Oxford’s Cowley and East Oxford Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) have now been in place for about five years. We asked some residents about their perspective of living in or near the LTNs as part of our report on five years of the LTNs.
The data in the full report show that the LTNs have reduced road casualties and air pollution, making a safer and more pleasant place to walk, cycle and go shopping. The expereinces conveyed by residences show that many people value the safety that the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have brought, and how that has improved health, community contact and independence for children.
Lorraine[1], a mother living just off Iffley Road, who bought a cargo bike because of the LTNs and the removal of parking on Iffley Road, finds it saves her money and connects her to friends. “Soon after getting the cargo bike, we got rid of our car, and feel so much less stressed, and are also saving lots of money. The LTNs and cargo bike have given us lots of freedom, and connected us with our community better. There is rarely a trip in St Mary’s where I don’t wave at stop and chat with a friend. That never happened before. We never want to move, as the LTNs are one of the things that make Oxford so enjoyable to live in.”
Linda, a mother from east Oxford, finds it safer to walk and cycle with her young son. “My husband, young son and I live in one of the Cowley LTNs. It has made our neighbourhood so much safer and more pleasant to walk and cycle through to my son’s school. My son can cycle to church with us safely as well. We sold our car last year and use our electric cargo bike for shopping. Lots of our neighbours followed suit and we regularly see each other cycling to and from school, work and the shops which makes it feel so much more sociable than driving.”
Kathy, a mother with two children, living in Cowley was previously frightened of the traffic, and describes how the LTNs have made the area safer and her life easier. “When the LTNs first went in my children were little and I was terrified of them falling of the pavement into the constant stream of cars going down my road. It felt like walking along a narrow cliff with a life-threatening drop if you fell off. The crossing at the end of my road was incredibly dangerous for pedestrians and a lady was knocked down by a driver and sustained serious fractures. It is hard to describe the huge difference that the LTNs made. Our area became safer, quieter, calmer, my anxiety around my children being knocked down reduced, I could talk to my neighbours across the street without having to shout and without having to be separated by a river of cars. What I hadn’t realised would happen, six years on from the Cowley LTNs being in place, is the freedom and independence that my children have, now teen and tween, in moving around their neighbourhood on bike or foot. This is so important for them and is good for their confidence and health. It also makes the ongoing life/ children/ work juggle easier for me and frees up time that I would have spent ferrying them around.”
Oliver, a father living just outside the East Oxford LTNs finds they give his daughter independence. “My 10-year-old has started walking to school without an adult. She’s been looking forward to this all summer, but her parents would have been much more anxious if it weren’t for the quiet streets in the East Oxford LTNs. The main roads are safer to walk along, too, because drivers aren’t constantly turning in and out across side streets. The LTNs have let her experience the joy of independence.”
Jacqueline, mother of an eight-year-old, does more local shopping and is more connected to the local community. “I can’t quite explain it, I always drove places before, but in time it simply became easier and more pleasant to cycle. I now don’t drive inside the ring road. I bought a second-hand cargo bike, learned to click-and-collect the Big Shop with it, and now shop more locally in Magdalen and Cowley Roads. And my son can ride to school with me, safely. An odd benefit is that I am more connected to the community. Walking or riding, you meet friends and neighbours, which I never did when driving.
Claudia, a woman living in Cowley for 36 years, has been delighted to see safety improved for cycling, particularly for children in the local area. “As a student in the 1980s I lived abroad in Germany and Austria and experienced the great cycle infrastructure there and in France and Netherlands too. I’ve been campaigning for better cycling conditions here for all that time and so in the last 5 years it feels like a miracle to finally be getting some of what Europe has enjoyed for decades. I’ve loved seeing more children cycling with parents and more cargo bikes as each year passes. I’ve met a lot of people locally who have only recently started to cycle as they feel safe in the LTN areas. I’ve also felt the area is safe enough to help as a volunteer for a local school Bike Bus in the last year which is a great joy.”
Karen, a mother of two noted how the LTNs removed an inequity that excluded less confident people from travelling the way they wished to. “When I first started cycling to work, I felt this incredible anger that roads are designed in a way that excludes less confident cyclists and that I had not been able to travel in this healthy, fun, green way before. There is a real inequity in the way our roads are designed. The combination of the Cowley and East Oxford LTNs together with the quickways has been transformative. It has created a safer route to work, and I can cycle to work every day.”
[1] Some names changed to protect identities due to previous violence and threats by anti-LTN campaigners. The residents represented are not intended to be a statistical sample.
