Blame Boris Johnson for low-traffic neighbourhoods, says Sadiq Khan

Boris Johnson is the root cause of badly-implemented low-traffic neighbourhoods, Sadiq Khan has claimed, as he admitted that some have displaced traffic and caused more congestion.

The Mayor of London urged residents and business owners to lobby councils if they would like LTNs to be removed.

Appearing at the Hay Festival, Mr Khan was challenged by an LTN resident who said that traffic had increased on boundary roads.

He said: “Low-traffic neighbourhoods have been around for decades. What happened, though, during the pandemic, is that Boris Johnson gave an incentive to councils: if you have an LTN by a certain date, you will get money from us.

“So, many councils rushed to have an LTN. Some were good, some were okay, some were not good, some were bad, because they were in a rush to get the money from the government which they’d been desperate for, for many, many moons.”

Mr Khan stressed that he was not in charge of LTNs. He said: “What I’m saying to councils is: before an LTN becomes permanent, consult with your residents. See if there are any unintended consequences [such as] displacement of traffic.

“There are some good examples of LTNs that led to less car use, no displacement, better air quality, better business for the shops on the roads, and more children walking to school. There are other examples where there have been some unintended, negative consequences.

“It is worth speaking to councils, to councillors, about seeing if there is going to be a review. They are not permanent or fixed in stone. In any event, the government has now pulled any more funding for this.

“Good councils will try to ameliorate any unintended consequences and make sure to work with local residents.”

Vitriolic

Another audience member said that he was visiting the UK from Australia and had been shocked to hear how vitriolic the drivers of London’s black cabs were about Mr Khan.

The mayor joked: “You’re mixing with the wrong people, bruv. You’ve got to use the Tube more.” He added: “I tell you this: black taxi drivers would be, in their view, the best managers of England’s football team, the best captain of the cricket team and the best mayor.

“Stand against me next May, I say to them.”

Mr Khan said he recognised that many people have genuine concerns about the expansion of London's ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), and acknowledged that there can be good reasons why they need to drive.

But he cited the capital’s poor air quality and the case of Ella Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl with severe asthma who died in 2013. In a legal first, a coroner listed air pollution as a cause of death.

The public will eventually come to appreciate the scale of the problem, Mr Khan said, citing government figures that up to 36,000 people die in the UK each year from man-made air pollution.

Twenty years ago, he said, “many people didn’t accept that passive smoking was a problem. You could smoke in pubs, bars and restaurants.” A ban was brought in “and you wouldn’t think now about smoking in public places".

Asked if his policies were becoming more popular, Mr Khan replied: “Ask me next year, after the election.”

We critique in private

Mr Khan was also asked about his relationship with Keir Starmer. He said of the Labour leader: “I’ve known Keir for almost 30 years. We are both former human rights lawyers. I worked with Keir a lot.

“The phrase I have is: we praise in public, we critique in private.

“We disagree on very few things but there will be a point where a Labour government, a Labour prime minister, I disagree with because my job is not to be the party representative for London, my job is to be the champion for London.

“There will be occasions when Keir is prime minister and he and I disagree, but hopefully in a fraternal, collegiate, sensible way.”

During his appearance at the festival to promote his book Breathe: Tackling the Climate Emergency, Mr Khan recalled how a meeting with members of Extinction Rebellion threw his protection officers into a panic.

“It was 2018-19 when they first started campaigning in London so I said to my team, can I meet the leaders of XR,” he said.

“On the day of the meeting I could hear outside my office an argument taking place between protection officers, security and my staff. Long story short: there was a nervousness that if I shake the hand of an XR activist, they could have superglue on their hands and I could be stuck. So the advice was: whatever you do, don’t shake their hand.

“I go in the room, shake their hands and give them a hug. And they didn’t superglue me.”