Another consultation will take place on plans to close roads in Stoke Newington because of a persistent campaign by parents who say their kids will be worse off.

An in-depth study was commissioned last year after parents protested against the town hall’s plan to shut streets around Walford Road to through traffic in an effort improve air quality across the wider area and make the Cycle Superhighway 1 (CS1) route quieter and safer.

They believed the scheme would make the air at pinch points worse, polluting kids at William Patten, Grasmere and St Mary’s primary schools by shifting traffic onto Church Street.

The row rumbled on while the tests were carried out by leading air quality organisation Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (CERC).

Now, following their publication showing small increases in pollution at the school playgrounds – which the council says would be mitigated by other measures anyway – the parents say it wasn’t done properly and underestimates pollution by relying partly on modelling rather than simply taking readings from discrete monitoring stations at face value.

As a result, the council has decided to hold another public survey on the preferred option, providing it is passed by cabinet later this month.

Deputy mayor Cllr Feryal Demirci said: “The Walford Road proposals are aimed at reducing rat-running traffic and creating a better environment for walking and cycling. The proposals would also tackle some of the antisocial behaviour and dangerous driving associated with rat-running traffic.

“Residents of Walford Road, Brighton Road and Nevill Road in particular have raised significant concerns about the traffic and the wider adverse implications that this has for the neighbourhood.

“Residents have told us that they want to look at and feed back on the proposals in light of the air quality modelling, so I’m recommending further consultation is carried out on option B of the scheme, which, in light of all the up to date information and subject to that further consultation, is currently considered to be the better of the two options previously put forward for the area.

“This will ensure all residents can weigh up the benefits of the proposals alongside the air quality modelling and measures we’re implementing to tackle poor air quality in Stoke Newington.”

The consultation is likely to start next month.