The borough is the top-performing outer London borough in this year’s Healthy Streets Scorecard due to its relatively high percentage (50%) of streets that are low-traffic-neighbourhoods, reports Rana Rastegari

Waltham Forest has been ranked as the “top outer London borough” in this year’s Healthy Streets Scorecard. The score currently stands at 5.59, with the borough’s position in London as a whole rising from 13th to 12th place in the overall rankings.

This award is based on a variety of metrics including the percentage of streets with Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), percentage of schools with traffic-free school streets, percentage of controlled parking zones, percentage of the boroughs managed roads with a 20mph speed limit, number of cars registered per 100 households, percentage of polluting diesel cars and the percentage of bus routes with bus priority.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are residential areas where access for motor vehicles is largely reduced using filters or barriers such as gates, planters or bollards. Waltham Forest has just over 50% in 2024 according to Healthy Streets Scorecard data.

The percentage of roads with a 20mph speed limit in Waltham Forest was 97%, increasing from the 78% in 2023. Controlled parking zones are areas where all kerbside space is controlled by designated parking spaces or waiting and loading restrictions. In 2024, 46% of Waltham Forest’s kerbside space was a controlled parking zone.

The TfL Travel for Life scheme recognising sustainable travel to school was also an indicator used to provide data. Waltham Forest had 59.7% in this year’s data.

The data for traffic-free school streets was also shown and Waltham Forest had 31% in 2024. These are school streets where the road has limited access to vehicles for drop-off and pick-up times. Waltham Forest also had 14% of bus routes with bus priority such as bus only lanes.

More information about this data and data for other boroughs can be found on the Healthy Streets Scorecard website

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.