• JANE Hoadley’s letter about Chetwynd Road traffic pretty well sums up the attitudes of those seeking to close their roads to through-traffic, (Why the lack of action on our road? October 7).

On the one hand she implies that the residents on connected roads are selfish in not wanting traffic diverted from Chetwynd into their roads; at the same time she wants to divert the through-traffic from Chetwynd onto already more burdened roads.

She says such closures lead to “longer journeys for motorists, but the improvements for residents are real with less damaging pollution”.

Obviously longer journeys for motorists means more pollution overall, but never mind, it will only affect those who live, work or attend school on less-favoured roads.

Apparently through-traffic leads to “damage to residents’ parked vehicles”. Presumably when these vehicles are not parked they’re being driven along roads where other people live; but maybe these people aren’t “residents” so don’t matter.

The underlying assumption of all proposals to close “residential” roads to through-traffic, as Camden Council has already done with Constantine-Savernake near South End Green, is that some streets are “residential” and the people who live on them are “residents”, first-class citizens who must be protected; and others, although lined with terraced houses on both sides, are not residential and the people who live on them don’t matter.

On Agincourt Road, for example, the only breaks in the houses are one shop, a hairdresser and Fleet School; but to Camden Council it’s not “residential”, so a suitable dump for Constantine-Savernake’s unwanted traffic. Like most of the “non-residential” roads, it’s also on several bus routes.

Camden’s policy of transferring through-traffic onto these roads lengthens bus journey times, which directly contradicts any policy of shifting journeys from private cars to public transport.

The basic problem is too much motor traffic in London and shifting it from one road to another doesn’t help.

We need a more vigorous, London-wide, policy of encouraging the use of public transport, by making it cheaper and more reliable, and among other things actively discouraging the use of private cars for journeys within London.

This means discouraging car ownership, since once you’ve paid the fixed costs of a car it makes sense to use it. I’m not optimistic that Camden will be up for that.

JOHN WILSON, NW3