Sir Sadiq Khan‘s team shelved a report on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods after it revealed it did not cut car use.
The report was commissioned by Transport for London – but after it discovered that LTNs have little to no impact on car use, it quietly hid the project.
The research found that although the schemes increased cycling, it failed to encourage people to stop using cars.
The results come in stark contrast to Sir Sadiq’s earlier claims that LTNs are good for the environment and reduce traffic.
The report was conducted by the University of Westminster and emails between them and TFL show mayoral officials were concerned about the results.
They openly discussed how they could spin the results to appear more positive and back Sir Sadiq’s claims about LTNs.
In one email, an official said that ‘all of this stuff is FoI-able’, and could therefore be made public via a Freedom of Information request.
However, they added that that seemed unlikely as no one outside of the transport system knew of the study.
Sir Sadiq Khan ‘s team shelved a report on low traffic neighbourhoods after it revealed it did not cut care use – despite the Mayor of London’s previous claims (pictured July, 24)
Instead, they stated that the project failed to offer any new or valuable information – despite evidence showing that LTNs do little to curb car usage, according to The Times.
An official statement declared that the results hadn’t been published because the report was ‘full of jargon’ and the language was inaccessible to the public.
However, in emails between TFL and the University of Westminster, one researcher revealed the conclusions of the research were ‘underwhelming’ and advised against publishing.
Instead, they offered to create a ‘suitably contextualised and caveated summary’ that TfL could publish.
Funding for the study was withdrawn in June last year.
John Stewart, of the campaign group Social and Environmental Justice, hit out at the decision, suggesting the report had been suppressed because Sir Sadiq’s office didn’t want to admit that TFLs had been a failure.
He told the publication: ‘The failure to publish is a serious omission because it could have helped inform decision-makers.
‘Councils and local councillors often support LTNs because they believe or are told that they are green and help reduce air pollution but this study hugely undermines that argument.’
The research, which cost £82,095 initially, and was planned to go on for three years, asked more than 4,500 residents about their travel over the previous week and cross-referenced their responses against the percentage of roads that were within LTNs.
The report, which cost £82,095, found that although the schemes increased cycling, it failed to encourage people to stop using cars (File image)
It found that those living in LTNs cycled more than those who did not, but that car usage remained the same and that the new traffic controls had little to no effect on the number of those walking.
The Mail has contacted the Mayor of London and TfL for comment.
The report comes after buses in one LTN area were taking up to two hours to travel less than three miles.
Transport for London (TfL) data showed that the A23, which runs along the western side of the LTN, became so bogged down in traffic that it took the bus 121 minutes to travel 2.9 miles.
Three-quarters of another bus route were diverted around the LTN during rush hour while another route forged a path straight through it, Department of Transport data has shown.
The Streatham Wells LTN caused ‘chaos’ after it was introduced in October 2023, with residents, local business owners, and motorists branding it a ‘nightmare’.
