South Leytonstone Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN)

In 2018 and 2019, a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) was developed based on feedback gathered from the community and was included in a joint-borough TfL Liveable Neighbourhoods bid.

However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, TfL suspended and redirected funding towards emergency interventions to support social distancing.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an even more urgent need to improve London’s streets for walking and cycling, to reduce pressure on our road and public transport networks. With London’s public transport capacity currently significantly reduced, millions of journeys a day need to be completed by other modes of transport. It was anticipated that if these journeys were replaced by car journeys, streets would become heavily congested, air quality would reduce, and road danger would increase.

To prevent this from happening, in August 2020 both Newham and Waltham Forest Councils allocated funding towards an experimental Low Traffic Neighbourhood as part of our commitment to delivering better streets for walking and cycling in the Forest Gate, Maryland and South Leytonstone areas.

This area is referred to as Area 1 and Area 2 and is bounded by Crownfield Road, Cann Hall Road, Dames Road, Woodgrange Road, Forest Lane, Leytonstone Road and Leyton Road. In October 2020, the scheme was extended further into South Leytonstone to the areas bounded by Ferndale Road, Montague Road, Harrow Road, Cann Hall Road, Crownfield Road, High Road Leyton, the A12 and Cathall Road (which is referred to as Area 3 and Area 4).

The LTN was implemented via Experimental Traffic Management Orders, in line with guidance from central Government. This process included consultation with key stakeholders, such as emergency services, before implementation. While some early community engagement took place in 2018 and 2019, as part of several funding bids to Transport for London (TfL) for a major Liveable Neighbourhoods project, we do of course appreciate that under normal circumstances we would have done more community engagement before the implementation of a new scheme.

Instead, following the experimental implementation of the LTNs, we collected feedback for six months between October 2020 and May 2021 from residents, schools, businesses and other stakeholders through our online engagement platform Commonplace, enabling the community to share their experiences of the live scheme. In June 2021, we conducted an LTN perception survey in partnership with Transport for London, and in June 2021 launched a “Design survey” for the community to help us co-design a final scheme for the area.

Following analysis of all feedback received and data collected throughout the scheme, in Spring 2022, a decision was made by Waltham Forest Council to make the scheme permanent.

On 7 January 2022, a letter was delivered to residents living in the scheme areas making them aware of the decision and the next steps. You can view all leaflets and letters sent to the community in the useful documents list below. 

More information on the schemes can be found on our Commonplace engagement platforms.

• Area 1 and 2
• Area 3 and 4

Harrow Road scheme

As part of our commitment to deliver further enhancements within the South Leytonstone area we have been developing an initial corridor improvement scheme on Harrow Road, to help address several traffic-related concerns and further support and enable walking and cycling in the area. 

The proposals aim to reduce traffic speeds along Harrow Road and create improved walking and cycling links at key locations across and along the Harrow Road corridor.

Find out more about the Harrow Road scheme.