The Department for Transport (DfT) is set to intensify its battle with local councils over low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and other active travel measures, with imminent new guidance seeking to limit their use.
However, a promised plan to try to force local authorities into abandoning the schemes by cutting them off from the central database needed to issue fines for infractions is understood to be legally complicated and not yet ready to proceed.
Sunak’s “plan for drivers”, unveiled in September and intended to prioritise motorists’ needs at the expense of other road users such as bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians, sought to crack down on not just LTNs but also 20mph speed limits and bus lanes.
The latest salvo, in the form of guidance to councils expected in the next few days, is expected to focus mainly on LTNs, which seek to boost active travel by preventing motor vehicles from using smaller residential streets as cut-throughs, while allowing full access for pedestrians and cyclists.
These are the responsibility of councils, and while the DfT has already said it will no longer provide central funding for them to be installed, it is unclear what other levers can be used.
One option being looked at, which would be particularly controversial, would be to cut off councils from access to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) database, which matches car registrations to their owners, to prevent them from fining drivers who pass through LTNs.
This is expected to be the subject of a consultation, with a DfT source saying ministers were “still actively looking at the options” for doing this, albeit with a timetable given only as “at a future point”.
Cutting DVLA access to stop LTNs could mean councils also being unable to use cameras for other means, such as enforcing parking outside schools, or on bus routes and cycle lanes, and could mean LTNs instead use physical barriers, such as planters and bollards.
It would also remove an increasingly important revenue stream for councils, who often use money from fines to subsidise concession schemes for public transport.
The move could be legally difficult to achieve, given that a 2002 law gives local authorities the right of access to vehicle registration details, meaning the change could require new legislation.
The government plan for drivers emerged from the unexpected Conservative win in last July’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection, after controversy over the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone.
After the victory, Sunak watered down a series of green policies and presented himself as the friend of the driver, pledging to end what he called “anti-car measures”, notably LTNs.
This has been complicated by the fact they are the responsibility of councils and appear to be, as a broad concept, broadly popular and successful in their aim of nudging people towards active travel for shorter local trips.
Last year, Downing Street ordered the DfT to put together an official study of LTNs. While it is yet to be published, details of the document, seen by the Guardian last week, showed the polling indicated they were generally supported and appeared to work.
Clyde Loakes, the deputy leader of Labour-led Waltham Forest council who also holds the council’s air quality cabinet post, said removing DVLA access would “destroy our popular and successful active travel schemes, put schoolchildren in danger, open up to fraud resident priority parking schemes and gut our important concessionary travel schemes for older people and those with disabilities.”
He said: “This is micro-management taken to another level by those who clearly don’t understand the issue and the implications and consequences of these latest proposals.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “We remain committed to the measures set out in our plan for drivers, including exploring options on councils’ access to DVLA data to enforce traffic schemes such as low-traffic neighbourhoods. This is part of our long-term plan to help people across our country travel in the way that works best for them.”
