The Future of the High Street: Implementing effective road- reallocation schemes that work better for local businesses

Clear evidence exists for the various benefits of pedestrianisation and road-reallocation programmes for public life and health. By reducing motor traffic, road reallocation measures such as pedestrianisation, low traffic neighbourhoods, or school streets free up space for different uses of local streets, improving population health and the environment. They also allow for a fairer use of public resources, reducing inequality in space allocation and public investments in a context where often more than 50% of the population does not have access to a car.

One such use is local shopping. Growing evidence suggests that well planned improvements in the quality of public space provisions help improve the local economy and perceptions of an area, revitalising high streets and their function as socioeconomic centres for local communities.

However, different schemes will achieve such objectives at different scales and timelines. If not carefully designed considering the specific needs and experiences of different communities, they can create unintended consequences, including for some marginalised groups. Like most measures aimed at reducing car use they generate varying levels of support, conflict and/or opposition. It is therefore important to understand what design and implementation processes can better support the successful implementations of road reallocation schemes for local communities and economies.

With this research we hope to provide some insights on ways to ensure effective communication and implementation of these interventions for local businesses. To do so, we focused on understanding barriers and opportunities presented by the Stoke Newington Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) for local businesses, with a particular focus on engagement and communication regarding scheme implementation. Introduced in 2022, the Stoke Newington LTN is an ideal case study to investigate this theme, as it is one of the few recently introduced LTNs in the UK which includes a high street.