Crackdown on rogue councils over 20mph zones and LTNs

[libraryguy]

Councils that ignore local opposition to low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and 20mph zones could be stripped of their powers to issue penalties under a new Government plan for drivers that could also see them lose funding.

Draft guidance due to be published on Sunday will state that authorities must gain support from local residents, businesses and emergency services before introducing new LTNs.

The guidance, which will also require councils to “regularly review” existing schemes to monitor levels of local support, says: “Schemes should be adjusted if this reveals issues with performance and removed if they are shown to have failed to deliver as expected, including a failure to demonstrate local support.”

The Department for Transport (DfT) has also said new guidance will address concerns over bus lanes that cause delays, making sure that they only operate when that makes sense, such as when traffic is heavy enough to delay buses.

The statutory guidance on LTNs, due to come into force in the summer, is part of the plan for drivers drawn up after Rishi Sunak used an interview with The Telegraph last summer to launch a review of road policies and promise drivers that he was “on their side”.

His intervention came amid fears that motorists were being punished by schemes such as LTNs, which have become increasingly prevalent since the Covid pandemic. The schemes aim to reduce traffic in residential areas and cut carbon emissions.

Separately, the Government said it was “strengthening” guidance on applying new 20mph speed limits to make it clear that such restrictions should be reserved for “sensible and appropriate areas only”, such as roads outside schools, “with safety and local support at the heart of the decision”.

Ministers will make it clear that failing to adhere to the separate guidance on both LTNs and 20mph limits could lead to future Government funding being withdrawn.

The Government is planning to launch a consultation on further measures that could be taken against councils flouting guidance on the issue, including removing their access to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data used to enforce LTNs via camera footage.

Under powers in the Traffic Management Act, the Government could also take control of local roads where they are deemed to be mismanaged.

Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, said: “We want local people to have their voices heard, and any traffic schemes to have the consent of those they impact. Well thought-out schemes, like 20mph limits outside schools, can make our roads safer – but we are raising the bar to help ensure all traffic schemes work for everyone in the community.

“We’re on the side of drivers, and these latest measures show we’re getting on with delivering what we promised in our plan for drivers – making their lives better, fairer and cheaper, and helping people travel in the way that works best for them.”

Louise Haigh, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, criticised the Government for attempting “to dictate to local communities how to run their streets”.

But the Government said the reforms were supported by the review ordered by Mr Sunak last summer, which found that “only 13 per cent of residents have responded to councils’ planning consultations on LTNs, and just 18 per cent feel that their views have influenced council decisions”.

The report found that local authorities operating LTNs issued an average of 36,459 penalty charge notices per scheme, with the highest number of notices issued for a single LTN scheme exceeding 170,000.

The review showed that only a quarter of people understood the benefits of LTNs. It also flagged concerns over the impact on disabled residents, high numbers of penalty charge notices, the cost of LTNs and emergency services’ concerns that delays to crews caused by the schemes could “potentially risk lives”.

As well as tightening the rules on LTNs, the DfT has announced a package of further measures, which it said would “put people back in the driving seat”.

Traffic lights will be upgraded across the country through a £50 million funding injection. Of this, the DfT said £30 million would be used to replace outdated equipment, with £20 million being spent to reduce poor traffic light performance through technology that responds to live traffic conditions.

Consultations will also be launched, focusing on stopping councils from turning drivers into “cash cows” by profiting from enforcing traffic restrictions, such as fines for drivers going into yellow box junctions or parking restrictions. An eight-week call for evidence will quiz local authorities on how money from fines is reinvested.

Fresh guidance has been published to make it easier for councils to charge utility companies that slow down drivers with street works, while the Government has pledged to pursue “nuisance boy racers” who illegally modify their exhausts using noise cameras.

But Ms Haigh said the announcements were a “blatant and desperate attempt to distract people from a government that has run out of road”.

“All this ongoing Conservative chaos has a real cost for working people and our public services,” she said. “Labour will act on the real priorities of drivers by tackling soaring car insurance costs and the traffic clogging up our roads. And we will leave decisions over local roads where they belong – in the hands of local communities.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...al-opposition/

[Alikado]

Electioneering, says absolutely nothing, £50m to update Traffic lights, you could probably spend more than that in either Lancashire or Merseyside alone.

[The PNP]

“We’re on the side of drivers, and these latest measures show we’re getting on with delivering what we promised in our plan for drivers – making their lives better, fairer and cheaper, and helping people travel in the way that works best for them.”

'Cheaper' has been happening for years, at least when it comes to road-fuel. Becoming ever-cheaper in real terms, due to high inflation and a failure to increase it's price in Budgets....End result; folk have been switching to buying two-ton pedestrian-crushing monster 4x4's.

Traffic lights will be upgraded across the country through a £50 million funding injection. Of this, the DfT said £30 million would be used to replace outdated equipment, with £20 million being spent to reduce poor traffic light performance through technology that responds to live traffic conditions.

Well, that's something. Let's hope this new equipment has green-bike facilities, enabling riders to get away safely before the other traffic.

[local]

It would be nice to set a minimum threshold for community support for these LTN's

On a piecemeal basis I would like carpet and a nice pond outside my house but accept that transport for the majority is what matters not pandering for the minority, me.

I'm sure people near sections of the M6 would like it closed and pot plants put in but that won't get them and everyone else their goods and services.

People need to be less selfish,

that so called "rat-run user" might well be the nurse on the way to saving someone's life or simply the person off the checkout in Tesco dropping their children off before work.

Just ordinary people helping us all exist.


Sending them the "long way round" wastes time, fuel and increases pollution.

Journeys that are simply not going to undertaken on foot or by bike especially in the weather were having lately.

There not bad people leave them alone.

[donkey22]

Another heap of Tory populist bull****. It’s no more than a naive, desperate attempt at garnering some much needed last minute votes.
They’ll be gone by the end of the year.

Rishi Sunak’s report finds low-traffic neighbourhoods work and are popular https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...=share_btn_url

Also stats in here with 58% of residents supporting the LTN after implementation

https://assets.publishing.service.go...nts-survey.pdf

[local]

Dam populists



populist
/?p?pj?l?st/
noun
a person, especially a politician, who strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.


Labour long ago abandoned the ordinary people and the Conservatives abandoned everyone.

[The PNP]

Another heap of Tory populist bull****. It’s no more than a naive, desperate attempt at garnering some much needed last minute votes.
They’ll be gone by the end of the year.

Rishi Sunak’s report finds low-traffic neighbourhoods work and are popular

Also stats in here with 58% of residents supporting the LTN after implementation.

I'm not surprised at all by that.....After all, who wants their kids disappearing under the wheels of some loony boy-racer, a juggernaut following its Satnav, or a huge Chelsea Tractor?

The 'Chelsea Tractor' in particular, has become a real threat to the vulnerable road-user. Unlike a normal car, these vehicles have murderously-high front ends. Which rather than sending victims over the bonnet, knock them down - whereupon the vehicles wheels then crush them.

Question is, why 60% of UK's new car sales now fall into the 'SUV' category? Simple answer: buyers no longer feel safe driving regular cars in todays manic traffic, so are taking refuge in SUV's. Only prepared to venture out, once firmly ensconced inside these gross, lethal-to-others, two-ton tanks!

[said]

Councils that ignore local opposition to low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and 20mph zones could be stripped of their powers to issue penalties under a new Government plan for drivers that could also see them lose funding.

Draft guidance due to be published on Sunday will state that authorities must gain support from local residents, businesses and emergency services before introducing new LTNs.

The guidance, which will also require councils to “regularly review” existing schemes to monitor levels of local support, says: “Schemes should be adjusted if this reveals issues with performance and removed if they are shown to have failed to deliver as expected, including a failure to demonstrate local support.”

The Department for Transport (DfT) has also said new guidance will address concerns over bus lanes that cause delays, making sure that they only operate when that makes sense, such as when traffic is heavy enough to delay buses.

The statutory guidance on LTNs, due to come into force in the summer, is part of the plan for drivers drawn up after Rishi Sunak used an interview with The Telegraph last summer to launch a review of road policies and promise drivers that he was “on their side”.

His intervention came amid fears that motorists were being punished by schemes such as LTNs, which have become increasingly prevalent since the Covid pandemic. The schemes aim to reduce traffic in residential areas and cut carbon emissions.

Separately, the Government said it was “strengthening” guidance on applying new 20mph speed limits to make it clear that such restrictions should be reserved for “sensible and appropriate areas only”, such as roads outside schools, “with safety and local support at the heart of the decision”.

Ministers will make it clear that failing to adhere to the separate guidance on both LTNs and 20mph limits could lead to future Government funding being withdrawn.

The Government is planning to launch a consultation on further measures that could be taken against councils flouting guidance on the issue, including removing their access to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data used to enforce LTNs via camera footage.

Under powers in the Traffic Management Act, the Government could also take control of local roads where they are deemed to be mismanaged.

Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, said: “We want local people to have their voices heard, and any traffic schemes to have the consent of those they impact. Well thought-out schemes, like 20mph limits outside schools, can make our roads safer – but we are raising the bar to help ensure all traffic schemes work for everyone in the community.

“We’re on the side of drivers, and these latest measures show we’re getting on with delivering what we promised in our plan for drivers – making their lives better, fairer and cheaper, and helping people travel in the way that works best for them.”

Louise Haigh, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, criticised the Government for attempting “to dictate to local communities how to run their streets”.

But the Government said the reforms were supported by the review ordered by Mr Sunak last summer, which found that “only 13 per cent of residents have responded to councils’ planning consultations on LTNs, and just 18 per cent feel that their views have influenced council decisions”.

The report found that local authorities operating LTNs issued an average of 36,459 penalty charge notices per scheme, with the highest number of notices issued for a single LTN scheme exceeding 170,000.

The review showed that only a quarter of people understood the benefits of LTNs. It also flagged concerns over the impact on disabled residents, high numbers of penalty charge notices, the cost of LTNs and emergency services’ concerns that delays to crews caused by the schemes could “potentially risk lives”.

As well as tightening the rules on LTNs, the DfT has announced a package of further measures, which it said would “put people back in the driving seat”.

Traffic lights will be upgraded across the country through a £50 million funding injection. Of this, the DfT said £30 million would be used to replace outdated equipment, with £20 million being spent to reduce poor traffic light performance through technology that responds to live traffic conditions.

Consultations will also be launched, focusing on stopping councils from turning drivers into “cash cows” by profiting from enforcing traffic restrictions, such as fines for drivers going into yellow box junctions or parking restrictions. An eight-week call for evidence will quiz local authorities on how money from fines is reinvested.

Fresh guidance has been published to make it easier for councils to charge utility companies that slow down drivers with street works, while the Government has pledged to pursue “nuisance boy racers” who illegally modify their exhausts using noise cameras.

But Ms Haigh said the announcements were a “blatant and desperate attempt to distract people from a government that has run out of road”.

“All this ongoing Conservative chaos has a real cost for working people and our public services,” she said. “Labour will act on the real priorities of drivers by tackling soaring car insurance costs and the traffic clogging up our roads. And we will leave decisions over local roads where they belong – in the hands of local communities.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...al-opposition/

Pity this issue is being used for election purposes it should have been in place long before the LTN's were. Roads are proven to be safer with free flowing traffic - all the LTN's do is shift the problem to other roads. Some years ago, traffic was funnelled into a lesser used road - within a period of just three months, I lost three acquaintances after they were killed on this one 'quiet' road.

When out cycling - I would get very nervous if I heard the car behind me suddenly slow down as I could never be sure what the driver intended to do - hence the reason I put rear view mirrors on my bike. It is far better to hear the traffic flowing normally.

[The PNP]

When out cycling - I would get very nervous if I heard the car behind me suddenly slow down as I could never be sure what the driver intended to do - hence the reason I put rear view mirrors on my bike. It is far better to hear the traffic flowing normally.

If it's me behind you, there's no need to worry....Unless it's a particularly wide road, I hang well back and only go past the bike when there's nothing coming the other way. Once it's clear, I swing well out into the oncoming lane, giving rider a nice wide berth.

[said]

If it's me behind you, there's no need to worry....Unless it's a particularly wide road, I hang well back and only go past the bike when there's nothing coming the other way. Once it's clear, I swing well out into the oncoming lane, giving rider a nice wide berth.

AND that really gets to me as well. If a motorist gives me a very wide berth, I feel insulted! I ride my bike steadily - for a car driver to have to give me a wide berth, you'd think I was wobbling all over the road like a drunk.

[The PNP]

AND that really gets to me as well. If a motorist gives me a very wide berth, I feel insulted! I ride my bike steadily - for a car driver to have to give me a wide berth, you'd think I was wobbling all over the road like a drunk.

I ride steadily too. Even so, its those close-passes, particularly by big stuff like trucks and busses that I don't like. Buffeted to one side by the draught, it's hard to keep a straight line as they whizz past.