‘False data’ fuelled Whitehall war on cars

TRAFFIC figures used to justify controversial low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) were incorrect, the Department for Transport has admitted.

A flurry of LTNs, which limit driving in residential streets, were introduced in 2020 with £225million in emergency funding allocated by the Government for councils to encourage walking and cycling.

Residents and businesses in some areas have successfully pushed for the schemes to be removed because of concern about their impact on emergency service response times and traffic levels on surrounding roads.

This week, a review of the Government’s “minor-road traffic estimates” report – the findings of which were frequently used to justify the schemes – found that the DfT had significantly over-counted the rise in traffic on residential streets between 2009 and 2019.

In London, where figures suggesting an almost 60 per cent rise in minor-road traffic and a 72 per cent rise on the smallest roads had been widely cited, there had, in fact, been no increase over the decade, the new data show.

A previously published increase from 6.6 billion vehicle miles in 2009 to 10.4 billion in 2019 has been revised to 8 billion in both years. Across Britain, miles driven on minor roads rose by just under 10 per cent, rather than the 26 per cent originally suggested.

Craig Mackinlay, a Conservative MP, who has objected to the LTN schemes, said they were based on “false data”.

“They need to be unwound as quickly as possible because if our towns aren’t moving, they’re not working,” he said.

The previous figures, published in 2020, were “the best estimate at the time”, the Government said, but had been revised in a review of methodology.

Supporters point to data suggesting some schemes have been successful in prompting reduced air pollution and a rise in walking and cycling, arguing that they take time to bed in.

Transport for London said it was reviewing the data update. A spokesman said: “All schemes are judged on their individual merits and decisions about their implementation are based on a range of data, including local traffic counts … and collision statistics.”

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: “Traffic levels in local communities, not national averages and estimates, are one of a number of reasons why councils chose to introduce low-traffic neighbourhoods.”

A DfT spokesman said: “The figures used at the time were based on the most accurate data available.”