LTN: One Lambeth loses High Court case against council

Like many other councils, Lambeth began implementing LTNs, road closures with the aim of reducing car use and promoting active travel, under Covid-19 emergency measures last year.  

The council had plans to install LTNs across the borough before the pandemic.  

But their rollout was accelerated after the Government set a time frame that meant local authorities had to get the LTNs in quickly or they wouldn’t be eligible for funding.  

While there is support for the LTNs, residents have also pushed back against them. The latter argue the road closures disproportionately affect disabled and elderly people, carers who need to drive for work, and increase traffic on neighbouring roads.  

One Lambeth, a community group set up in opposition to the LTNs, brought the court case against the council with the help of crowdfunding – backers have donated more than £35,000 to date. 

Sophia Sheakh, a disabled woman who became seriously ill from Covid-19 last year, represented One Lambeth in court. 

The 47-year-old, who lives just outside the Railton Road LTN between Herne Hill and Brixton, was in a coma for weeks after contracting the disease.

Despite recovering, she “remains vulnerable” and “still greatly dependant” on her car.  

Handing down his judgment, Mr Justice Kerr said the court “takes no part” in the public debate around LTNs and “is wholly neutral” on their merits or otherwise.  

He said: “The main focus of the claimant's case is that she and others similarly dependant on travel by car have suffered disproportionately from the introduction of LTNs within Lambeth, because the displacement of traffic from within the LTNs to the roads outside them leads to a build-up of traffic outside them and consequently increased journey times, added stress and loss of quality of life. 

“The claimant says Lambeth has overlooked this in the course of developing its thinking and discussing it locally, to the point where decisions to make orders creating the three relevant LTNs were unlawful and the orders should be quashed.  

“Lambeth disputes this and maintains that it has complied with all its legal obligations in the course of deciding to make the orders challenged.” 

Mr Justice Kerr dismissed all the claims against the council, including that the orders are not experimental, that Lambeth failed in its public sector equality duty, that it broke road traffic law, and that there was an inadequate consultation.  

In a statement after the ruling, Lambeth leader Cllr Claire Holland said: “We welcome the judge’s decisive ruling today, dismissing the claims on all counts. 

“Lambeth has been clear from the start that we had to act swiftly and urgently in the face of the huge challenges that the coronavirus pandemic posed to our borough, and in particular the immediate risk of it making existing inequalities on our streets and in our neighbourhoods worse. 

“The council has set out from the outset that implementing measures to make our streets safer and healthier was fully in line with statutory guidance and national policy objectives. 

“We rejected any suggestion that these schemes are discriminatory in any way or were installed illegally. 

“We’re glad that the judgement is clear on that, and particularly that considerations of equality were accounted for at the earliest stage of the LTN.  

“The judgement also reinforces our approach of continuing to consider those objectives using data collected throughout the experimental period, ensuring that the impacts on those most at-risk remains front and centre of our approach. 

“The start of the Covid-19 pandemic saw capacity on public transport reduced by up to 80 per cent to accommodate social distancing.  

“With around 60 per cent of households in Lambeth not having access to a car, and with access typically lower for women, Black and disabled residents in particular, we needed to make our streets safer to enable them to walk, cycle, scoot or wheel safely in their local area and access local facilities during the pandemic. 

“The council’s response was an emergency transport plan, produced last summer for the benefit of all Lambeth’s residents but primarily focused at tackling the acute inequalities that we envisaged the pandemic would exacerbate in our borough.  

“This plan included pavement widening, temporary walking and cycling infrastructure and low traffic neighbourhoods. 

“The council is carrying out regular, detailed, open and transparent monitoring of the programme and has already taken on board feedback from local people to make improvements where necessary. 

“We will now redouble our efforts to involve all of our communities in a conversation about how we rebalance our streets so that they are more equal, safer and put people first.”