News on Rebuilding a Greener Hackney

Construction begins on measures to create quieter, safer streets in the London Fields area today, as part of our plans to rebuild a greener Hackney after lockdown, supporting people to walk, shop and cycle as public transport capacity remains low.

This construction in the London Fields area is expected to take up to two weeks. As with any scheme that makes changes to roads, there may be some disruption while drivers get used to the changes and sat nav apps adjust.

From today, we’re also rolling out new School Streets to 30 schools, supporting children to walk and cycle to school and maintain social distancing at the school gates. These are the first School Streets of 40 set to be introduced this autumn. Collectively, this will help over 14,000 children walk and cycle to school and help them maintain social distancing at the school gates.

Low traffic neighbourhoods in Hoxton West and Hackney Downs have been in place for roughly a week. While we expect disruption to continue for a number of weeks as drivers get used to the changes, these measures are already seeing reduced traffic in each area. Additional signage is being installed in each area to remind drivers of the changes, and outline how you can have your say.

As with all of our measures to rebuild a greener Hackney, you can have your say on this Commonplace page. We will consider all comments before making a decision on whether or not to make each scheme permanent. If there are issues raised by residents that need to be resolved sooner - and that our traffic monitoring supports - we will introduce mitigation measures.

Understandably, lots of you have questions about the new low traffic neighbourhoods. We want to work with you to make sure that the changes are working as well as possible so here are some of your questions answered.

Drivers are continuing to ignore the restrictions

Much of the traffic in the area will reduce as drivers get used to changes and sat nav apps adjust, however this can take a number of weeks. Unfortunately, there are some drivers who will continue to ignore the restrictions. We’ve already introduced camera enforcement at some sites, and there are bollards at others. This mix is to ensure that emergency services are still able to access each area quickly.

All other filters will be enforced randomly by mobile cameras. While we would have liked to guarantee 100% compliance with all the measures from day one, we are moving quickly to radically reduce traffic and improve conditions for walking and cycling at tens of locations across the borough so this hasn’t always been possible. However, most of this reduction in traffic we are aiming for in each neighbourhood will be achieved by the enforcement measures we have outlined.

What about access for local residents and businesses?

Residents and businesses can still access properties within the new low traffic neighbourhoods by motor vehicle, however this may be via different routes to avoid the filters, which you will not be able to drive through.

This may result in a small increase in journey time. In return, all residents in each area will see quieter, safer streets as through-traffic is removed. We also hope that this will encourage more residents to make short journeys on foot or by bike, further increasing the benefits to air quality and health.

Jenner Road in the Hackney Downs Low Traffic Neighbourhood

Residents have told us that they are concerned that Jenner Road will become a new rat-run as a result of the changes. While we think traffic on Jenner Road will reduce overall as drivers get used to the changes and through-traffic avoids the area completely, we will monitor traffic levels and make changes if necessary. We are happy to discuss residents’ concerns further.

Provost Street in the Hoxton West Low Traffic Neighbourhood

Some of you have reported significant levels of increased traffic on Provost Street as a result of the changes. We are looking at this, monitoring traffic and working up potential solutions. We will share more details soon.

‘Low traffic neighbourhoods only benefit wealthy residents’

This is not true. 70% of Hackney households do not own a car (with car ownership linked to higher income levels), but there is a risk that as public transport capacity remains low, the through-traffic that doesn’t start or end in the borough - which usually makes up 40% of traffic on Hackney’s roads - will increase. Meanwhile, the risk of road injury is also related to income. One study found that living in a household earning below £25,000 was associated with more than double the odds of injury*.

We have to stop this traffic from using our neighbourhoods as a cut-through, helping to create quieter, safer streets for everyone and supporting people to walk and cycle. We're implementing new traffic filters across the borough - in Homerton, Hackney Downs, Hoxton and London Fields, which improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists, benefiting those on lower incomes who are more likely to walk and cycle - and more likely to be injured doing so.

*Aldred, R. (2018). Road Injuries In The National Travel Survey Under-reporting And Inequalities In Injury Risk. p18. https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/download/131c6fd3314dc19383f95fa6a791562f9a0dd3d1a965abbd5058a91296822352/1888783/Road_Injuries_Report_April2018.pdf