Dalston Liveable Neighbourhood plans revealed

Finally, at last, the plans for the much debated and longed-for Dalston Liveable Neighourhood have been revealed. It was 3 years ago in January 2023 that Mete Coban, the then Cabinet member for Transport, promised that Dalston would be getting an LTN. Local residents have been campaigning for it to be built since then, some feeling increasingly frustrated at what they see as missed deadlines. Then last year in 2025 there was a full consultation asking for input from people who live in the area, or visit, or pass through. Unsurprisingly, car owners were over represented in this consultation, but young people were under represented.

For clarity, the area in question is bounded by the A10, Dalston Lane and Amhurst Road. Looking at other LTNs in Hackney, its clear that this area outlined in blue below is one of the few areas not yet benefitting from traffic reduction measures:

As a result, Dalston suffers from high levels of traffic, including through traffic using local roads as rat-runs or short cuts. In particular, this impacts roads including Shacklewell Lane (over 10,000 vehicles per day), St Mark's Rise (11,000 vehicles per day), Cecilia Road and Sandringham Road (both 5000 per day), and the five schools in the area.
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Road danger
Local residents frequently complain that crossing roads and cycling is very dangerous, and there have been many near misses and road collisions often caused by drivers ignoring the 20mph speed limit or driving recklessly. Sandringham Road is the most dangerous, based on the number of accidents, followed by Cecilia Road and Shacklewell Lane. Data from TfL Collisions Map.

3/4 of Dalston residents don't have a car
It's important to understand that Dalston has very low levels of car ownership, even compared to other areas of Hackney. According to the ONS, 73% of households in the area have no access to a vehicle. Only 24% of household have a single car or van. So, to be clear, about three quarters of households in the area have no car or van.

​What's the plan?
At the heart of the plan is the bus gate on Shacklewell Lane, but this is a big scheme:

• Bus gate on Shacklewell Lane at the junction with Amhurst Road
• Foulden Road, Farleigh Road and Arcola Street will be closed to through traffic, except cycles and emergency vehicles
• Many banned turns including Ridley Road to Dalston Lane, and Dalston Lane to Cecilia Road
• Banned left turn out of Birbeck Road into Sandringham Road (camera enforced)
• Diagonal filters (bollards or planters) on Downs Park Road, Sandringham Road and Montague Road
• Three School Streets (where roads are closed to traffic at times when students are arriving and leaving school) for Halley House School and Excelsior Academy
• Raised tables on Shacklewell Lane, Arcola Street, Downs Park Road and Sandringham Road​

Benefits
We think this scheme will have a really significant impact on ​reducing traffic in Dalston, especially reducing through-traffic. It will also improve air quality, make walking and cycling safer, reduce noise pollution from traffic, give children more freedom to travel independently, and improve the overall experience of living or visiting the area. For these reasons, we fully support the Dalston liveable neighbourhood scheme and applaud the council for the ambition here.

Phased approach
Our main concern is that the council have opted for a phased approach to implementation, as you can see here:

We would prefer to see full implementation in one go rather than a phased approach, which runs the risk of confusing people and encouraging drivers to complain over a longer period of time. Not implementing the bus gate on Shacklewell Lane until phase 3 in 2027 is a risky approach given how central it is to the entire scheme.

​Give it time
We know that LTNs take time to settle in once implemented, and that will take longer with the proposed phased approach. In the past, residents who are initially unhappy often end up being in favour of schemes like this, once they've got used to it and see the benefits.

The council's impact assessment suggests that around 18,000 people might benefit from the scheme but 400 people will have a dis-benefit from regular longer car journeys. We think this is definitely a price worth paying.

The council decision date is Friday 13th February, after which work to implement the first phase can begin.

Show your support!
You can show your support for the scheme by emailing the following (this really does help):

Hackney Mayor Caroline Woodley [email protected]
Councillor Richard Lufkin [email protected]
Cabinet member for Transport Sarah Young [email protected]
Dalston Councillor [email protected]
Group Engineer and report author Maryann Allen [email protected]
Councillor Gilbert Smyth [email protected]
Cabinet member for Health Chris Kennedy [email protected]
Assistant Director Streetscene Tyler Linton [email protected]​

If you want to email them all together, simply copy this list of addresses into the TO line in your email:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]​

The full 93 page Key Decision document can be accessed here:
https://hackney.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=343&MId=6358