WARRINGTON South MP Andy Carter is calling for the controversial Westy Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme to be scrapped following feedback from more than 900 households in the area affected.
Mr Carter wrote to every household in Latchford East earlier this year following the decision by Warrington Borough Council to close off Grange Avenue to through traffic and introduce a number of other changes to side roads in the Westy area.
As well as asking about residents’ views on the scheme, the survey also asked about awareness of the plans before the changes were made, following comments from local people who said they didn’t feel they had been properly informed by the Borough Council. 85% of respondents stated they weren’t consulted about the scheme before the implementation.
Thanking the people who have sent back their completed surveys, Mr Carter says Westy residents and businesses are overwhelmingly opposed to the scheme:
“The results are a stark and unambiguous rejection of the Low Traffic Neighbourhood in the Westy area. 87% of respondents to the survey say they want to return to the old layout and 88% believe Grange Avenue should be re-opened to through traffic. This isn’t a small sample from a handful of residents, it’s a really significant response from local families and shows the strength of feeling on this issue. I know the Council have been asking their own questions, the message they will receive will be the same, this scheme isn’t working in Westy.”
A Question was also included in the survey to gauge the impact the new road layout has had on the time taken to complete a journey compared to before the introduction of the LTN. 84% of the residents who responded said the low traffic scheme had increased their journey times.
Mr Carter added: “We can all see the problems for ourselves, travelling along Kingsway takes much longer now, traffic now can’t use both lanes on Knutsford Road to filter onto Grange Avenue and there are queues where they didn’t exist before. Congestion is a problem in the town because of the pinch points created by the ship canal and River Mersey, closing off roads simply adds to the problems rather than makes journeys easier.”
After reading through the comments submitted by local residents Mr Carter has also decided to launch a follow-up survey online to gather further thoughts on some specifics of the scheme. The responses to this survey will help to guide future actions and will help to reinforce the strong opposition to the new road layout. The survey can be completed at: https://www.andycarter.org.uk/form/westy-ltn-second-survey
Findings from the household survey follow concerns raised by local businesses in the area who have also suffered significant falls in takings and a reduction in passing trade.
Mr Carter has confirmed he will be writing to the Leader of the Council and Chair of the Highways Committee to share the results of the survey and to urge them to listen to the views of local road users who oppose the LTN. A decision on the future of the scheme is one for elected Labour Councillors alone, who have the ability to reverse the changes.
Rachael Harper, from he Central 6 campaigners opposed to the LTN schemes at Orford and Westy said: “I want to thank Andy Carter for carrying out this survey on behalf of his constituents. The results of this survey clearly show that we as a campaign group have been right to continue campaigning against the LTN scheme in Westy because many people in the area, including businesses and residents are against it. While the council survey results have yet to be published, I would be very surprised if they were any different. We have known ever since this scheme was implemented with very little consultation, that it was not welcome.
“While we can all agree to get behind the principles of it; such as going green, safer and cleaner streets we strongly believe that’s not what the scheme delivers. It has increased traffic, had a negative impact on people’s mental health in the area and causes more pollution to be spread into other areas. Not to mention that the planters are a complete eye sore and pose a real risk in terms of restricting access for emergency services (which was evident when they had to use a one-way system to attend a car fire). If the council are interested in listening to and working with their resident on this then now is the time for them to act! In this current cost of living crisis, they are costing people more money and precious time. How can they simply stand by and do nothing?
“Anyone in Warrington who is opposed to this scheme, especially from the Westy area is invited to join us at our important protest rally. This will take place on the skittles in the town centre on October 29 at 1pm. We aim to keep making noise to let the council know we will not back down and we also aim to spread awareness of why we oppose the scheme. As with our last events, the police have been notified and we expect this to be a peaceful event in which we will exercise our legal right to protest. We managed to make an impact in Orford, but we fight on for Westy because right is right!!”
Warrington Borough Council say they are still collating feedback from hundreds of people who completed the survey.
The results of Mr Cater’s survey
5 Comments
Journeys under 2 miles made up around 45% of all urban trips in England, in 2019, and journeys below 5 miles made up 58% of all car trips.
Great to see the Conservative chaos in Westminster extends to the Tory in Warrington South.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are Conservative Government Policy (really!) and the Warrington LTN is funded by the same Conservative government that Mr. Carter is (currently) part of. He is therefore actively opposing his own government’s policy!
So why would anyone support the introduction of LTNs? After all a bit of air pollution never harmed anyone…. or did it?
Air pollution is likely to increase the risk of developing chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer and dementia leading to reduced life expectancy.
‘Motor vehicles have come to dominate our cities, towns and villages. In 1970, there were 13 million vehicles on Britain’s roads driving 145 billion miles. Last year, there were 38 million vehicles driving 329 billion miles. Add to this the rise of technology such as Sat-Navs and mapping tools which route drivers through any area to reduce journey time. Our local streets have never felt more dominated by motor traffic.
Through their size, speed and increasing numbers, motor vehicles have had a huge impact on the places where we live. Safety has been compromised as a result. A clear example of this is the huge reduction of children present on our streets. Once, streets were places where children could play and roam but some of our most recent research revealed that 60% of 4-11 year-olds never play out on their local streets. When asked why, over a third of parents said they didn’t think their street was a ‘safe, welcoming place their child (could) enjoy’.
‘Amid the daily froth of sometimes entirely false stories about LTNs closing roads, or slowing emergency service response times, one thing is often forgotten: these schemes tend to be very popular.’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/16/mythbusters-eight-common-objections-to-ltns-and-why-they-are-wrong
We could all continue to drive cars for most journeys and our streets being ruled by cars, however there are many reasons why we need to change – LTNs are part of that change.
It is so disappointing that a Conservative MP is opposing a Conservative Government policy that will help to improve our streets, environment and health.
David
PS. Ask Mr. Carter about his government’s approach to road pricing – apparently it’s the future; https://www.smf.co.uk/conservative-voters-back-replacing-fuel-duty-with-road-pricing/
PPS. His judgement can be questioned as he was one of the 0.2% of people in this country who campaigned and voted for Liz Truss for PM.
Andy Carter may have sent out a survey to 900 households, but I doubt they all replied. Would he care to release the important number of how many actually did reply so we can really gauge the level of discontent? Quoting percentages without either an error margin or giving the sample size of the returns is typical political disingenuity and naive reporting of statistical findings. Given the actual number who bothered to turn out for the anti-road blocking march, especially where the response,I suspect the number is low.
Time for a bit more journalist digging to find the truth, not the pretty pictures and biased analysis.
Oops: Given the actual number who bothered to turn out for the anti-road blocking march, I suspect the number who responded is low.
I think you’ll find hundreds of people turned up to the March so I don’t know where you’re getting your info. Also, in terms of the survey I think you’ll need to read the above article more carefully because it says 900 households provided feedback. Perhaps your maths really isn’t as good as you think.
Naomi seems to do perfectly fine on maths, unlike your “hundreds”. Actually, just over 100 out of a potential 3000 marched and not all of those were local as they had Orford residents walking.
ref
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/20372310.residents-protest-unfair-westy-latchford-central-6-scheme/