LTN plan that tore apart community is scrapped

A LOW traffic neighbourhood (LTN) plan that created “fear, suspicion and rage” has been scrapped after businesses and residents “bombarded” the council with objection letters.

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham had set up a working party that drew up proposals to use CCTV cameras to try to reduce traffic in an area of west London known as Brackenbury Village.

However, more than 40 business owners in the area wrote to the council saying they feared the possibility of fining motorists from outside the area would scare off visitors.

A statement from Better Brackenbury, a working group set up by the council in 2019, showed that the plans divided the community.

The volunteers drew up a report on ways to “reduce traffic” in a Clean Air Neighbourhood by using CCTV cameras that fine unauthorised motorists.

However, public meetings about the proposed trial became heated as residents and business owners expressed opposition.

A statement from the group explained that the plans should be “abandoned” after opponents “bombarded the council with letters of objection”.

“This has caused a lot of misunderstanding, anger and division in our community which is very much to be regretted,” it said.

The statement added: “There has been such a high level of misunderstanding and the atmosphere of fear, suspicion and rage created and amplified on social media platforms like Next Door, that it meant it became impossible for the council to have any form of reasonable discussion.”

The group was looking to use CCTV cameras to identify and fine motorists not granted permission to enter the area. Opponents feared it would shift traffic to main roads, causing congestion and increased pollution in other areas.

A spokesman for the business owners who demanded the plans be dropped said they were “delighted” the council had listened to “common sense”.

A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesman said: “We don’t do LTNs in Hammersmith and Fulham. We do, however, work with residents to set up independent working parties to look at important and complex issues.

“The consultation undertaken by the working party and supported by the council did not work out well. There was an awful lot of misrepresentation long before the public drop-in presentations ever began. No consultation can work in those circumstances.”