.”

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Mubin Haq, chief executive of the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, which funded the research, said: “The limit has been a significant contributor to child poverty amongst large families during a period when poverty for families with one or two children fell.

“If the next government is serious about tackling child poverty, it will need to review the two-child limit.”

Alison Garnham, the chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said the “biggest driver” of child poverty in the UK was the two-child limit.

“Any government serious about making things better for the next generation will have to scrap the two-child limit, and do so quickly.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “We are under no illusions about the scale of the task ahead if we win the election.

“Labour has already set out how we would make a start, with free breakfast clubs in every primary school, cutting fuel poverty and bringing down energy bills, banning exploitative zero hours contracts, making work pay, ending no-fault evictions and creating more good jobs right across the country.”