If you live in Levenshulme, you may have received a leaflet dropped off by a group known as “One Levenshulme & Co”. This is a group “Campaigning for an Equitable and Inclusive Low Traffic Neighbourhood” in the area, a goal I think everyone can get behind. I have previously written here about the planned Low Traffic Neighbourhood in Levenshulme and Burnage, and how the funding works. I’d recommend reading my previous article first to gain a better context for the fact checking below. As a summary, Manchester Council has received £700k to develop trials and a business case to unlock a further £1.8m (or more, for a particularly strong case) funding to improve the streets in the area. The initial £700k will be used to trial some “modal filters” which make streets access only for cars, while retaining through routes for those on foot/wheelchair, or cycles, as well as trialling a few crossings on busy roads. The remaining money, once unlocked, can be spent on school streets, nicer public realm, crossings, traffic calming, etc.

The following leaflet has been going around. Unfortunately it is a blurry picture, and “One Levenshulme & Co” has refrained from publishing a digital, accessible version, so I have taken it upon myself to type out the letter, which can be found in the Appendix below. I will also quote from it throughout this article.

The letter begins with the following:

STOP THE ROAD BLOCKS!!             

We are One Levenshulme & Co, a group of Levenshulme and Burnage Residents who need your help. The Council has proposed an Active Neighbourhood in Levenshulme and Burnage by putting 25 ROAD BLOCKS! into the Levenshulme area in Phase 1. The plan is then to extend the Active Neighbourhood by performing the same disruptive measures throughout Burnage. We want a better scheme but we must act now to demand better roads for all and effective improvements for walking and cycling.

While I appreciate any choice of phrase is used to try to get across a specific point, the immediate use of the phrase “road blocks” without explaining that the road isn’t blocked as pedestrians and cycles can still proceed through, might make some residents unnecessarily worried. I will be using the phrase “modal filter” throughout this piece as it’s the generally accepted term for these interventions. I have explained its meaning in the first paragraph above to avoid any confusion. I think the leaflet could have used a sentence explaining that the “road blocks” are still open to pedestrians and cycles, and all homes will remain accessible to all vehicles, to avoid uncertainty.

This project claims to reduce traffic and make roads safer but will increase congestion and pollution on our busiest roads. This has happened in other places where these projects have been installed. It will make these roads more dangerous as traffic is forced to use “through roads” to get around.

This is the first series of claims that have been made as if they were fact. Of course (and this applies for all claims relating to exactly what will happen to Levenshulme in this article, both by One Levenshulme and myself), there is no possible way to know exactly what impact the scheme will have on the area. There are so many factors and there is no traffic modelling system in existence that can make predictions in a post-Covid world. This is why trials are important, to see exactly what happens, and why the council is using easily moved planters to allow for the trials to be tweaked as necessary if issues arise. I am happy to provide this disclaimer and will always change my stance based on new evidence.

Nevertheless, it’s worth exploring whether similar schemes have increased congestion and pollution on the busiest roads, or made them more dangerous. A similar scheme often raised, is Waltham Forest in London. Immediately after implementation of the scheme, it is indeed true that boundary roads saw an increase in vehicles of 3 – 28%, although it is worth noting that these numbers are still very low compared to the numbers these roads saw just 10 years prior, and in subsequent years, these figures appeared to have dropped again

Similar stories can be told for all three roads in the above “Table 3”. The post-LTN numbers are still lower than the roads had seen 10-15 years ago, and numbers have dropped again between 2016 and 2019. Traffic counts in the whole of the LTN area (including boundary roads) have dropped by half, which means not just lower pollution for those on the quieter roads, but for those on boundary roads too.

This is consistent with Manchester Council’s own predictions for Levenshulme and Burnage, taken from their FAQs on the project site:

The council states that it expects traffic levels on boundary roads to rise slightly for 3-6 months while the scheme “beds in”, and then as peoples travel habits shift, (a widely recognised phenomenon known as “modal shift”), these roads will return to pre-LTN levels.

A number of new similar schemes have recently been installed in London and across the country. Unfortunately, due to them not being in place for that long yet, public quantitative data on their efficacy and traffic levels is not yet available. However, this has not stopped folk using them as anecdotal “evidence” that LTNs increase main road traffic, with people taking photographs of boundary roads with long traffic queues on. I don’t think this is useful data either way. Due to the pandemic and fewer people using public transport, road traffic levels in outer London have increased to 150% of 2019 levels. Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are an easy scapegoat for these traffic queues but they aren’t necessarily causing them. In fact they could be helping by ensuring some streets get a relief from the queues, allowing people to walk and cycle in safety and not need to take the car, as well as reducing the total traffic capacity in the area, which through a process known as “induced demand”, ensures that fewer people will attempt to drive. Indeed, Wandsworth removed LTNs after public pressure and still regularly sees queues on all main roads, but now also on residential streets.

In terms of the increased danger claims on the boundary roads, initial data from Waltham Forest indicated that the roads within the filtered area saw a decrease in traffic collisions, and the boundary roads saw similar levels to previously. I couldn’t find evidence to suggest that LTNs increase road danger on the boundary roads.

The leaflet continues:

Getting to and from your home will take longer. Emergency services will take longer to respond. Bin collections will be harder to maintain. Deliveries will take longer. Getting around the area will be harder for care workers, taxi drivers, and vehicles servicing businesses. The Burnage plans in Phase 2 will severely impact the A34, Crossley Road, and Grangethorpe Drive amongst others.

This is quite a long list of “citation needed”. Of course, it is a design aim of the LTN to make motor vehicle trips slightly less convenient, by making walking or cycling faster and more direct for local journeys. A 5 minute car journey might become a 10-15 minute one, or a 5 minute cycle. The hope is that people who are able, will switch their short journeys, where possible, to active travel. However, as a percentage of total journey time, the extra distance for longer, more vital car journeys, is negligible. Delivery drivers will not be affected as all properties are still accessible by van or lorry, and delivery routing satnavs will take the filters into account and find the quickest route.

Of course, the claim that getting around will take longer completely ignores that journey times for people walking and cycling will be unaffected, or even improved: about 40% of Levenshulme households don’t have access to a car.

Regarding the emergency services, there is also no evidence for the claim that response times will increase. In Waltham Forest, both the fire service and ambulance service saw decreases in journey times after the LTN was implemented:

There is also not any evidence that bin collections will be disrupted. Biffa already collects from many cul-de-sacs, and even existing “low traffic neighbourhoods” in Manchester such as Chorltonville. They do not have significant issues.

Finally, the leaflet says:

We support the Active Neighbourhood project’s aims to make it easier and safer to walk and cycle around our area and reduce car use, but we want something better than this plan. Practical improvements to benefit everyone including:

New and improved crossings, repaired pavements with dropped kerbs, better lighting, more seating, one-way streets (to reduce pavement parking), traffic calming and safer junctions, more pedestrian controls at traffic lights, school streets for drop-off and collection times, cycle lane infrastructure, and play streets to reclaim our streets for people.

Again, I think this is a (wilful or not) misunderstanding of the funding stream. The final scheme has always included many – if not most – of these elements. Manchester Council must submit a business case to TfGM that demonstrates that their scheme will reduce motoring and increase walking and cycling. Otherwise there is no further cash. Spending the trial money on resurfacing pavements, or reconfiguring junctions (except where necessary to make the trial work), would not be a cost effective use of the limited funds. The trial will demonstrate that the proposed filter locations work (or not), which will allow the council to develop a business case and final scheme that works for everyone, including traffic calming and crossings on the boundary roads where necessary.

I think everyone in the area agrees that no road should experience a detriment for the improvement of others. Which is why it’s very important that people respond to the Commonplace engagement with details of where they think crossings, traffic calming, etc need to be installed in the final scheme. But I don’t think opposing the trials entirely is productive. The money must be spent by 2022, and TfGM and Chris Boardman have been clear that councils dragging their feet on spending it could see it reallocated to other areas who are more willing. We need to help MCC form a robust business case to unlock as much money as possible. This involves being realistic about what can be delivered in a trial, and what can be delivered by 2022 with the available funds. 

I think anyone hoping for a complete redesign of the scheme will probably be disappointed, it seems unlikely there’s time for a redesign, a trial, a business case, and a full scheme installation by 2022 now. So make sure you get onto Commonplace and suggest improvements/tweaks to ensure the scheme is as good as possible and the money remains in Levenshulme and Burnage!

Appendix: Full “One Levenshulme & Co” leaflet transcript.

STOP THE ROAD BLOCKS!!             

We are One Levenshulme & Co, a group of Levenshulme and Burnage Residents who need your help. The Council has proposed an Active Neighbourhood in Levenshulme and Burnage by putting 25 ROAD BLOCKS! into the Levenshulme area in Phase 1. The plan is then to extend the Active Neighbourhood by performing the same disruptive measures throughout Burnage. We want a better scheme but we must act now to demand better roads for all and effective improvements for walking and cycling.

This project claims to reduce traffic and make roads safer but will increase congestion and pollution on our busiest roads. This has happened in other places where these projects have been installed. It will make these roads more dangerous as traffic is forced to use “through roads” to get around.

All Traffic going through the area will be forced to use ONLY these roads:
Stockport Road, Barlow Road, Matthews Lane, Mount Road, Cromwell Grove, Broom Lane, Slade Lane, Albert Road, and Moseley Road

Getting to and from your home will take longer. Emergency services will take longer to respond. Bin collections will be harder to maintain. Deliveries will take longer. Getting around the area will be harder for care workers, taxi drivers, and vehicles servicing businesses. The Burnage plans in Phase 2 will severely impact the A34, Crossley Road, and Grangethorpe Drive amongst others.

We support the Active Neighbourhood project’s aims to make it easier and safer to walk and cycle around our area and reduce car use, but we want something better than this plan. Practical improvements to benefit everyone including:

New and improved crossings, repaired pavements with dropped kerbs, better lighting, more seating, one-way streets (to reduce pavement parking), traffic calming and safer junctions, more pedestrian controls at traffic lights, school streets for drop-off and collection times, cycle lane infrastructure, and play streets to reclaim our streets for people.