FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTION CONSULTATION

Overview

Francis Crick Institution Consultation

Proposed Public Realm and Road Safety Improvements on
Brill Place, Ossulston Street and Midland Road

We are seeking your views on the Council’s proposals to improve road safety and public realm on the streets surrounding the newly built development known as The Francis Crick Institute (Europe’s Centre for Biomedical Research) located at 1 – 2 Brill Place adjacent to the British Library. Planning permission for the £650 million institute was granted in March 2011 and at that time Camden Council worked closely with the developer to secure funding for various measures for the local community. 

Funding has been secured to enhance the street environment and improve road safety in the vicinity of the new development. Council officers have met with the developer to discuss improvements that would help meet the needs of the development.  In addition we are also keen to improve access to Kings Cross and St Pancras stations as well as improve safety for local residents.

The changes proposed are summarised below, and are shown in more detail on the plan (see attachments link below)

1. Provide five new general disabled bays: three will be located on Brill Place and two on Ossulston Street.  These are to meet the conditions of the planning application granted for the development.
2. Introduction of a pick/up drop off point on Midland Road.
3. Creation of a new pedestrian access route between Ossulston Street and Midland Road with emergency vehicular access only (via crossovers) at both ends of the route.
4. Construction of a new raised table (raised road from kerb to kerb) on Ossulston Street. This will provide a level crossing point for pedestrians and access to the newly built pedestrian access route.
5. Planting of new trees which will enhance the public realm on Brill Place, Midland Road and Ossulston Street. Due to the lack of existing footway space some trees will be housed by building out small sections of the footway.
6. The provision of vehicular crossovers, footway build outs to house trees, general disabled parking spaces and the creation of a new raised table will result in the loss of 10 residents’ parking spaces on Ossulston Street. In order to compensate for this loss, 7 residents’ parking space will be relocated and added to the existing 6 residents’ parking spaces in Brill Place. This will result in the overall loss of 3 residents’ parking bays in the local area.
7. The provision of the raised table will mean respacing the remaining road humps on Ossulston Street. This will result in three road humps being removed and two relocated further along the same street.
8. Repave footway around the development on Midland Road, Brill Place and Ossulston Street. This will include resurfacing the road on Ossulston Street and Brill Place adjacent to the development.

The Council recognises that there will be a loss of residents’ parking bays in Ossulston Street. In order to determine how this would impact on residents, the Council carried out a parking occupancy surveys in March 2015. This showed that the residents’ parking bays are occupied at an average of 85% of the time. In comparison, some streets in the same area show that parking bays are occupied over 95% of the time. This demonstrates that there is some scope to reduce residents’ parking spaces without having a significant impact on local residents.

If agreed, the proposed measure will be implemented before autumn this year and all measures will be paid from the funding secured from the developer.

Why your views matter

What happens next

Thank you for responding to this consultation

The Assistant Director for Environment and Transport will make a decision whether or not to proceed with the scheme. Under the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, we may not treat your questionnaire or letter confidentially, as it will be available for public inspection.  Please only write to us about the consultation issue.  If you want to comment on any other matter, please use a separate letter.  If approved, we are planning to make changes by Autumn 2015.

Please note, that in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, any questionnaires or correspondence received by the Council as part of this consultation will be available for public inspection and a summary of the report following the consultation will be made available on the Council’s website.

For further information please contact:

Tabrez Hussain

0207 974 3085

tabrez.hussain@camden.gov.uk