Anti-road closure campaigners raise £10,000 court costs and challenge council to donate to charities

London Fields’ low traffic neighbourhood in action. Photograph: Hackney Council

A community company which lost a court fight to stop roads being closed to motor traffic in Hackney have raised the £10,000 costs it was ordered to pay.

HHRC Ltd took Hackney Council to court over their concerns about the emergency roll-out of 20 Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) during the coronavirus pandemic.

In their judicial review in 2021, they argued residents’ “needs and rights have not been taken into account”.

It argued “that a proper impact assessment should have been carried out prior to the hurried and discriminatory implementation.”

It was concerned that traffic would simply move to other streets and residents there would be affected by pollution.

However, the Court of Appeal was not persuaded by the arguments.

HHRC Ltd said “the views of  thousands of residents have not changed, despite the measures being made permanent.”

The court ordered them to pay £10,000 and so Horrendous Hackney Road Closure campaigners put out appeals on social media to raise the cash and remind those who had pledged support.

The campaigners are now challenging Hackney Council to donate the money to St. Joseph’s Hospice, Hackney Carers, and Hackney Quest.

Shiva Kashizadeh-Scott, who co-ordinated fund-raising, said:  “It was an amazing community effort, especially in these hard times. Even some people who have since moved out of Hackney leaving their newly-created high traffic roads still honoured their pledges, which was great. Donations ranged from £1 to £300.”

Horrendous Hackney Road Closures campaigner Peter Smorthit, who ran in last May’s local elections as an independent on an anti-LTN ticket, challenged Hackney Council to take the unusual step of donating the costs to St. Joseph’s Hospice, Hackney Carers, and Hackney Quest.

He said: “It would be great to see something positive come out of such a clear example of social injustice.”

Responding to the court’s judgement Hackney council’s cabinet member for environment and transport , Cllr Mete Coban, said the LTNs were “rolled out under experimental traffic orders, which means that residents can share their views as the schemes are implemented.”

“Thousands of residents have had their say online and in writing during the engagement period for the first stage of our LTN programme. ”

He added: “We have always been clear that our ambitions and policies are about reducing toxic air pollution, and re-imagining the future of our neighbourhoods.”

The council has just approved plans for more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and it will be extending its school streets to areas near secondary schools to reduce pollution there.

Hackney Council has been approached for comment over the request to donate money to charity.

Note: This article was amended at 20:43 on Thursday 2 February 2023 to correct the name of the campaign group to Horrendous Hackney Road Closures and to reflect the fact that the campaign group and HHRC Ltd are separate entities.