Chatsworth Road residents say new bus gate has caused ‘severe disruption to our lives’
An LTN was introduced on Chatsworth Road in August 2025. Photograph: Sludge G, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More than 1,000 Hackney residents and business owners have called on the council to remove a bus gate on Chatsworth Road.
A Low Traffic Neighborhood (LTN) was implemented in the area in August 2025, with the bus gate added at the entrance to Brooksby’s Walk. Chatsworth Road is now pedestrianised between Dunlace Road and Blurton Road every Sunday, between 6am and 8pm, to make way for its famous market.
Hackney Council made the changes in a bid to reduce traffic pollution in the area. But people living and working there have claimed the LTN and bus gate have caused ‘severe disruption to our daily lives and livelihoods’.
Residents and business owners say that rather than reducing traffic, the changes have simply pushed cars onto smaller residential streets nearby, as well as Lower Clapton Road and Lea Bridge Road. The higher number of vehicles on these roads has meant journey times are longer and congestion is worse, critics argue.
Resident Jon Aldenton said his journeys are longer and more complicated now, meaning his car ultimately uses more fuel per journey. He said: “Traffic has been queueing down Powerscroft Road, there have been [approximately] half-mile queues to get out of Median Road onto lower Clapton Road and then solid traffic going south.”
And it’s not just the congestion which has worried Aldenton. “The businesses are up in arms, because they just lost loads of passing trade,” he added.
“This is half-thought through. The city’s survived because [it’s] got economic life, right? And if you cut off bits of economic life, the city dies.”
The road is now pedestrianised one day a week. Photograph: Danny Robinson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
One business owner who has felt the impact of this change is Mary Wagstaff. She has run the boutique Triangle from its premises on Chatsworth Road for 12 years and told the Citizen the changes have had a real impact on business.
“In terms of the passing trade, it’s now reduced to almost zero,” she said.
“No one’s going to chance encounter Chatsworth Road, because there’s no through traffic anymore. […] If you look at the road, it’s completely dead. There’s no one here.”
Business owner Jackie Crank has encountered similar problems. She runs the pet shop Pack and Clowder, with a branch on Chatsworth Road and Newington Green. She also runs market stalls at Broadway Market and Victoria Park, as well as one in Walthamstow.
“I’ve got a van, and I have to move stock around, pick things up and take gazebos to markets.
“[The LTN] has just… it’s gone from what could be a 10 minute journey to a half hour journey. It’s trebled every single thing, every journey in Hackney that I have to do.
“If I thought this worked [to reduce emissions], I’d be totally behind it. But to me, it’s just so shortsighted. The idea of cutting off arteries just clogs up the other arteries left. It just totally doesn’t make sense.”
Crank added: “This has made it so difficult for anyone to get to Chatsworth Road. I’ve had a couple of delivery drivers tell me they’re not coming because they can’t make it onto the street, so it means we’re not getting the stock that we need.”
The business owner also expressed concern over the added journey times she fears emergency vehicles now face, particularly given the road’s proximity to Homerton Hospital. “I have seen emergency vehicles behind me, not being able to get through. So I’m sure it’s caused difficulty with their access as well,” she told the Citizen.
Two petitions – one on the council website and one on change.org – have now been launched encouraging the council to ‘review and revise’ the changes. The latter had received more than 1,000 signatures at the time of writing.
“We acknowledge the importance of traffic management and the council’s intention to enhance the community’s quality of life,” the change.org petition reads. “However, these measures have not been successful in achieving their intended outcomes and have instead created chaos for both residents and businesses.
“The evidence of increased traffic jams and pollution is undeniable and needs immediate attention.”
LTNs are sections of road which are blocked off to cars – though cyclists, emergency vehicles and waste vehicles are permitted to pass through. The council began implementing them in 2020, and there are now 19 across the borough. More than 70 per cent of eligible roads in Hackney are now covered by an LTN.
This represents 50 per cent of the total area of Hackney, the highest percentage of any London borough.
Proponents say LTNs encourage people to choose more eco-friendly transport methods, such as walking and cycling, and to shop locally. But they have proven controversial, with many residents claiming that rather than opting not to drive, motorists are simply using smaller roads near the LTNs which are not equipped to handle high volumes of traffic.
A statement from Lea Bridge ward councillors said: “Lea Bridge ward councillors have long supported closing Chatsworth Road to traffic on Sundays from 10am to 4pm to allow the market to operate safely. Most residents have backed this since the market began in 2010.
“However, at the same time, the council’s StreetScene department decided to also introduce a wider traffic scheme which involved a blanket daytime closure one-way of Chatsworth Road, which has often caused heavy and unacceptable traffic congestion for residents wanting to exit the area and lengthy delays to the local bus services.
“Some disabled and elderly residents have become very distressed by the situation that has resulted. We have been deluged by emails from upset and concerned local residents and businesses.
“We support the majority of businesses and residents of the area who have supported the closure of the market area on Sundays but do not support the overall scheme in its present form, which a majority of residents taking part in the recent council consultation voted against. We hope to bring a petition to the Council from residents asking the Council to think again.”
A Lea Bridge Ward forum is due to take place at 122-124 Lower Clapton Road on 22 January, where residents and business owners will have the opportunity to meet Cllr Sarah Young, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, and Streetscene officers.
Cllr Young said in a statement: “We’ve worked closely with local people to introduce changes designed to make the Chatsworth Road area greener, safer and more people-friendly, with better options for walking, cycling and public transport.
“Since the changes were introduced, we’ve been listening carefully to feedback from residents and businesses and are monitoring the impact of the scheme. Evidence from previous schemes shows that, once the changes have settled in, there is an overall reduction in traffic across the area, including boundary roads.
“But we are reviewing the monitoring data to see whether the scheme is working as intended and looking at whether any adjustments are needed to ensure that we meet our commitment to creating a better connected, thriving, liveable neighbourhood.”
This article was amended on Friday, 9 January at 11.56am to include an updated quote from Cllr Sarah Young.
They’ve turned a high street into an LTN. the worst council ever
“I have seen emergency vehicles behind me, not being able to get through.”
I wonder why?
It’s the same with Church Street in Stoke Newington for the impact on businesses and residents. Also Hackney’s LTNs have made Blackstock Road and Green Lanes constantly congested – with the increased traffic, noise and pollution on the only connecting roads of Riversdale and Mountgrove Road. Hackney Council’s careerist politicians put ideology before their residents’ health and lives. None of this has been properly considered or monitored in terms of adjacent or satellite roads; residents concerns have absolutely not been listened to – they do not care about our quality of life. Navigating dumped lime bikes blocking our pavements for pedestrians or injury from people who don’t know or care how to ride them safely is another consequence of the Council’s decisions.
People I know who have lived on Stokey Church Street love the LTN there. As someone that lives exactly on that stretch of “half-mile queues”, I think the Chats LTN is a great addition. Makes the area much more enjoyable to visit.
Would be interesting to see the Citizen interview a wider range of perspectives than the vocal opposition.
Just been fined £200 for driving through this bus gate while hiring a zip van where there was no other option to pass through the gate. A complete and utter joke and totally self defeating I will not be able to hire this supposedly green way of transport ever again. The council are awful never vote for these selfish idiots who have never run a business in their life.
60% of people voted against the implementation of the bus gate and LTN but these stasi fools at the council went ahead yesterday and have pushed all the traffic onto surrounding roads, I have cars outside my house and business for over an hour every day now just emitting even more pollution a totally self defeating and waste of money projecy
In response to George’s comment, if Hackney Citizen did interview real residents (and not the transient student/yuppie population) that live in and around Chats and the nearby estates, they would hear how the real working class residents feel, and they would hear hear how we have to navigate these ridiculous implementations every day (and for the foreseeable future), and you wouldn’t be able to classify it as mere “opposition”. Who is really the opposition in cases like these? Just because someone does not support their childhood streets being shut off does not mean they are on the bad side. So much for “inclusivity”.
Nearly 60% of responders to this stupid scheme were ignored by the council who installed it anyway, and there has been a noticeable increase in traffic in all of the side streets which defeats the entire point of the changes!!! Powerscroft Road is constantly delayed and Homerton High Street is a JOKE, imagine being a resident living there. And the bus gate on Chatsworth Road is an accident waiting to happen, I’ve seen numerous people forced to go through it because they can’t turn around, and people mounting the pavement to do turn around!!! Hackney Council hate residents and businesses who actually have lived here their whole lives not the yuppie gentrifier students who get a crappy pedestrianised market on Sundays now… Well done. And @George – the wider perspective you mention OPPOSED this scheme and the Council installed it anyway.
and the worst thing of it all we used to take patients to the back entrance of the homerton hospital for easy access to the wards, now you can’t anymore, blocked by stop signs.
Hackney Council is systematically ruining the borough in pursuit of their agenda which most residents don’t agree with.
It’s basically a borough of gridlock, fumes, frustration and despair. Some small tweaks would make a positive difference but they’re all ‘fingers in ears’ and refuse to engage and ignore the fact their own reports highlight the negatives. Additionally, bus times have never been worse… FACT.
A few points:
There has never been a “vote” on the bus gate. Consultations are not votes, so let’s not mix them up. The council’s transport strategy is pretty explicit about reducing car usage and encouraging walking, cycling and public transport, and they won nearly all the councillor elections, the two MPs and the Mayor in Hackney. If Hackney residents disagreed, they surely wouldn’t have voted for them?
Experience in many other areas of Hackney show that new traffic filters (eg bus gate) take time to settle down and behaviours to change. The Chatsworth bus gate has been operational for just 3 months, which coincides with other major changes in Hackney Central (Amhurst Rd). 3 months isn’t long enough to make a decision on the success or otherwise of the scheme.
Looking at the data from the ONS, the majority (57%) of residents on Kings Park have NO access to a vehicle, meaning they travel mainly by foot, bike or bus. Its definitely not accurate to think that most residents use a car to get around. Lea Bridge ward is closer to 58% with no car.
There was a big fuss when the Church Street N16 bus gate went in, with people saying it would kill the street and all the businesses would close down. Did that happen? No, quite the opposite, its a thriving street which people come to for the shops, bars, restaurants and because there’s very little passing traffic.
To James who said he had no other option but to go thru the gate and get fined. Err, that’s just not correct. Did you miss the signs telling you where to go? Turn right down Clifden Rd.
To Harry, what is stopping you dropping people extremely close to the back entrance of the hospital? I use that entrance regularly as its less busy than the front.
Having said all that, I actually agree that the LTN is not as good as it should be, but I would add more filters to stop passing traffic use Powerscroft and Median as rat runs, which would speed up bus journey times very significantly and improve air quality on those roads
@chris – “ Lea Bridge ward is closer to 58% with no car.” – and how many of these people are singletons with no connection to Hackney and are just passing through, and how many are elderly who are dependent on their families driving? And how many children are counted in these surveys, I ask because whenever I’m driving, it’s with myself, spouse and CHILDREN in the car, at least five people at a time. who cares if “58% of households” don’t have cars if the majority of the borough is made up of students looking to adapt the borough to their current needs that just affect the long term residents?? Ridiculous point to use
@Chris
Councillor and Mayoral elections do not provide a mandate for politicians to implement these schemes, I don’t remember the detailed Chatsworth Road LTN plans being included in the manifesto, do you??? I would DARE any ward member to stick this botched plan for and LTN in their manifesto with all of the specific detail… Including a vague statement in a manifesto does not do this, sorry.
“3 months isn’t long enough to make a decision on the success or otherwise of the scheme.” Errr – yes it is, if the Council actually listened to the majority of feedback during the consultation then they wouldn’t have implemented this scheme and we wouldn’t be facing the problem we currently do??? Anyone who lives locally could tell you within 3-minutes that the scheme was crap. And lets be honest the only reason the Council carries out these ‘consultations’ is to provide ‘democratic legitimacy’ (LOL) for their ridiculous schemes… But they actually ignore the feedback so what is the point – a complete waste of time/energy/money. They don’t care what you, me or any working class person thinks, they’ll implement the schemes anyway.
And 58% of Lea Bridge residents may not own a car but they also probably don’t have kids, businesses, dependants and are likely part of the 30% or 100,000 borough residents who move-in/out of the borough every year and have NO connection to Hackney beyond their matcha lattes, but it is these transient white middles class yuppies and the loony labour politicans who pander to them who get their nice gentrified shops on Church Street and Sunday market on Chatsworth Road, but the poorer working class residents who live on the boundary roads to these despotic LTNs who have lived/worked in the borough their whole lives who suffer noise, pollution and delays.
Also, your proposal for MORE restrictions on Powerscroft Road is completely mad… Where is this traffic going to go???
“I know, our traffic restrictions haven’t worked, let’s put in MORE traffic restrictions” – BONKERS!!!
FREE CHATSWORTH ROAD, DO NOT VOTE LABOUR
All LTNs to are increase journey times and distance and increase fuel useage and idling times of vehicles. No one would choose to drive if they didn’t have to, would they??? People are driving because they have to for work/care etc. so these stupid LTNs aren’t going to prompt any behaviour change at all. I have to travel in my car and additional 20-minutes every evening to travel to my mothers in Walthamstow because of this change and no wonder the country has a productivity problem…
ONS 2021 Census data also shows that around 57% of households in Kings Park ward do not have access to a vehicle and more for the lea bridge ward.