Went for a walk, 9am in #wfminiholland
An entirely anecdotal thread about "Low Traffic Neighbourhoods" (LTNs) and "Residential Main Roads" (RMRs), given some anti-LTN folks like to talk about them...
I was planning to walk over to Lloyd Park and through Higham Hill. But... 1/16

When I got to Forest Road it was a bit quiet. The junction with Shernhall St, usually covered in cars of parents doing the Holy Family school run, was empty too. Odd, I thought to my self & walked on, past the town hall, and smiled at the new cycle tracks starting to go in. 2/16

At Bell Corner, traffic was light in all directions. And on a whim I turned south onto Hoe Street. The shops here, on the border of 3 LTNs, are all let & seem to be in good nick despite #lockdown I thought about my kids' old primary, now due to get a #SchoolStreet 3/16

Which made me happy, but sad that wherever a headteacher drives, schools almost invariably end up opposing such measures. Still, the area around the school will be far better for this measure finally arriving. Thx @Labourstone & @GracieMaeW. I walked up the hill hoping to... 4/16

See @AnalogPuss sitting in a window of the cafe. He wasn't, but I bumped into a mate outside another coffee shop. We chatted about the arts, Alexandra Palace, #StreetspaceLDN & I strolled on. Traffic was light. Not incredibly, but unusually so. And I started thinking... 5/16

RMRs, those opposed to LTNs say, variously don't exist in #wfminiholland. Every road I'll name in this thread has people living on it - in houses, flats above shops, estates. But they're also all clearly main roads - traffic lights & buses. Even those that admit most... 6/16

Main roads are RMRs & WF has plenty of these, like to pour scorn on the ever growing pile of evidence that LTNs don't mess up main roads. They've had a tough week, the anti-LTN folks, thanks to a welter of @guardian @peterwalker99 pieces plus new study from @RachelAldred 7/16

It's all a bit Trump/Gove these days. Experts & evidence are old hat, just saying stuff on social media is in. So apparently, despite evidence to the contrary, "traffic evaporation" doesn't exist, "induced demand" neither & LTNs permanently cause gridlock on RMRs. Anyway... 8/16

Back to the anecdote, my mind was whirring. What was going on. I looked at Gmaps. It was now 935 or so. After the rush hour, but usually quite busy. And look, fairly clear roads. And I thought about how when #wfminiholland first schemes went in all those green bits would... 9/16

Have been dark red. Now, few years later, @Labourstone still gets stick about schemes just gone in in Leyton/stone on Facebook. But most of the old grumbles have died out. Twitter isn't a sea of people complaining about these schemes. Because they've been in for years. 10/16

I turned onto Church Hill. The traffic there used to be backed up from this junction to the girls' school at the junction with Prospect Hill - before mini Holland, but during the first schemes too. It never was that bad now. Similarly, Palmerston Road used to be horrific. 11/16

Saturdays on Palmerston were infamous. Not any more. Right now the only grumbling I hear in Walthamstow is around Markhouse Road (where a new LTN has just gone in). Anyway, back to the map, what's the rest of London like at 940? Bad where there are roadworks largely. 12/16

Up to the top of Church Hill. The housing estate here a couple years back started using their unloved front area on Prospect Hill for gardening. Now they've got a homemade greenhouse and pizza oven there and folks hang out together in the summer. Down the hill, nearly home. 13/16

Along Shernhall and Forest to Wood Street and Fulbourne Road. Here's a full lights run of the junction. Now, this morning, I'd seen tweets, lots of them, of traffic chaos in London. But where's the chaos in #wfminiholland? Epicentre of LTNs and evil apparently? These roads? 14/16

So, entirely anecdotally, here's my theory from this stroll. Retail on the main roads is doing better in #wfminiholland than most areas of outer London, despite the LTNs or because (it absolutely is doing loads better inside the LTNs). The main roads are also not bunged up. 15/16

What is causing main roads to bung up elsewhere? Too many people driving when they don't need to; roadworks; new schemes. A theory, based on anecdote, but backed by the evidence we do have rather than in contradiction to it. Have a nice evening. #wfminiholland FTW. 16/16 Finis.