• STARTING next month, all local road schemes will be evaluated by Transport for London according to its Healthy Streets indicators. A Guide to the Healthy Streets Indicators can be found online by searching for those words in inverted commas.

These indicators include: “Does the street provide an attractive environment for walking and cycling? Will people walking and cycling think the street has been designed with their needs in mind?” and “Have steps been taken to reduce the effect of motorised traffic on people walking and cycling, and local businesses and residents” (page six of the guide).

One project that will be evaluated according to these criteria, and more detailed ones, is the Quietway 10, which for the Islington section joins Fins­bury Park to Clerkenwell.

As proposed, Quietway 10 does not envisage a reduction of motorised traffic, and will not provide a route that people on foot or bicycle will think has been designed with them in mind.

The rat race will be maintained, and car parking – such as at the corner of Thornhill Road and Offord Road – will keep obstructing the way of people on bicycles. (A detailed list of objections can be found on the Cycle Islington website). This project will fail the TfL Healthy Streets test.

It would seem, therefore, that the Islington officers who design such things will have to be paid twice, the first time for drawing plans (which has already happened) which TfL will reject, and the second time for drawing plans that TfL will approve.

Quietways in side streets are part of Sadiq Khan’s plans for London. While I don’t blame officers for doing their best to keep themselves in work, is that a wise use of public money?

Have any of our Labour politicians considered telling council officers that they have to comply with TfL’s and Mr Khan’s Healthy Streets criteria?

ANITA FRIZZARIN
Wedmore Gardens, N19