For decades we have known that motor traffic badly affects the health and quality of life of local people. It is dangerous, polluting and noisy. It divides communities and deters healthy physical activity. We know at first hand how beneficial low traffic schemes are, as Islington was a pioneer in the 1960s with mini Low Traffic Neighbourhoods like those of Cloudesley Square and Thornhill Square, which are quiet and clean oases in a sea of polluting traffic.
Recent low traffic schemes in Islington have already been transformative while in Waltham Forest air pollution was reduced, walking boosted by 32 minutes per week, retail spending up by 30% and community street use rose by 216%. Most significantly, the schemes are calculated to have increased life expectancy by 7 months.
We now need urgent local action to stop traffic rat-running from Copenhagen Street to Liverpool Road and more widely in Barnsbury and Islington so that local communities, especially the most vulnerable, can share these benefits.
Email Low Traffic Cloudesley Place at LTI.Cloudesley@gmail.com
Published in Islington Gazette 28 April 2022 (page 11)