The debate around low-traffic neighbourhoods in Oxford has continued after a Freedom of Information request (FOI) saw the council reveal that almost £4m has been spent on low-traffic schemes since 2021.

The FOI request, made by the Oxford Mail, was responded to by Oxfordshire County Council, with the local authority confirming that it has spent more than £3.8m on the installation and maintenance of LTNs and ‘quickways’ cycle routes in Oxford between 2021 and 2024.

In response to the story, an independent councillor, Saj Malik, who represents Cowley on the county council, called the spending “completely tone deaf”.

“We expect the county council to provide the services we pay for but then they tell us there’s no money because they waste it on their pet projects like the LTNs,” he said. “In Cowley we’re at the sharp end of these transport restrictions and they make our lives a misery on a daily basis.”

Another independent councillor, David Henwood, said: “The annual running costs of the scheme places additional pressures on the public purse.”

While the headline £3.8m figure has attracted the most attention, the Oxford Mail piece did accept that the cost of installation of the schemes was in fact funded by central government, with the council only covering maintenance costs. Of the £3.8m total, £2.5m was spent in 2022, which was the year the schemes were first implemented.

Now it’s all in place, the annual running cost of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera scheme is estimated at just £55,000 and is “covered by revenue from parking fines (penalty charge notices)”, according to the local newspaper.

> Oxford air quality improved both inside and on boundary roads of low traffic neighbourhoods, but Labour MP claims more LTNs will worsen congestion

Green Party councillor Emily Kerr told road.cc that she believes some of the comment around the spending has missed the point about the “huge public health benefits” that enabling more people to walk and cycle can bring.

“The government says that road traffic collisions cost the UK economy around £34bn per year,” she explained. “This is not only a huge financial number, but also underplays the human and emotional costs of people being maimed and killed.

“Given we know that LTNs can reduce pedestrian injuries by 85 per cent — and that 22,000 people live in Oxford’s LTNs — I think that just £55k per year represents good value for money. Additionally, there are huge public health benefits from cleaner air and more children walking and cycling.”

Robin Tucker, spokesperson for Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel (CoHSAT) added: “The £4m Active Travel Tranche 2 funding delivered projects that benefit people’s health, safety and mobility in Oxford, Bicester and Witney – all for a fraction of the cost of a road scheme like the £35 million Lodge Hill slip roads.

“In Cowley alone, the LTNs save eight casualties a year, saving over £168,000 in lost work, medical, police and insurance costs. In addition, more than ten thousand people benefit from cleaner air and reduced noise, reducing physical and mental health problems, and safer streets for their families.”

The 100+ comments on the local newspaper’s story and debate among local politicians is typical of the reaction to low-traffic neighbourhoods which has been seen across the country in recent years.

By limiting through-traffic, via ANPR cameras or physical bollards, LTNs prevent rat-running and promote active journeys on foot or by bike; all with the aim of reducing pollution and improving public health.

Oxford LTN planter arson (Just Think Oxon/Twitter)
Twitter) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

They have, however, been controversial in some local communities and online, attracting protests and, in some cases, vandalism.

> Anti-LTN protestors stop traffic in Oxford

Addressing the challenge of implementing LTNs and other similar schemes such as School Streets (which ban traffic outside schools at the start and end of the school day) Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman told the COP29 summit that he had been “involved in the emotional side of this at a local level” and saw the vocal opposition to active travel schemes that is often seen from some in local communities.

“We’ve been doing a lot of focus group work on what plays with people and we’ve spoken to them about it,” he explained. “[Telling people] it’s worth £53 billion to the economy. Don’t care, I’m trying to pay my mortgage. But, when we talked about kids having transport independence and the ability to stay at after school clubs, suddenly they were leaning in and were really interested.

“We were talking about the same thing but we were talking to the outcomes that they could connect to. When you’re going to change the streetscape locally, don’t give it an acronym that people can disassociate from emotionally and learn to hate [like LTNs, for example]. Call it a child safe zone. Then if you want to campaign against it, fine, but you’re campaigning against a child safe zone.

“It just changed the whole framing and people understand and realise why this difficult thing is happening.”