Campaigners took to the High Court on Wednesday as they brought a legal challenge against Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman for deciding to remove a set of low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in Bethnal Green.
The Save our Safer Streets (SOSS) group put forward seven arguments against the decision, which were discussed in highly technical detail during the first session of a two-day hearing.
The group is concerned that Mr Rahman ran a “flawed” consultation and decision-making process when he decided, in September 2023, to remove three LTNs in Columbia Road, Arnold Circus, and Old Bethnal Green Road. All of the schemes have remained in place pending the outcome of the hearing.
Mr Rahman had promised, in the manifesto on which he was re-elected in 2022, to “reopen our roads, and abolish the failed Liveable Streets scheme, which has seen emergency services and vulnerable residents’ access blocked”.
LTNs have become a ‘hot button’ topic in London over recent years, with Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall promising in her unsuccessful City Hall campaign earlier this year to help communities get rid of “unwanted” LTNs and to axe 20mph zones “where safe to do so”.
Jane Harris, a SOSS campaigner, said Mr Rahman had failed to “listen to local residents about what a difference these schemes have made in their lives”.
She told the Standard outside the court: “He hasn’t heard from the teachers who say it’s much easier to get students into school safely with these changes, because there are no longer heavy goods vehicles coming down a road that has four schools.
“He hasn’t listened to older people who say they feel safer going to the shops. I met one woman who said it’s the first time in 50 years living on Old Bethnal Green Road that she feels safe walking to the shops by herself. He hasn’t listened to the GPs or to the hospitals, who say that we’re all healthier.
“And finally, he hasn’t listened to all the delivery cyclists who rely on the cycle route between Bethnal Green and Shoreditch to work safely. He’s putting all of their lives in jeopardy, and that’s not fair.”
The group also argued that Mr Rahman ignored Government guidance, and failed to properly consider if removing the LTNs would be a “best value” use of £2.5m.
Transport for London (TfL) was also involved in Wednesday’s hearing as an “interested party”, arguing that Tower Hamlets’ decision didn't follow the necessary legal processes and is at odds with the council’s Local Implementation Plan (LIP), which had previously been agreed with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
TfL’s barrister, Charlotte Kilroy KC, told the court: “Boroughs cannot unilaterally decide to revise LIPs, nor can they unilaterally decide not to implement them.”
The council’s barrister, Saira Kabir Sheikh KC, submitted an argument in defence of the authority, stating that the row is “essentially a disagreement with the outcome of the democratic decision-making process about the direction of transport policy within the borough”.
She argued that Mr Rahman’s decision to remove the schemes was not “the end of the road” in the sequence of events, and that a “statutory process” would still follow “in order for that policy decision to have any real effect.”
She added: “That rigorous statutory process will provide the opportunity for consultation, objection and scrutiny of the proposals [to remove the LTNs]. The outcome of that process is not known.”
Arguments in the council’s defence will be heard in fuller detail by the court in the second session of the two-day hearing, on Thursday, November 21.
A Tower Hamlets council spokesperson said earlier this week however: “We remain confident in our legal position and we look forward to the outcome [of the hearing].”
