Stoke Newington

After considering traffic and air quality data, alongside responses provided by residents to this Commonplace page, the Council has made a decision to make the Stoke Newington LTN permanent. See hackney.gov.uk/stoke-newington-ltn for the full decision report, including the engagement report which includes the results from this Commonplace page.

We will continue to monitor the effects of the LTN and listen to feedback about the scheme. You can email comments to: streetscene.enquiries@hackney.gov.uk.

For the past two years, we’ve been engaging with Stoke Newington residents on how we can make the area cleaner, greener and safer, after many identified traffic and poor air quality as significant issues in the area.

We have now received funding from Transport for London to close Stoke Newington Church Street to polluting through-traffic during the daytime. The bus gate - located outside the Red Lion Pub on Stoke Newington Church Street - will operate from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday, and will permit buses, cyclists, pedestrians and emergency vehicles to pass through. It will be introduced from Monday 20 September.

These plans are part of our ambitions to rebuild a greener Hackney in the aftermath of the pandemic, improve air quality, and help people to walk, cycle and support local businesses as the borough emerges from coronavirus restrictions.

They will help to reduce traffic, improve air quality, and improve road safety on Stoke Newington Church Street and Albion Road, including at the three primary schools on these roads.

The restriction is timed to balance the need to reduce traffic with delivery and servicing requirements of businesses on Church Street.

The bus gate will also be the first in the borough to allow Blue Badge holders with a registered permit to drive through at any time, after the Council recently revised its policy following feedback from local residents with disabilities.

A further five 24-hour traffic filters, allowing only pedestrians, cyclists, emergency and waste vehicles through, will also be introduced in the area to prevent traffic from using alternative residential routes as a shortcut. These will be introduced on:

FAQs

What will I see during the first week?

Read more about what you can expect to see during the first week of operation here . To ensure all exit routes are in place, the filters on roads surrounding Church St come into force first on launch day, followed later by the Church St bus gate.

Updates

We are providing regular updates following the introduction of the Stoke Newington low traffic neighbourhood, covering more of your common questions:

Why are we implementing this now?

We were awarded funding from the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Fund in 2019. In the engagement events and online Commonplace exercise we carried out in 2019 and last year, people told us that there was too much traffic/congestion in the area, that the pavements were too narrow, there were high levels of pollution and that cycling felt dangerous. This is why we are introducing these changes.

To complement these measures, and to help people walk, cycle and shop locally by reducing traffic and pollution on Stoke Newington Church Street, we are proposing to improve crossing points for pedestrians and enhance the public realm. We are also proposing to introduce a Cargobike Sharing scheme.

The changes are being funded by the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund, and is being implemented in line with its advice to local authorities: ‘Local authorities in areas with high levels of public transport use should take measures to reallocate road space to people walking and cycling, both to encourage active travel and to enable social distancing during restart.’

In line with Department for Transport advice, we are implementing these measures using experimental traffic orders for a trial period of 18 months, which means residents and businesses can have their say while they are in operation.

What problems are these plans addressing?

Residents have told us that traffic and pollution are issues in Stoke Newington, particularly on Church Street and Albion Road. These changes are aimed at reducing polluting through-traffic from travelling through the area.

Like the rest of London, Hackney’s streets have seen a significant rise in the number of vehicle journeys over the past ten years.

We also know that about 40% of the borough’s traffic passes through without stopping, causing pollution, congestion and providing no economic benefit to the borough.

These changes are aimed at protecting residents from these trends, and encouraging people to switch motor vehicle journeys for walking, cycling or public transport.

We know not everyone can make this switch, which is why all addresses in low traffic neighbourhoods can be accessed by motor vehicle, and why the Stoke Newington low traffic neighbourhood will be the first to permit Blue Badge holders with a registered companion badge to drive through the restrictions.

What will be the impact on traffic in the area?

We have inputted the proposals into a computer model to assess what the approximate effect on traffic in the area would be. Roads in the immediate area (including Albion Road, Church Street and Lordship Road), as well as local residential roads, are likely to see a decline in traffic, but on some roads there could be increases. Our modelling shows that some increases in traffic are expected on Manor Road. Transport for London and the Council do not expect these to have a significant impact on bus and other journey times, however we will continue to monitor this.

It is also important to note that evidence from our other trial low traffic neighbourhoods so far shows that, on average, traffic reduces across the whole area, including on boundary roads. Initial analysis of traffic levels in the London Fields , Homerton and Hoxton West low traffic neighbourhoods has shown early signs of traffic reduction in each area, with traffic down on roads inside LTNs by between 40 and 44%, and on boundary roads by between seven and 30%. This shows early indications of the ability of low traffic neighbourhoods to reduce traffic, support people to walk, shop and cycle locally and help rebuild a greener Hackney in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The Council is removing some parking bays at existing pinch points on Manor Road to improve traffic flow in advance of the Stoke Newington scheme being introduced.

We also expect a small increase in traffic on Crossway. We are working with Transport for London on possible measures to mitigate any excess traffic levels on this road.

We have completed monitoring of 45 roads in the area and will repeat this at regular intervals during the scheme's trial period. Alongside the views of residents and businesses, this will help us to make a decision on whether or not to make these measures permanent. Using our existing network of air quality monitoring stations, we will also be able to monitor the changes in air quality. Westminster University is also conducting an independent study into the impacts of the scheme using four continuous traffic counters.

Emergency service access

The filters we are introducing will continue to allow emergency service access. We consult with the emergency services, including officers at Stoke Newington Fire Station, before introducing changes like this, and always take their feedback into account in designs.

Deliveries for businesses

We have been talking to local businesses about plans for Church Street over the past few years, and have taken their views into account in their design.

Business deliveries will still be able to access all parts of Church Street, but they won’t be able to drive through the bus gate between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Sunday. Last year we carried out a delivery and servicing study, and are liaising directly with businesses to help mitigate any effect on deliveries. The loading bays on Church Street will remain available at all times.

We recognise there may be some inconvenience as delivery vehicles may have to change their routes slightly, or have a reduction in route choice. For example, delivery vehicles using Bouverie Road or Yoakley Road will still be able to use those roads, but will need to go out the same way that they came. Between 7am and 7pm delivery vehicles using Stoke Newington Church Street will also need to go out the same way they came in. However, we believe that the benefits to businesses in the area from an improved environment that can lead to increased footfall outweigh the inconvenience.

Access for residents

All residents and businesses where there are closures/filters will still be able to drive to their property, but this may be via a different route.

No road is being closed entirely - they are being closed to non-local through-traffic at specific points on each road.

Green Lanes cycle lanes

Following a successful Streetspace funding bid the Council has now installed segregated cycle lanes on Green Lanes between the junction with Petherton Road and Haringey boundary by New River. For more about this scheme, visit this page .

Walford Road area

If you'd like to respond to the Walford Road scheme , you can do so by visiting the dedicated Walford Road page , as this scheme pre-dates the Rebuilding a Greener Hackney programme.

Have your say

In line with guidance from Transport for London and the Department for Transport, the trial is being implemented under an experimental traffic order for a maximum period of 18 months, so you can see how it works in practice before having your say.

We will consider your views, alongside traffic and air quality data, before making a decision on whether or not to make this trial permanent. You can have your say for six months after the trial has been implemented, until 31 March 2022 .

The experimental traffic order was advertised in the London Gazette and the Hackney Citizen on 27 August 2021.