The continuining controversy over the future of the Exeter LTN in Heavitree and Whipton shows no sign of slowing down. Campaigners both for and against the measures in residential parts of the city have been putting forward their views for nearly eight months since it was introduced in August.

The Heavitree and Whipton Active Streets Trial was launched on August 3. Three barriers and two bus gates have been installed in Heavitree and Whipton, along with changes to parking restrictions on Ladysmith Road. Ppolice and Devon County Council say they will be meeting once a month to review enforcement of the active streets trial.

While some locals living in Exeter have been in favour of the scheme, which they say has made the streets safer, others have protested against the scheme, saying it is affecting trade and has just pushed the problem to other residential roads. The 18-month trial has nearly a year still to run.

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The first real test of public opinion could come at the start of May when the local elections take place in Exeter. People will have the chance to vote for their newest ward councillors for the city council.

Now, in letters to our sister print title the Express and Echo, people have once again had their say on the LTN scheme.

Read the full letters below

The barricades are coming down, hurray for that.

You know, there is nothing more dangerous than a politician with a good idea. And when that good idea is politically correct...well, it’s a no brainer, isn’t it? It doesn’t require a moment’s thought. I mean, who could argue with the holy church of global warming? Who would even dare? Well I would.

First they called an emergency meeting of the Exeter highways committee. The big idea was reduced to initials to save even more brain ache: LTN.

The highways committee is overwhelmed by Labour councillors. These same councillors recently chose a Hackney councillor as their parliamentary candidate, not being able to find one of their own. His name is Steve Race, a left winger who is very fond of LTNs.

Anyway, they solved the wrong problem. You see Exeter’s traffic problems are not caused by the traffic which is moving, but the traffic which is stationary. Hamlin Lane is a case in point. Like many of our streets, it is reduced to a single lane by parked cars. Now they are not all visitors to the cemetery.

Most politicians today will tell you we have a housing crisis. We don’t have a housing crisis, we have a population crisis.

Now I know it feels much the same, but you cannot out build a population crisis. Exeter’s problem is that we don’t make best use of the housing which is available. Young people come from far and wide and are crammed into our family homes, often six to a house. And that often means six cars outside a small terraced house. Streets which were not built to accommodate cars in anything like those volumes. Isn’t it strange how quiet our streets become when the students are away?

And then there are the commuters! We have a council with no business savvy. It believes that driving up parking fees in the city centre car parks will solve its cashflow problems. So it has introduced an endeavour tax. Parking up to seven hours costs a tenner. Add another £8 if you want to park for the full working day. And this from a Labour council.

So the highways committee introduced LTNs. As I said, it’s a no brainer, requires no thought and no consultation. It didn’t reduce the congestion, it just kicked the can down the road.

Now the rule here is LAI. Listen, agree, ignore. So the consultation could wait. It was after all a fait accompli. Except the local populace didn’t agree. So our cash-strapped council, having installed barricades which nobody wanted, now has to remove them again, no doubt after calling another emergency meeting of the highways committee.

Those councillors will have been paid expenses on both occasions while we, the humble council taxpayers, are being asked to cough up the maximum increase allowed without a referendum, and they ain’t going to give us a referendum. Shouldn’t they be paying us?

Geoffrey Holwill

Stoke Hill Crescent, Exeter


An official study by the Department of Transport into LTNs was ordered by Rishi Sunak last year, according to a recent newspaper report.

Downing Street was hoping the report would show LTNs (mainly introduced by Labour councils) to be unpopular and to push traffic onto other roads, making them more congested. Neither of these assumptions were true apparently and the report has been buried, probably for ever.

The studies were carried out in London, Birmingham, Wigan and York and about 1,800 people were interviewed. The study found an average of 45% support and 21% opposition.

The report also showed that LTNs were effective in reducing traffic in the area of the zone while adverse impacts on roads bordering the zones appeared to be limited.

In some cases there were some initial problems with emergency vehicles, but these were in the early days of the LTNs being introduced. Overall the report showed that LTNs do not adversely affect response times of emergency vehicles.

According to the report, opposition to the schemes appears to be largely generated by politicians and the media. It is hardly surprising that one of our local MPs, Simon Jupp, and Councillor Andrew Leadbetter should be opposed to LTNs.

Several other studies into party finances show that the Conservative Party receives millions of pounds in donations from oil and gas firms and from think tanks linked to climate change denial or which want to limit the progress towards net zero.

Several MPs receive substantial payments from oil and gas companies. It’s hardly likely that people with substantial investments in oil industries or who are actually paid by them will be enthusiastically stopping people from driving their cars.

David Hayes

Topsham

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