Waltham Forest Mini-Holland — Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Segregated Cycle Lanes in Outer London

Waltham Forest was one of three outer-London boroughs awarded about £30 million under the Mini-Holland programme (from 2014). Measures included traffic calming and low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in Walthamstow Village, Leyton and Leytonstone, dozens of 'Copenhagen' crossings with continuous footways, and about 22 km of segregated cycle lanes, including 4 km on Lea Bridge Road.
Evidence: a longitudinal natural experiment (annual surveys 2016–19) of residents who lived in the same area throughout found, for LTN residents, a 22% reduction in past-week car use and 43 fewer minutes of car use per week (wave 2), a 20% lower probability of owning a car (wave 3), and increases in walking (+115 minutes per week) and cycling participation (+68%) by wave 3. Earlier one-year findings by the same team reported about 41 extra minutes of active travel per week, and no evidence that cycling gains came at the expense of other active modes. A 2021 health-economic study reported £724m benefits against £80m costs.
Caveats: only 49–66 LTN residents per analysis, so confidence intervals are wide and the authors acknowledge uncertainty about effect size; Waltham Forest was the only borough with LTNs during the study. Reporting in 2018 identified flaws in public consultation and opposition from some residents, so the case is useful for both its measured gains and its engagement lessons.

Read the full analysis: https://findingspress.org/article/17128-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-car-use-and-active-travel-evidence-from-the-people-and-places-survey-of-outer-london-active-travel-interventions