Click here to see the Video of the Public Meeting held 25th July in Edinburgh,
Attended by over 200 people, this public meeting was set up to discuss the pros and cons of LEZ, 20 min Neighbourhoods, Low Traffic Zones and how various schemes around Edinburgh are already affecting residents, businesses and visitors. Edinburgh Council were invited to take part to defend their policies and so that a debate could take place. However they declined to take part and consequently the panelists were all very sceptical and the audience very largely in agreement. There was a small representation from the public at the later session for public comments and questions, who expressed some points in agreement with various measures. The message is clear. A lot of people are badly affected, these schemes don’t achieve the stated aims and more open debate is required!
In Corstorphine around 500 people met at an open meeting to hear and be heard over the traffic and travel schemes.
Stop Corstorphine LTN facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/805393763982305/permalink/827434921778189
ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS
Alan Miller of #together group reviews some recent news and how the group is making a difference
Council set to U-turn on ‘impossible’ scheme that would split Canterbury into five traffic zones
By Jack Simpson, TRANSPORT Correspondent, the Telegraph. 29 July 2023
A Kent council is set to about-turn on an “impossible, controversial and unpopular” traffic scheme that would split the medieval city of Canterbury into five zones.
Motorists in Canterbury were to be penalised if they drove from one zone to another under plans put forward by the previous Conservative-led council last year.
The zoning system, modelled on one in the Belgian city of Ghent, would see the area divided into five zones and charges in place for those crossing the boundaries. The Canterbury Circulation Plan, which does not have a date to be set up, was part of a plan to get people out of their cars and reduce emission under the initiative Canterbury 2045.
However, Canterbury City Council’s new Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition has said it will review the draft, which included the zoning, after the traffic plans caused a “great deal of concern” for residents.
Alan Baldock, leader of the council, said at a Cabinet meeting on July 10: “By their very nature, local plans are full of difficult decisions.
“There is a process and we have no choice but to follow it. That process forces councillors to make sometimes impossible, controversial and unpopular choices. Scheme is under review after it was found to cause residents distress
“Why do we need to think again? As officers carry on working through the mammoth task of analysing consultation responses from more than 2,000 individuals and organisations to the Regulation 18 consultation – more than 24,000 individual representations all together – that message is coming through loud and clear.”
As part of the plans residents and tourists would face as-yet undisclosed fines for travelling across boundaries, via ANPR cameras, unless they venture out on to a new ring road. In some cases, this would make one-mile trips ten miles long.
Ben Fitter-Harding, the council’s former Conservative leader, the driving force behind the plan, was adamant that it was not a “war on motorists” but would make things easier for residents. However, Mr Fitter-Harding lost his seat in the local elections this year after receiving widespread criticism over the scheme. He also had to contend with a rebellion from his fellow Conservative councillors. With one describing it as a “crazy idea” that “nobody wants”.
In 2019, the Conservatives won 23 seats on Canterbury City Council, while Labour got 10 and the Lib Dems six. But Tory defections over the traffic plan earlier this year saw the party’s majority collapse, as four councillors switched to the new Independent Serve to Lead Group (ISLG).
Unpopular schemes
The review of the five zone plan comes as new traffic filter schemes and lower traffic neighbourhoods are being increasingly re-looked at in the face of local opposition.
Earlier this month, the Labour-run Newcastle City Council announced that it would be carrying out an internal review of its introduction of LTNS amid local criticism. The Jesmond East LTN, which has been installed on an 18-m trial basis, has become a point of contention, with a large number of locals against it. A petition calling for its removal has garnered more than 4,000 signatures.
The government also appears to be becoming increasingly anti-LTN after Mark Harper, the transport sec, called on local authorities to review schemes where there was a lack of consultation.
He said: “For local authorities who have got schemes that weren’t popular, were
very controversial and aren’t very well supported, then it would probably be wise for them to look at them again.”
In May the Department for Transport barred councils from using government cash handed out through a £200 million active travel fund from being used to install LTNs.