Why Rishi Sunak won’t be banning LTNs anytime soon

Threats to review or defund low traffic neighbourhood schemes are unlikely to make a difference, as Jon Stone explains

An LTN in Oxford (PA)

Is it the end of the road for low-traffic neighbourhoods?The government is reportedly reviewing the schemes at the behest of the prime minister.

Buoyed by a by-election victory in Uxbridge in which the Tories made hay by opposing Sadiq Khan's expansion of London’s Ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), Rishi Sunak has decided to position himself himself as the "friend of the motorist". Ulez, LTNs, and 20mph zones are all said to be in his sights.

This is not the first time that LTNs – traffic schemes that prevent cars driving through an area by closing roads to motorised traffic – have been targeted by the government.