Islington’s transport chief James Murray said: 'We hope that once other boroughs see the benefit of the 20mph limit, it will be taken up further'

Published: 20 July, 2012
by ANDREW JOHNSON

HARINGEY and Hackney are “sticking two fingers up” at Islington over its plans for a borough-wide 20mph zone, Islington’s Liberal Democrats have said.

Haringey is objecting to the road safety scheme on its shared border of Stroud Green Road – just weeks after all three boroughs signed a joint co-operation pact.

Islington became the first borough in the country to reduce speed limits to 20mph last November. But Haringey says is does not support 20mph limits on busy or residential roads without sufficient traffic-calming measures.

The Lib Dems in both boroughs have condemned the lack of cooperation. Islington’s Lib Dem leader Councillor Terry Stacy said: “Just weeks ago, the Labour leaders of Islington, Haringey and Hackney promised to work together to improve life for residents living along the borough’s boundaries. This decision by Haringey makes a mockery of that.

Over our other border, Hackney have only agreed to trial 20mph on major roads shared with Islington.”

His Haringey colleague, Councillor Richard Wilson, added: “Residents in Stroud Green are really concerned about road safety and have been pushing for more main roads to have 20mph limits – but Haringey just isn’t listening.”

However, Haringey’s environment chief Councillor Nilgun Canver said they had not ruled out the proposals “entirely”.

She added that as the number of accidents are relatively low along Stroud Green Road “we do not currently see the benefit of this proposal”.

Islington’s transport chief James Murray said: “We hope that once other boroughs see the benefit of the 20mph limit, it will be taken up further.”