Right, who is looking for a case study on how NOT to achieve a difficult but necessary shift in public behaviour? If so, look no further than the shambolic, naive and frankly useless way @wandbc have handled the introduction of local Low Traffic Neighbourhoods ( #LTNs) in Tooting

Barely a fortnight into the 6 month trial of closing off residential roads they've ditched the scheme, caving in to the vocal, sometimes unpleasantly personal, opposition to it. The many planters that have been screwed into streets around the area will be gone by Tues this week.

Tooting has the dubious honour of topping lists of London boroughs - for low air quality, traffic accidents, road deaths. So how did the council screw this one up? How have they had to back down so fast despite the obvious negative impact heavy traffic has on our neighbourhoods?

1. They spent ZERO time framing the issue. During lockdown we smelt the absence of cars in sweeter air; we heard the absence of cars (hello birdsong); we saw it too (remember the blue skies?). I sensed an openness to a new way of looking at our relationship to cars and driving

But there's some big cultural stuff to overcome here. Cars aren't just machines. They mean status and freedom, liberty and success, independence and opportunity. To have a chance of success, schemes to reduce traffic need to address these values as well as the logistics.

2. Good campaigns need to work at this level of values to paint a picutre of the future - e.g. health, connection, joy - otherwise people will just obsess about the past that they're losing. The council didn't inspire our imaginations about what any changes could lead to.

What makes this even more galling is how many brilliant and REAL examples there are of what city life looks like when we reduce private car usage. See for eg #wfminiholland evaluation https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856417314866 or 40% reduction in Paris traffic under @Anne_Hidalgo. there are more.

Finally, there's been no commitment to supporting innovations that might ease our way in to a less polluted future. Playstreets, car pool schemes, subsidised bikes - all these things are within the council's gift to support - but predictably @wandbc has gone nowhere near them

Ultimately, LTNs are part of a move to change behaviour. Fewer cars need to make fewer journeys. Shifting behaviour is hard and it takes time. By ditching the scheme within a fortnight the council has actually made it even harder to change things for the better from now on...

... as those opposing LTNs see this as a huge win. I saw one @OWandsworth supporter actually WHOOPING when the news came through that the scheme was being dropped. Whooping for the end of an attempt to reduce pollution, increase safety and rebalance our streetscapes... ???

I am part of a number of whatsapp groups where tonight the chat is all about how good it is that the LTNs are being scrapped, but how much we need to petition to keep the road blocks in our own streets/areas as it's been such an improvement.

and that's the trouble isn't it. too many cars make every other alternative mode of transport awful. LTNs will always struggle initially, until enough people stop using cars for short journeys and find alternatives instead - leaving the roads clearer for those needing to drive

. @wandbc have wasted money and goodwill on this experiment. I'm left with the feeling that perhaps they never wanted it to succeed in the first place, because underneath it all they still believe that driving (esp 4x4s) is a status symbol that is not to be fucked with <RANT OVER>