Low-traffic schemes are ‘a breath of fresh air’

• BIG news from Islington Council, they are rolling out the red carpet for pedestrians and cyclists by making the Highbury LTN, low traffic neighbourhood, a permanent fixture.

That means that all seven of the new traffic-reduction schemes introduced between 2020 and 2022 are here to stay.

As a Highbury resident, I have been cheering from the pavement as our streets transform into peaceful, safer, havens.

The latest statistics are in from the Highbury scheme, and they are impressive:

— a whopping 76 per cent drop in traffic on internal roads,

— a more modest 4 per cent decrease on boundary roads.

And cyclists are having a (Highbury) field day with a 52 per cent increase on internal roads and a 6 per cent increase on boundaries.

On nearby roads beyond the LTN boundaries, bicycles nearly doubled at most locations.

And here is another encouraging fact, between 2016 and 2021, the number of privately-owned cars in Islington declined from 37,372 to 34,217.

This signals a welcome shift away from car dependency in our borough. However, let us not celebrate just yet.

Blackstock north and Seven Sisters are still playing catch-up, with traffic on the rise. The council is on it, though, promising to do more to put the brakes on car trips.

We need further measures as soon as possible to address traffic and ease the congestion that sometimes delays buses on these roads.

In a nutshell, we are witnessing a revolution in how we travel around our neighbourhoods, with a strong push for more walking, cycling, and safer streets.

It is a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively. Please, Islington, let’s keep the momentum going and let our borough set an example for sustainable urban living.

NEIL CHRISTIE
Highbury Place, N5