Six Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in south London ruled unlawful by the High Court last month generated £7.2million in revenue across two years, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Croydon’s LTNs were quashed after a judge found they were mainly in place to raise money.
LTNs aim to reduce traffic in residential areas using cameras, planters or lockable bollards to stop cars passing through.
But Croydon’s zones were declared unlawful as Mr Justice Pepperall told the council: ‘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.’
Now figures obtained by the Mail show Croydon Council made £7,210,328.18 from the six LTNs between March 2024 and February 2026.
Raking in an average of £300,000 each month, the council made more than £480,000 from the zones in April 2024, its highest intake in a single month during that time.
Croydon Council said motorists were now able to claim refunds from the council website but would not commit to ensuring the full revenue generated from the LTNs would be given back.
The borough now has no active LTNs after the six unlawful zones were withdrawn.
One of Croydon’s six Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, which have all now been withdrawn after a High Court ruling
Karen Lawrence, who spearheaded legal action, told the Mail: ‘These closures had such a big impact on my movement around Croydon. I am so glad the courts vindicated what we all thought these were truly about… money.’
The resident group Open Our Roads, of which Ms Lawrence is part, said it was ‘shocked’ by the full extent of Croydon’s revenue-raising from the LTNs.
A spokesperson said: ‘The figures quoted suggest they were not performing their stated objectives, given the high level of enforcement revenue, but we are pleased the current administration has swiftly put processes in place to refund the fines wrongfully taken.’
The group said it had received more than a thousand messages of thanks from the community but added LTNs in other boroughs had prompted more tales of ‘despair’ amid the ‘eye-watering sums’ being raised by councils.
After learning the latest figures, shadow transport secretary Richard Holden said: ‘Labour’s war on drivers is at its very worst when councils are unlawfully imposing LTNs and snaffling millions from ordinary drivers trying to get on with their lives.
‘Local businesses are cut off, emergency services delayed, and families stuck in traffic – all so Labour councils can chase revenue and pretend it’s about the environment.
‘While Labour double down on dogma, Conservatives will put local people back in the driving seat by ending Labour’s obsession with punishing drivers and restoring common sense to Britain’s roads.’
A spokeswoman at the Department for Transport said it was ‘absolutely on the side of drivers’, adding: ‘The law is clear that money raised from enforcement is strictly ringfenced, and councils must make sure any Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are lawful and shaped with local communities.’
LTNs such as that pictured in north London use planters and bollards to block cars from using residential streets
In the High Court judgement, Mr Justice Pepperall cited evidence of Croydon’s Conservative mayor Jason Perry criticising the schemes while in opposition.
Mr Perry said he would like to remove all LTNs on his first day in office.
But after he was elected in May 2022 the judge wrote that Mr Perry’s view changed because of financial considerations.
The court’s judgement said Mr Perry ‘didn’t think he was in a position to remove the schemes because the previous administration had predicated their budgets on assumed income from the schemes’.
Mr Perry later said: ‘I did not at any point say that I would remove all the [LTNs] because I just knew it was not a pledge that I could uphold… any future schemes coming forward should not be based on fining residents in order to achieve it.’
Croydon Council has effectively declared bankruptcy three times since 2020, the same year it trialled LTNs before making them permanent in 2024.
In August Labour quietly dropped plans to limit the introduction of LTNs and 20mph zones in a move dubbed a ‘secret war on drivers’.
The reforms, drawn up by the Tories, would have curbed councils’ power to restrict traffic and impose ‘unfair’ fines and parking charges.
But ministers dismissed the proposals saying they ‘would have made no positive difference for drivers’.