A High Court judgment has found that six low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) schemes introduced by Croydon Council were unlawful, after concluding that the authority’s primary motivation was financial rather than environmental or safety-related.
In a strongly worded decision, Mr Justice Pepperall ruled that the council had exercised its statutory powers for an improper purpose when making the schemes permanent in 2024. The court determined that the “dominant purpose” behind retaining the LTNs was to safeguard income generated through enforcement cameras, rather than to reduce congestion, improve air quality or enhance road safety.
As a result, the legal orders underpinning the six schemes have been quashed, raising the prospect that the restrictions may need to be dismantled. The ruling also opens the door to potential reimbursement claims from motorists who were fined for entering the restricted areas.
The schemes were originally introduced in 2020 during the pandemic, before being formalised four years later. They were enforced using Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, with penalty charge notices set at £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days.
Financially, the schemes proved highly lucrative. Freedom of Information data showed that £1.4 million in fines was issued in a single month, with council projections estimating revenues in excess of £10 million over a four-year period.
However, the court found that such financial considerations had improperly influenced the decision-making process.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Pepperall placed particular weight on public statements made by Croydon’s mayor, Jason Perry, noting a lack of clear support for the schemes on health or safety grounds. The judge highlighted repeated references to the council’s financial constraints, concluding that budgetary pressures had become the driving factor behind the decision to retain the LTNs.
He stated: “Taking the relatively modest benefits of the schemes into account together with the mayor’s apparent lack of public enthusiasm for the road safety or health case for these schemes and his clear and repeated comments before and after the vote as to his hands being tied by the budgetary considerations, I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the dominant purpose for these orders making the schemes permanent was the need to safeguard the revenue raised by enforcement.”
The ruling is particularly significant given Croydon Council’s well-documented financial difficulties, having effectively declared bankruptcy multiple times in recent years. Its proposed net expenditure budget for the 2026–27 financial year stands at £485.4 million, underscoring the scale of the financial pressures facing the authority.
Campaign group Open Our Roads welcomed the decision, calling for immediate action to halt enforcement, remove the schemes and establish a process to refund affected motorists.
The group said: “Today’s judgment confirms that local authorities must act lawfully and for the purposes parliament intended. Residents deserve transparency and decisions based on evidence, not financial necessity.”
The case is likely to have wider implications for local authorities across England, many of which have introduced similar traffic management measures in recent years. Courts have previously scrutinised such schemes, including a ruling against Lambeth Council’s West Dulwich LTN, which was found unlawful due to a failure to properly consider residents’ objections.
Further legal challenges are already in progress, with a separate case involving Tower Hamlets expected to reach the Supreme Court.
For motorists, the judgment serves as a reminder that while local authorities have broad powers to manage traffic and environmental concerns, those powers must be exercised for their intended statutory purposes, not as a mechanism for revenue generation.
