In response to the statement and guidance issued on the 17th of
March for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and the Plan For Drivers,
Isaac Occhipinti from the BPA commented:
“LTNs are a relatively new development, and we continuously work
with our members to ensure best practice in any traffic or
parking management schemes. However, whilst we accept that the
need for enhanced guidance for new traffic schemes should always
be explored, the current rhetoric and implied punishments for
Councils is proving to be extremely damaging and misleading.
Restricting or curtailing local authority access to DVLA keeper
records could potentially also significantly restrict them in
enforcing wider traffic and parking schemes. This would be
a disaster for local road users & residents. Also, as
any surplus income from traffic enforcement is strictly ring
fenced for the benefit of local community road and travel
schemes, such as concessionary bus fares, it would undoubtedly
have much wider, unforeseen, negative impacts.
At a time when Councils have little to no money spare to invest
in anything other than essential local schemes, this kind of
action would truly be the worst outcome for local areas,
something we are not seeing highlighted much in media
reports. We are calling on Government to reconsider many of
the measures proposed in the Plan for Drivers, which would not
actually be good for drivers, who will find themselves on roads
that are more congested and with less places, if any, available
to park.
The Government needs to start assessing what they want our roads
and neighbourhoods to look like. At the moment their actions
could lead to no enforcement at all, allowing our streets and
communities to descend into chaos. If anyone is curious as
to how motorists behave when there is a lack of enforcement, we
would suggest they look back at news reports from Aberystwyth in
2011”
The UK Government also last week decided to delay, indefinitely,
granting more Local Authorities local powers which would enable
them to mitigate problematic driving behaviour. These
powers have been successfully implemented in several areas in
England since 2022 and evidence shows they are having a positive
impact; keeping children safe from inconsiderate and dangerous
driving and parking outside of schools, keeping pedestrian areas
free of cars and preventing careless driving the wrong way down
one-way streets and ignoring no entry signs.
Local community engagement and feedback in these areas
demonstrates that most local residents are supportive and
appreciative of better management of their streets, which is
protecting them from inconsiderate and dangerous drivers.
Regulations, that were scheduled to be laid on the 11th of March,
would have allowed a new tranche of 22 Local Authorities to
enforce moving traffic contraventions at identified problem hot
spots in their communities. However, the Government decided, to
not put these regulations forward. At a time when Local Authority
finances are stretched this creates new and unnecessary burdens.
We know from independent research that the public are very
concerned about problem driving. These additional powers
enable Local Authorities to use modern technology to effectively
deter such behaviour in places where it has been having the
biggest negative impact within their communities. This
development, along with other parts of their Plan for Drivers
does not support the majority who drive with consideration and
follow the rules of the road, nor do they appear to be
recognising the significant problems caused by nuisance
motorists. We are calling on Government to lay these regulations
as soon as possible and to have a plan that truly supports the
majority of compliant drivers, rather than effectively rewarding
non-compliance.
