Traffic in a jam: by 4.30pm yesterday, unrestricted traffic was building up along Sutherland Road, and residents who spoke to Inside Croydon were unhappy with the change
What has been the reaction of residents to the sudden removal, by order of a High Court judge, of motoring restrictions in Croydon’s former Low Traffic Neighbourhoods? We sent GABRIEL MacARTHUR along to two streets affected in Broad Green to find out
Last week, a High Court judge quashed the council orders that created six Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, ordering Croydon to shut down their penalty fine-generating cameras and to remove the signs restricting traffic.
Introduced in 2020, these schemes have been policed by Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras – ANPRs – since 2024, and were expected to generate more than £10million over four years, according to council reports, through £160-a-time fines for offenders.
The schemes ruled unlawful were Albert Road in South Norwood, Dalmally Road, Addiscombe, Elmers Road, South Norwood, Holmesdale Road, Selhurst, and Parsons Mead and Sutherland Road, both in Broad Green.
Since the decision was handed down last Wednesday, the cameras and road signs on Parsons Mead and Sutherland Road have been covered.
Until last week, only vehicles with resident or other permits have been allowed to use these residential streets, which run between Mitcham Road and London Road.
In contrast to the busy neighbouring high street, at 4pm yesterday Parsons Mead, possibly the most contentious of Croydon’s LTNs, stood still, only disturbed by the occasional car. A friendly landlady, who owns properties on Parsons Mead, told Inside Croydon that the restrictions had been costly and ineffective.
“I got 20 tickets in just three or four days,” she said. “When I’m dropping stuff off here, they make the signage hard to see and only warn you once you violate the zone.”
Our Parsons Mead landlady claimed that congestion levels had not changed since the cameras had been covered. “Made no difference at all,” she said. “Emissions are actually lower now because people don’t need to drive all the way round.”
Black out: council contractors have spent the past week covering up the LTN road signs. The cost of this emergency response to the court order, and likely cost of the signs’ removal, has yet to be disclosed by Croydon Council
We also spoke to a care worker in their 50s, who said he had been driving around south London for almost 40 years.
“If anything, they made the traffic worse,” he claimed.
“I was fined in the South Norwood zone and I’m not the only person who’s been caught out on that, it’s ambiguous with how or where you can turn into certain roads and stuff.”
Not everyone had found it difficult to follow road sign restrictions. One middle-aged resident of the now very busy Sutherland Road was critical of the recent increase in vehicle congestion on his street, even though he had himself been subject to an LTN fine in the past.
“Once more people find out they can drive here, it’s going to get even worse,” he predicted, even as cars whizzed down the road.
Peak rush hour was yet to come.
Read more: Perry accused of ‘shameless lying’ as he abandons LTN appeal
Read more: Council failed to include High Court LTN case on risk register
Read more: London’s toxic air is ‘a public health emergency’ says charity
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