Children protest against Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman's decision to axe school street

Sadiq Khan has announced £69m a year to create more “school streets” across London – as one borough mayor infuriated parents by ripping out a scheme protecting primary school children.

Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets, ordered workmen to remove the traffic restrictions around Chisenhale school in Bow on Thursday morning, including planters and seats that the pupils helped build.

Sarah Gibbons, a parent involved in the campaign to save the school street, told the Standard: “We have got protesters down there trying to stop them. The council this moment have started ripping out planters and children’s art work.

In a statement to the Standard, Mr Rahman said: “The Chisenhale primary school street was established through an experimental traffic order (ETO), which introduced road closures for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.

“The ETO has now lapsed, and the mayor has decided – in keeping with his manifesto promise to re-open the roads – that the road closures will not be made permanent.