Is the Hanover and Tarner LTN scheme dead? Not quite, but it’s definitely not looking well. On the 23rd February BHCC met to set the budget for the year. One of the main items, as far as Hanover residents were concerned, was a vote to defund the LTN. Labour and Conservative councillors joined forces to reallocate 1.1 million pounds from the the LTN towards toilet refurbishments throughout the city.
What we were previously told by the Greens:
The LTN was originally supposed to be divided into two separate projects, the LTN itself and improvements for the boundary roads, such as Elm Grove, Queens Park Road and Egremont Place. The boundary road improvements became essential because of the predicted rise in traffic and pollution if an LTN went ahead. The LTN was to be financed from a £300,000 loan from the capital projects budget, the improvements were to receive a 1.1 million pounds from a central government fund.
In recent weeks we were then told that in fact it was all one project, and any attempt to stop the LTN would jeopardise the boundary road improvements.
What we now believe to be the truth:
Reallocating 1.1 million pounds to refurbish the toilets should have left almost nothing in the financial pot for an LTN, or for the environmental and safety improvements which are particularly needed in Elm Grove.
However, almost none of what we were told by the Greens appears to be true. There seems to be no reason why the LTN and boundary improvements can’t be separated. The funds are all from BHCC loans, not central government money. And it appears that we now have 2.1 million pounds available, not the 1.4 million pounds that we were originally told about.
We were also told the the money was ring fenced and could only be used for transport projects, also untrue, hence the possibility of using some of it for refurbishing the toilets.
Trying to find out the source of these funds, and which budget they have come from, seems to be incredibly difficult. Labour assure us that it’s all from capital borrowing, already accounted for in the budget. If anyone in the council knows more details they are not currently sharing the information, despite requests to do so. One of our group, Simon Maxwell, has been poring through documents trying decipher them and distinguish between the many ‘carbon neutral’ named funds.
Does this mean the LTN has been scrapped?
Not just yet. It will be discussed in the ETSC meeting on 14th March. This was supposed to be when a decision was made to go ahead with the LTN, but Labour have thrown a major and welcome spanner in the works, so this is now unlikely.
We have also been told by the Greens that, due to yet another delay in publishing the new plan for the LTN, they would be postponing the vote for the time being. After the May elections, depending on how they go, the Greens may not have much of a say in future LTN plans anyway.
What about the boundary road improvements?
According to Labour there is still £1 million pounds available from the 2.1 million pound put aside by the Greens for the LTN. Labour will be supporting the improvements in the next ETS meeting and have promised to challenge the Greens if they try to block them.
What happens next?
This leaves us in the run up to the the next series of ETS committee meetings, and the elections, not quite knowing whether the Greens will still try to push the LTN, even after the defunding. There are still defiant Tweets and other messages coming from our local Green councillor and LTN fan, Elaine Hills, but she will be resigning in May.
Labour appear to acknowledge that the plan for an LTN in this area is a mistake, we hope they will make this clearer as we approach the elections. Is the Hanover and Tarner LTN dead? Time will tell.
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