BUT THE BATTLE’S STILL NOT OVER

BRUM BETRAYAL

IN BIRMINGHAM alone, the council has so far spent £1 million in central government funding on reducing car access. They’ve generously topped this up with £600,000 of council tax takings, and more funding is promised once the current sixmonth ‘trial’ period is over.

Neville Summerveale and Lesley Sutton own a florist on Poplar road in Kings heath, a suburb at the centre of the new scheme. Without warning earlier this month, the council placed a planter at the front of their shop, blocking off the road to cars.

Mr Summerveale told the mail: ‘I call it Checkpoint Charlie. It is neither sensible, fair nor practical. It has already had an effect on the business and hasn’t helped reduce traffic or emissions and improve community relations.

‘ It is increasing congestion and emissions because drivers have to take longer routes.

‘In terms of child safety, it is more dangerous because cars and 7.5 tonne lorries are doing U-turns in the road. I would say business is down 25 per cent and they haven’t yet put the bollards in.’

On Wednesday, when the mail visited, between 7.30am and 8.30am only seven cyclists passed through the planters. meanwhile, 15 cars had to turn around when they saw the road was blocked.

In the evening rush hour, the picture was much the same, with several frustrated motorists taking the law into their own hands and driving through no entry signs.

MANC MAYHEM

IN SALFORD, a similar LTN has been introduced in the hope of encouraging drivers to hop on their bikes.

But when the mail visited St Stephen Street, the site of the scheme, on Wednesday morning, we spotted just four cyclists passing through the road, which has just been blocked off to cars by the council.

Rose Jones, who lives just off the street, said: ‘The scheme is a really bad idea. The traffic around here now is absolute mayhem. It was nowhere near as bad before and I’m sure the reason for the change is that this street is now closed.’

YORK CORKED

WHEN the city council’s transport chief, Councillor andy D’Agorne, erected car-stopping barriers on the city’s bustling Lowther Street in June, drivers passing by hurled abuse at him.

Since then the LTN — which was approved for 18 months — appears to have failed to win over its critics.

When the mail visited for an hour during rush-hour on Wednesday morning, we noted that only 26 cyclists used the new scheme, which is now marked out by heavy cement blocks after motorists removed the plastic bollards that were previously in place.

Local resident Kim Schofield told the mail that she approved of the barriers but added: ‘Some roads have been chocka-block with traffic since these barriers have been put up.

‘On the first couple of days there were a few ambulances that had to re-route, and it was just a chaotic mess.’

DORSET DISASTER

RESIDENTS in Poole have already taken to the streets to protest against an LTN that was imposed on them by the council. and it’s easy to see why.

On Wednesday morning between 7.30am and 8.30am, just nine cyclists were counted, while long queues of traffic could be seen clogging up the main road nearby.

mike Wescombe, 67, a retired transport consultant, said: ‘ It’s absolutely disastrous. When the traffic’s really bad you can spend ten [extra] minutes just to get to the end of the road here.

‘Think about the extra mileage, the fuel, the emissions and so on. What benefits do you see?’