Campaigners hit back over 'flawed' decision to remove controversial traffic filter scheme
06.04.2024 - 15:29
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Campaigners claim controversial "road blocks" in Withington were pulled based on anecdotal evidence - as data shows it met its goals.
The Safer Streets Scheme saw nine junctions on the Hartley estate in the south Manchester suburb fitted with plant filters to prevent motor traffic movements. The six-month trial started last August, but was brought to an end by council bosses in March, although two of the filters will stay.
It divided opinion, with a petition launched protesting their installation almost as soon as it was completed. However, pro-walking and cycling groups welcomed the move, saying it made the area quieter.
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Now, that group — Love Withington Streets — has seen a copy of the Manchester City Council report into the trial and claims the decision to pull the planters has been made based on anecdotal comments, rather than hard data.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has also seen the council’s report, which found that traffic reduced at seven of eight monitoring stations, including ‘substantial reductions… in the northwestern part’ of the trial. The data also shows a 15 percent drop in average speeds across the trial zone.
However, 14 percent of traffic did relocate to the south-western end of the area, the document added. It also included themes of comments from survey respondents, which criticised the relocation of traffic and other side-effects of the planters.
Furthermore, Love Withington Streets claim there was no method to check who was filling the survey in — or if they were submitting more than one response in an attempt to quash the project.
“We have heard on the grapevine that the anti-crowd have been