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Judge Rules Sadiq Khan Can't Stop Councils Removing LTNs

by DD Staff

December 19, 2024

Sadiq Khan and Lutfur Rahman

key takeaways

A High Court judge's decision that councils can lawfully remove contentious low-traffic neighborhoods (LTNs) without Sadiq Khan's consent has handed him a crushing blow.

Following a dispute between the campaign group Save Our Safer Streets (SOSS) and Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman over his intentions to discontinue the programs, the council decided to allow the removal of three LTNs in Bethnal Green, east London.

The finding, which was issued on Tuesday, affirmed that the council had followed the correct processes when it decided to get rid of the LTNs, which the previous Labour administration had put in place.

The decision marks a significant victory for Rahman's administration, which had faced opposition from Transport for London (TfL), local NHS trusts and five local school headteachers who had written an open letter urging him to maintain the restrictions.

Rahman also cast down the previous Labour council's "botched" LTN scheme for causing significant traffic problems across the borough.

"While LTNs improve air quality in their immediate vicinity, the previous Labour administration's botched implementation of LTNs in Tower Hamlets caused traffic congestion on main roads," he said.

He said this led to increased air pollution complaints and negative health impacts, particularly affecting working-class households living along the same main roads.

But SOSS campaigners weren't so sure - the group's Jane Harris said: "Our low traffic neighbourhoods are a major success story in a deprived area of London, virtually eliminating serious road injuries and improving air quality inside and outside the schemes."

She added that the proposal would be "expensive and unpopular" while harming residents' health and safety.

Harris noted that the case focused solely on the legality of the decision rather than its merits, saying: "The judge himself said that this case was not about the rights and wrongs of removing the scheme."

Campaigners have warned that the court's decision could have wider implications for similar traffic schemes across London - for which the Mayor has long advocated.

And SOSS now has until January to decide whether to submit an application to the Court of Appeal. "Our legal team has told us that we have grounds for an appeal. We are raising funds again and we hope people will continue to support us," Harris said.

Hundreds of LTNs have been introduced in the capital since the beginning of the scheme, while TfL has provided councils with funding for even more.

In summer 2024, TfL's latest annual progress report said that LTNs "remain a key part of the Healthy Streets approach" in London, and vowed to "continue to support" boroughs implementing the traffic zones.