It’s the middle of August, and I’m standing near a brand-new wooden planter on the side of the road, explaining to a driver that if he passes through, he'll get a £60 fine.
“This is bonkers!” he says. “Absolute lunacy!”
Haringey’s first low-traffic neighbourhood trial has just launched in Bounds Green, and it’s going to take some getting used to for a lot of folks. You might have heard about LTN’s – they're a bit controversial.
They’re designed to stop through-traffic on residential roads. All roads are accessible by car, but only some routes are possible. Haringey has finally joined Camden, Islington and many other London councils in rolling these out across their boroughs, step by step.
The local Facebook group is awash with questions, and some incredulity too. But some people whisper to me that they like the idea of it, they just don’t want to say so publicly.
Within a couple of weeks, I can already notice benefits.
Walking with the kids, we can hear birdsong and leaves rustling in the trees. The air smells fresh, and it’s so calm and peaceful. It’s like being in the countryside, except we’re in London. In the park I meet a woman who tells me she’s delighted not to have lorries thundering past her home, and she'll finally get another cat - her last two were killed by drivers outside her house.
There is definitely some anger though. Traders on our local high street, Myddleton Road, are worried about their businesses. Protest posters spring up in windows, and there’s a protest at a council meeting.
I visit some of them and write to local councillors too, and suggest the traders keep an eye on their takings. But it sure does seem nicer walking down the high street now, without the fumes and the noise, so I’m hoping there’ll be an increase in footfall. And friends visit the street on bikes, saying how nice it is.
But it’s seeing my five-year-old daughter be able to ride her bike on the road that really brings it home.
“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” she tells me. She happily rides to the park on the road, singing away.
It hits me how much we’ve sacrificed by having drivers cut- through our neighbourhoods. I don’t think it takes long without them to notice huge benefits.
Carla Francome is an active travel campaigner who lives in Haringey.
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