The London Borough of Lambeth is one where there is very strong opposition to the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) schemes that the council has introduced. That includes a legal action pursed on behalf of one disabled resident by a group called One Lambeth. A judicial review challenge was rejected by the High Court in June but they are appealing and raising funds to do so – see https://www.gofundme.com/f/jzgfd-appeal . Please support them.
Now we learn by an article in the Daily Telegraph (see link below) that one of the objectives of the LTNs which is to reduce traffic has clearly not been met in Lambeth. The number of residents applying for parking permits actually rose by 18.6% between 2019 and 2020.
That is contrary to the general trend in car use in London in recent years. Clearly the policy of discouraging car use encouraged by Grant Shapps and some London councils is not working.
Cars are simply too valuable a mode of transport while most people won’t take up cycling as the main alternative. The Covid epidemic has actually increased the demand for private car use as people are wary of using public transport. The latter has also been discouraged by cuts to bus services.
LTNs do not provide the benefits that are claimed for them. They should be scrapped which is what a majority of residents in Lambeth and other boroughs want.
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The article headline says ‘appears to increase’. If you bothered to read beyond it to the FOI you’d see that numerous new CPZs have been introduced during this period (including some on council housing estates) so of course numbers applying for permits have gone up. Also you can’t just infer that increased permits equals increased car usage. The majority of the average cars life is spent parked up at home.
As usual need to read beyond the headline to find the actual facts
It is not clear that the increase is caused by more CPZs. You are jumping to conclusions.