The High Court has rejected a legal challenge to a low-traffic neighbourhood in the London Borough of Enfield.
LTNs sprang up during the Covid pandemic as part of a local government push to encourage active transport and walking by blocking off residential streets to through traffic. They have proved to be controversial and have disgruntled thousands of motorists and led to a string of, mostly failed, legal challenges.
The current case was brought by Enfield resident Sophia Bouchti. She objected to the LTN around Fox Lane in Enfield, which has been in force since September 2020.
Although she does not live inside the zone, she said it is damaging her business.
According to the ruling, handed down earlier this week, Bouchti runs a dog-walking business and has a number of clients in the area. She drives to clients to collect their dogs, drives them to a local park to exercise them, and then delivers the dogs back.
She said the closed roads made her journeys longer, and she has had to stop working for some clients because of this.
Legally, she argued that the council did not properly follow regulations relating to traffic orders and did not conduct a proper balancing exercise when considering the plan. In addition, she claimed that two councillors’ involvement in campaign croup Better Streets for Enfield meant they considered the pan “with a closed mind”.
The council, while accepting that some mistakes might have been made, said it did carry out an appropriate balancing act, and any errors did not prejudice the claimant.
The case was heard last month and, in a ruling handed down earlier this week, trial judge Mr Justice Eyre dismissed all of Bouchti’s claims.
He said that, while the council did fail in some respects to comply with some procedures, “these failures did not cause substantial prejudice to her interests”.
The council members who were said to be involved in Better Streets for Enfield had merely followed the campaign’s Facebook page, and had not posted. The judge found that this did not suggest the councillors had closed minds on the matter.
Sophia Bouchti v London Borough of Enfield, Planning Court (Mr Justice Eyre), 9 November 2022
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