Protestors turned out in their thousands in Ealing at the weekend to protest against the council’s Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) policy.

Organisers claim that over 2,000 took part in the march to Ealing Town Hall, which was one of a number of concurrent anti-LTN protests across London last Saturday.

Protestors met at the Quadrant on Little Ealing Lane at 2pm before marching down the road to Ealing Town Hall, where one of the organisers, Lorna Malone, briefly addressed them.

Ms Malone said: “These are their stakeholders, the residents of Ealing, these are the people who have voted the council in, and they have disrespected them, and they have not answered them, it’s time it changed, and we are not going to back down”.

The LTNs were introduced with the aim of stopping rat-running, minimising traffic, and reducing air pollution, but critics claim that they have simply moved traffic and pollution to less affluent areas while making access difficult for disabled residents and emergency vehicles.

The protestors, including many long-time local residents, were particularly angry at the lack of consultation in advance of the policy roll-out, with many arguing that their streets had never had a problem with rat-running.

Ms Malone believes that the council used Covid-19 as cover to introduce a policy which they expected to be unpopular.

She said: “This is a big change to how we operate in Ealing and like any good change you need detail and you need to have real trust that it’s being managed correctly.”

LTNs use obstacles placed in specific locations to make it impossible for motorists to use residential streets as short-cuts between main roads.

While they do not prevent people from reaching their own streets by car, they can force drivers to take longer routes, and there have been reports that this has caused disruptions for fire engines and ambulances.

One protestor, Veronica Jurkovic, 34, recalled an ambulance trip her mother took last year and claimed that the bollards would have turned this 15-minute journey into 45 minutes.

She said: “Anyone who says they are pro-LTN must not have a car, must not be from the area, and just be pro-anything that’s saying it’s anti-pollution.”

Her mother, Seta Jurkovic, 66, was also on the march.

She has lived in Ealing for over 45 years and has a disability which means she cannot do her own shopping and struggles to stay in a car for long periods.

For her, the LTN has meant longer waits for food deliveries and an increasingly shut-in life.

She said: “I’m scared to go out. Where I used to pop out once or twice a week, I don’t go out now. There’s no point.”

This Is Local London: Protesters pinned signs to trees on their march. Protesters pinned signs to trees on their march.

In addition to emergency workers, many protestors claimed that the policy was disrupting other key workers, such as delivery drivers, refuse collectors, and local business owners.

Many shop staff on Northfield Avenue came onto the street to clap the protestors as they made their way to Ealing Town Hall, while more than 7,000 people have signed a petition describing the council’s the plans as “not fit for purpose”.

Others have taken matters into their own hands, with planters in Ealing vandalised or moved, and in some places, oil has been poured on the streets.

An Ealing Council spokesperson said: “Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) aim to reduce traffic and stop rat-running.

“Given the climate emergency, it is vital that we act now to create a borough that is easier and safer for people to walk, cycle, and scoot instead of using vehicles. It is also vital that we allow people to social distance on public transport whilst avoiding a spike in motor vehicle use as we respond to the challenges of the COViD-19 pandemic.

“Each LTN allows residents and emergency services vehicle access to all properties on every street and we have a continuous dialogue with local emergency services and welcome any feedback or concerns they may have in order to improve these trials.

“LTNs can be changed or amended based on real-time experiences and physical instalments such as planters and bollards have been created using temporary and short-term materials so they can be removed or changed in response to feedback.

“Government funding for LTNs was time-limited and schemes were required to be in place by the end of September. We are encouraging everyone living in an LTN to share their views and help us shape the initiative and there is a chance to comment throughout the initial six-month trial and again in a further consultation after this initial period.”

Schemes in Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark, and Wandsworth have attracted similar controversy, with the latter’s Conservative-led council announcing on Friday that it had suspended its trial.