Save Our Safer Streets, a grassroots community group in Tower Hamlets, is continuing its fight to retain the popular and successful Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in Bethnal Green. 

The beginning of our campaign

From summer 2022, a group of Bethnal Green residents grouped together under the “Save Our Safer Streets” banner - seeking to persuade Lutfur Rahman (the Mayor of Tower Hamlets) and his administration that they should keep and improve the LTNs in Bethnal Green, rather than spending £millions to destroy them.

Despite overwhelming technical evidence and weight of opinion against his proposals (through consultation processes, petitions, letters and meetings), in September 2023, Lutfur Rahman decided to remove the LTNs. Our only option at that point was to challenge the legality of the decision through the courts.

In late 2024, there was a High Court ruling in favour of the Council. In January 2026, the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling, and found the council to have been in breach of the Greater London Authority Act. In simple terms, this meant that Rahman acted beyond his powers by deciding to remove the LTN without also having the permission of the Mayor of London to alter a scheme that had been implemented in agreement with the Mayor of London.

To get to the Court of Appeal, we raised cumulatively nearly £110,000. You can explore the whole process on our previous CrowdJustice page.

Why we’re raising again

On 7 May, the Supreme Court granted Tower Hamlets Council permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s January 2026 ruling that the Council’s decision to remove LTNs in the borough was unlawful.

We will once again return to court to defend the much-loved and successful schemes that have made Bethnal Green streets safer and healthier for residents of all ages. 

At the hearing, the Supreme Court will consider whether Lutfur Rahman and Tower Hamlets Council acted unlawfully by deciding to remove the scheme without getting agreement from the Mayor of London and Transport for London.

Ted Maxwell, part of Save Our Safer Streets said:

We’re extremely disappointed that the Supreme Court has agreed to a hearing on the council’s appeal against the Court of Appeal judgment from January 2026.

This decision to hear the appeal is not an indication that the council’s case is any stronger than it was when we appeared at the Court of Appeal and resoundingly won  before three senior judges.

The Court of Appeal ruling was clear and made total sense. It said that, if a London council wants to remove a scheme that was implemented and funded as part of a Local Implementation Plan agreed with Transport for London, then the Mayor of London needs to approve a revised Plan before it is removed. The process for doing this is in the Greater London Authority Act 1999. We continue to believe that the Mayor of Tower Hamlets acted beyond his legal powers in deciding to remove the Bethnal Green LTNs without Mayor of London approval and expect that in due course this is what the Supreme Court will also find.

Instead of accepting the clear majority of local residents who support the LTNs (as seen in consultations in 2019, 2022 and 2023), Lutfur Rahman has already spent £141,000 of public money on this case and is prepared to waste well over £100,000 more of public funds to fight for the right to rip out protected bike lanes, widened pavements, community seating and much-needed greenery in a densely-populated, mixed neighbourhood in Tower Hamlets. At a time of a cost of living crisis and huge deprivation for many residents, this is reckless and cruel. This money could be better spent on running essential council services like housing, schools and care for older people that thousands of Tower Hamlets residents desperately need.

Rather than working with the community to address any concerns, since 2022 the council has ignored residents’ descriptions of the reality of these schemes, including petitions, letters, consultation results and invitations to visit the area and talk to local residents, schools and businesses.

At Save Our Safer Streets, we have never wanted to take the legal route and since the summer of 2022 have done everything in our power to engage constructively with the council including during the two consultation processes. However, at all stages, Lutfur Rahman’s administration has ignored opportunities to get to the bottom of issues and resolve genuine problems, while also making many untrue statements about how the schemes are working.

Rahman talks about a “mandate to ‘reopen the roads’”, but a significant majority of voters at the borough and ward level in the 7 May 2026 elections voted for people and parties who support retaining the LTNs in Bethnal Green. Also, elections give decision-makers mandates to pursue policies, not to act beyond their legal powers. Even at this late stage, we urge Rahman to reconsider what he is doing and find a way of working with the community who have repeatedly said they like these schemes and want Tower Hamlets to have more of these safer and healthier streets. 

In granting permission to appeal, the Supreme Court has decided this is a case of general public importance. We will discuss ongoing roles with Transport for London in due course.

We are determined to keep fighting. Having already raised over £110,000 to fight the case with the support of thousands of ordinary people, we are confident we have the support to continue as we take this case to the highest court in the land. 

How much we are raising and why

We have been advised by our legal team that we have £11,000 remaining from our previous crowd-funding - and this will be required to cover most of Tower Hamlets’ legal fees in case we lose in the Supreme Court. We therefore need to raise another £25,000 to cover our expected solicitor and barrister costs up to the conclusion of a Supreme Court hearing. This figure may be affected by the exact division of responsibility between us and TfL at the hearing.

Next steps

The date of any future hearing is not yet fixed and we will provide further updates on the case and the campaign in due course.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far and continues to support us as we go to the Supreme Court.