A surge of “aggressive driving” in the streets around Cycle Superhighway 1 (CS1) from car and scooter users means another string of road closures could be on the cards.

Hackney Gazette: People who live in the Wordsworth Road area protesting against the first round of closures last year. Picture: Ed GyurkoPeople who live in the Wordsworth Road area protesting against the first round of closures last year. Picture: Ed Gyurko (Image: Archant)

Walford Road, Brighton Road and Nevill Road have been blighted by rat run traffic since three roads were shut around Wordsworth Road in October last year – sparking protests from some neighbours including a doctor’s surgery that said its patients would need to take a longer route.

Hackney Council insists closing the roads has made the immediate area safer and less polluted, but has shunted vehicles into other parts of Stoke Newington.

The town hall’s ultimate goal is to get people to drive less, and to do it on main roads rather than back streets – bosses believe they just haven’t rolled the scheme out widely enough yet.

That’s why they’ve proposed permanently shutting Barbauld Road at its junction with Albion Road, and Allen Road at its junction with Shakespeare Walk.

They say that would largely stop cars getting between Stoke Newington High Street and Albion Road except by using the main roads.

A second option would shut Nevill Road between Osterley Road and Walford Road; Clonbrock Road at its junction with Allen Road; and Allen Road at its junction with Nevill Road.

In either case, cyclists would still be able to use all roads in both directions. So would the emergency services.

But the council might have to kill some parking spaces around the junctions to allow space for drivers who had gone the wrong way to U-turn.

“Walford Road and Brighton Road are not just places to park vehicles or drive, walk and cycle on,” the council says in a consultation document distributed around the neighbourhood this week.

“They are the places where we live our lives and Hackney’s children play.

“We want to reclaim Hackney’s streets from motor traffic congestion and transform them into the most attractive and liveable neighbourhoods in London.

“This can only be achieved by reducing the dominance of the private vehicle.”

The council points out that most households in Hackney don’t own cars.

Visit hackney.gov.uk/street-consultations to answer the consultation online, or use the form that has been put through your door if you live in a directly affected street.