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Tories U-turn as they look at re-opening borough’s rat runs

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Long-standing road closures which have often provided welcome  traffic calming measures for decades could be under threat in the latest move by an increasingly desperate Prime Minister, reports JEREMY CLACKSON,  transport correspondent

Tory targets: perfectly sensible measures are under threat

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, is refusing to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month because of its planned focus on UN Sustainable Development Goals. It is just the latest example of the Conservatives shifting right and turning their back on tackling climate change.

Last month, Sunak gave the green light to “maxing out” North Sea oil and gas reserves. This came after an IT firm founded by his father-in-law signed a $1.5billion deal with energy giant BP…

And it continues a trend by which the Tories are reliant on financial support from the fossil fuel industry and climate change deniers. Official figures show that between December 2019 and October 2021, these groups gave £1.3million in legalised bribes.

Now the Prime Minister has announced an inquiry into Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods – with the ultimate aim of re-opening rat runs for speeding drivers across the country. Sunak has ordered the Department for Transport to investigate not just those LTNs created under Boris Johnson during the pandemic, but any scheme that prevents motorists from driving through a residential street.

Government U-turn: this road barrier near Selhurst Park has stopped rat runners for decades. Could it be re-opened by the Tories?

This will be bad news for people living in long-standing LTNs across the borough.

The barrier under the railway bridge over Dagnall Park in Steve Reed’s Croydon North constituency will be a familiar sight to Crystal Palace fans walking from Selhurst Station to the stadium. This could be among those getting the chop, in this case to allow speed fiends to avoid the nearby A213.

In Sarah Jones’ Croydon Central backyard lies Chatsworth Road Conservation Area.

Residents there are concerned about motorists speeding in their area, but probably don’t look on the tree at the end of Friends Road, between 69 Park Lane and Croydon nick, as forming an LTN. Potentially the tree and the tranquillity it brings will be for the Sunak chop.

That brings us to Croydon South and Chris Philp, and the council swing ward of Waddon. The closure of Abbey Road to rat-runners dates back to when Charlotte McAree was a Labour councillor and lived on that street. It provided a handy cut-through for drivers who wanted to avoid Fiveways and the Roman Way.

A stone’s throw away is the Waddon estate, where a bit of strategically placed tarmac on Davenant Road has, since the late 1990s, stopped drivers fed up with rush hour queues on Duppas Hill Road from easily nipping through Hillside Road towards the Purley Way.

For the chop: might the LTN review reopen this cut-through next to Croydon Police Station?

So far the Department for Transport has refused to say who will run Sunak’s politically-motivated review or when its findings will begin to be implemented – there’s a chance it will be timed out by a General Election to be held before December 2024.

But we can be sure that the PM’s lurch towards Trumpian populism to try and cling to power will see no holds barred in his attack on what he calls “anti-motorist” policies.

Whether Croydon’s sitting and prospective MPs will join Sunak in turning back the clock or defend the hard-won gains remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Inside Croydon wants to hear from you if you have an old or new LTN you think is at risk.


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