Walking and cycling up after Stoke Newington LTN
Walking and cycling rates on Stoke Newington Church Street have increased after the introduction of its low traffic neighbourhood, traffic monitors show.
Walking is up by 16% and cycling up by 38% between 7am and 7pm - the operating time of the low traffic neighbourhood’s bus gate - with the number of pedestrians and bikes outnumbering the number of cars at those times.
Motor traffic has fallen significantly in Church Street - by 60% between 7am and 7pm, and by 53% over 24 hours - at other roads inside the LTN, and on some boundary roads.
Over 24 hours, there were fewer motor vehicles on Lordship Park (-8.3%) and at the A10 at its junction with Walford Road (-3.9%) - both boundary roads - in September 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. The other boundary road with a live traffic monitor, Green Lanes, saw an increase in traffic of 7.5%.
The monitoring results have been published following an analysis of data from five continuous traffic monitors in the Stoke Newington area.
Comparing Monday 5 September to Sunday 18 September with the same weeks the previous year, the analysis shows:
- The number of pedestrians on Stoke Newington Church Street has increased by more than 1,000 between 7am and 7pm, from 6,359 in September 2021 to 7,373 in September 2022.
- The number of bikes between 7am and 7pm has increased by 38%, from 1,711 in 2021 to 2,362 in 2022. Bikes significantly outnumber cars between these times.
- Motor traffic is down by 53% on Stoke Newington Church Street over 24 hours, and by 60% between 7am and 7pm, from 7157 vehicles to 2,833 vehicles.
- There was no significant change in traffic levels on Lordship Park between 7am and 7pm (0.39%).
The analysis also looked at the levels of traffic over 24 hours across five roads in the area: Lordship Road, Green Lanes, Lordship Park, the A10 at its junction with Walford Road and Albion Road. Live traffic monitors on these roads showed that over 24 hours:
- Traffic was down on Lordship Road (-77.9%), Lordship Park (-8.3%), the A10 (-3.9%) and Albion Road (-48.1%)
- Traffic was up by 7.5% on Green Lanes
- Taken together with Stoke Newington Church Street, traffic was down by 21.4% across these roads.
It’s fantastic news that the Stoke Newington low traffic neighbourhood is helping more people to walk and cycle, and spend more time on their local high street - showing the incredible potential of low traffic neighbourhoods to transform an area, help people lead healthier lives and tackle the climate emergency.
There are also really encouraging signs that this low traffic neighbourhood is reducing traffic and pollution inside the area and on boundary roads - though we are continuing to monitor this so we can take action where it’s needed.
