The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by campaigners against low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in Lambeth.
The decision was made on 8 December last year, but only announced more recently.
The OneLambeth campaign group has been raising funds for the appeal.
Supreme Court judges Lord Reed, Lady Rose and Lord Richards said: permission to appeal was refused “because the appeal does not raise an arguable point of law of general public importance which the court should determine at this time”.
The Court of Appeal rejected an appeal against a High Court decision to refuse a judicial review of Lambeth council’s creation of LTNs in April last year.
Lambeth has seven LTNs at various stages of implementation: Brixton Hill; Ferndale; Oval to Stockwell; Railton; Streatham Hill; Streatham Wells; and Tulse Hill.
Unfortunately Lambeth’s plans for LTNs are driven by the idea of creating mini parks in the centre of the road, rather than managing excess traffic. This means that, even where there is an argument for preventing rat running, they are not situated in the best locations for this purpose. This can mean that residents on the one side of the barrier are considerably more disadvantaged than those on the other side (all car using residents are disadvantaged by these schemes). This creates division in communities or, worse still, further exacerbates existing divisions.
Placing the blocks first and then asking questions afterwards Is undemocratic. The fait accompli effect is too strong, especially when council officials only consult on existing locations, rather than examining a number of alternatives.