Peak Car And The Hyper-Local Retail Opportunity

Peak Car And The Hyper-Local Retail Opportunity

Across the UK, city streets are quietly undergoing radical transformation. Temporary cycle lanes have popped up, footways widened to enable social distancing and, perhaps most drastically, residential roads are being blocked to through traffic. Since May, over 200 of these “low-traffic neighborhood” (“LTN”) trials have launched as more than 50 councils take advantage of the £250 million of emergency “active travel” funding from central government. The vast majority of these LTN schemes are in London. Full disclaimer: I live in one.

The idea is to free up the roads for those who are able to walk or cycle, especially at a time when public transport capacity is constrained due to Covid. Without investment in active travel, experts argue that it would be too tempting for everyone to jump in their