The borough is currently consulting on ambitious low-traffic neighbourhood proposals for Bow. It's really heartening to see such good plans being put forward, which prioritise walking, cycling, public transport and community above private car use. However there has already been some vocal opposition to the scheme, and it won’t go ahead unless supporters also make their voices clearly heard.

Please please please make sure you respond to the consultation by Wednesday 29 July. We suggest that you tick “very supportive” in relation to every proposal, and ask for all closure points to be 24/7 (much of the worst driving in Bow is in the evening). Then tell all your friends and family in the area to do likewise:

Click here to respond to the consultation

If you have time to ask for improvements to make the scheme even better, we suggest that you use the comments boxes to ask for the following:

• Scheme 2: two-way cycling to be permitted on Roman Rd East outside market operate hours;
• Scheme 3: contraflow cycling on the easternmost bit of Old Ford Rd and an additional bus gateway on either Parnell Rd or Jodrell Rd;
• Scheme 6: an additional bus gateway on Fairfield Rd; and
• more bike hangars throughout the scheme!

Email Bow’s councillors

Local councillors will be receiving plenty of emails from people who don’t want any restrictions on private car use. For this scheme to move forward, there also needs to be support, so please do go ahead and email them to tell them it’s great! In particular, it’s worth saying that the closure points need to operate 24/7: this is a key area where the scheme risks being watered down, but its benefits will be dramatically lessened if through traffic is allowed to stream through Bow every evening and weekend.

Please email your support to all five Bow councillors alongside borough-wide public realm leads Dan Tomlinson and Abdal Ullah. If you live or work in Bow make sure you mention it, but if not you can still email to say you’re a visitor and that these proposals will make you much more likely to visit the area’s shops, pubs and restaurants. The councillors’ email addresses are as follows (you should be able to copy and paste them as a block):

amina.ali@towerhamlets.gov.uk; Cllr.Rachel.Blake@towerhamlets.gov.uk; Cllr.marc.francis@towerhamlets.gov.uk; Cllr.Asmak.Begum@towerhamlets.gov.uk; Val.Whitehead@towerhamlets.gov.uk; Dan.Tomlinson@towerhamlets.gov.uk; Abdal.Ullah@towerhamlets.gov.uk;

Fears, myths and worries

You might have heard some folks saying this scheme or schemes like this will lead to Armageddon. You might believe some of the myths that have built up around “low traffic neighbourhoods”. Hopefully you don’t, but if you do or know anyone who does, there is a helpful myth-buster page on the Better Streets for Tower Hamlets website.