Data shows LTN has raised traffic outside junior and nursery school by 720% - children at increased risk. One of Britain’s worst LTNs?
- iandlwilson
- Apr 11
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 27
Data shows LTN has raised traffic outside junior and nursery school by 720% - children at increased risk. One of Britain’s worst LTNs? This HoLCG press release went out yesterday. Please circulate widely!
10 April 2025
Data shows LTN has raised traffic outside junior and nursery school by 720% - children at increased risk. One of Britain’s worst LTNs?
The Heart of Lansdown Conservation Group released today data showing a significant increase in traffic on school and unclassified residential roads following BANES council’s closure of Winifreds Lane to traffic via an ETRO implemented last November.
The data was compiled 24/7 for a full week and weekend from 17 March (capturing normal traffic before the school holidays) by an independent assessor, Smart Transport Hub, and is therefore an accurate reflection of the chaos that this ETRO has caused on unclassified residential roads, the increased safety risks, not least to school children, and likely rise in pollution levels in key locations.
The key findings of the data were: - Northbound traffic on Sion Road outside the exit to Kingswood junior and nursery school has risen 720%. Going north (as per Winifreds Lane) traffic has risen from 116 vehicles per day to 951 on average, a rise of 835 vehicles per day. - On some days it exceeded 1100 vehicles, just going north (and peaked at more than 2100 in both directions). So, an increase of some 1000 cars past a school exit, and that in only one direction. It should be noted that Sion Road is not only a narrow residential road but also within the proposed LTN itself – the very area where the council is seeking to reduce traffic. - On Morford Street, another unclassified residential road, northbound traffic has risen from 1473 per day average to 1833 (a rise of 360 vehicles). Again, a direct consequence of Winifreds Lane being closed as traffic seeks to get up to Lansdown. - Pre the closure of Winifreds Lane, average traffic on the one-way lane was 1219 per day. - So, in short, the traffic originally using Winifreds Lane has diverted onto heavily residential roads and is now passing two junior schools – St Andrews junior school on Julian Road and Kingswood junior school, and in the process exposing children to greater safety risks and levels of pollution.
It is also believed that traffic still turns right from Cavendish Road onto Lansdown Crescent, ignoring traffic signs, for convenience, and/or utilizes the steep and dangerous Lansdown Lane in Weston.
Nor is it just the quantitative data that is so concerning, but also the visual evidence: - More vehicles on narrow roads with blind bends - Cars mounting the pavements daily during term time along Sion Road - Cyclists needing to cross the traffic onto Winifreds Lane and it’s unusually steep gradient - An expected increase in pollution outside schools and on heavily residential roads
Commenting on behalf of the Heart of Lansdown Conservation Group, hundreds of local Lower Lansdown residents and a petition now signed by some 3,600 people, a spokesman said:
“These figures are significant and extremely concerning, not least in terms of safety for school children, pedestrians and cyclists. The facts show unequivocally that more traffic now goes past junior schools and nurseries and onto heavily residential streets, which are unclassified and include roads within the proposed LTN itself. This ETRO trial is unsafe and any further implementation of it flies in the face of the facts.
“It is frightening and highly irresponsible that a council can push up to c1000 more cars on a daily basis past a junior and nursery school and, where in order to pass each other, cars now climb the pavements where children and parents walk. This must be one of the worst ETRO/LTN’s in the country. As has sadly happened elsewhere (speaking in parliament about road safety outside schools), this is a school child accident waiting to happen.
“Local residents – who know their area better than anyone - have been warning the council for months (through safety reports, heavily signed petitions, correspondence and successful High Court action at a cost to the council of over £40,000), and even before the implementation of the ETRO, of the safety issues. And now this verified data, from an independent and recognized consultant, confirms what they’ve been saying. The Winifreds Lane ETRO makes no sense and the trial shows conclusively that an LTN is not going to help local residents and certainly not school children
“In a meeting in St Stephen's Church with concerned residents as far back as 31 January 2024 when concerns about traffic on Sion Road outside the school were raised, ward councillor Mark Elliott outlined that any increase in traffic on residential roads as a result of the trial would constitute a failure. And in her latest note to LibDem followers, Manda Rigby (cabinet member for highways) stated that she would be led by the data when making decisions on traffic and transport. We submit that this data now clearly demonstrates that the Winifreds Lane ETRO and potential LTN are not only unviable but risk the safety of children and pedestrians and cause a significant intrusion by traffic onto unclassified and heavily residential roads, including within the proposed LTN itself. The ETRO hasn’t and doesn’t make sense. We ask the council to call a halt.”
ENDS
Data details:
Data summarised here and available as individual reports: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Rw8U74f1HZIJK2yskelzJHduLFqCgobArA8rq61PUc/edit?usp=sharing
BANES trial data counts |
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