Arlington Road Area Low Traffic Neighbourhood

Overview

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how people in Camden live, travel and work. We want our streets to have more safe space for everyone to walk and cycle, for children to get to and from school safely and healthily, for businesses to be able to flourish and to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles for you to be breathing cleaner air. We want to ensure that our streets support a strong recovery from the pandemic and provide a lasting legacy of greener, safer, healthier travel.

We’ve been trialling changes to reduce traffic volumes levels on the residential streets around the Arlington Road area, from Mornington Crescent to Camden Town, as well on Buck Street, to create a Low Emission Neighbourhood / Low Traffic Neighbourhood in this area.

We have been monitoring the impact of the changes we have made and have produced a monitoring report which you can review here . 

Some of the findings contained in the report, when comparing “pre-scheme” with “during-trial” data, are as follows:

• Air Quality has improved in line with borough trends
• 15% increase in cycle volumes on local streets in the study area
• 43% overall decrease in motor traffic on local streets across the study area
• 15% decrease in traffic volumes on Parkway compared to 2018 levels
• 15% decrease in traffic related collisions from 2019 across the study area

We are now consulting, and are seeking your views, on the following:

• Making the combined package of measures, introduced as an Experimental Traffic Order, to reduce traffic volumes in the streets to the west of Camden High Street permanent  
• A series of enhancements to these proposed permanent measures
• Newly proposed measures in response to feedback during the trial
• Secure Cycle Storage 

We want your views on the below package of measures and proposed enhancements. 

• Make the restriction on eastbound motor vehicle movements on Jamestown Road permanent and to enhance the scheme by replacing the existing planter with a traffic island
• Make the no access for motor vehicles from Inverness Street to Arlington Road permanent and enhance the scheme by replace existing planters with traffic islands, widen footways and introduce a secure cycle hanger
• Make the restriction for motor vehicle traffic movements into and out of Buck Street, enforced by removable bollards, permanent  
• Make the restriction prohibiting access for northbound motor vehicles on Arlington Road (south of Delancey Street) permanent and enhance the scheme by adding traffic island, raising the carriageway and add greening
• Make the restriction for motor vehicle movements into and out of Mornington Street at the junction with Albert Street permanent
• Make the restriction for motor vehicle movements into and out of Albert Street at the junction with Mornington Place permanent and replace existing planters with removable bollards
• Make the restriction for motor vehicle traffic movements into and out of Mornington Place at Mornington Place junction with Clarkson Row/Mornington Terrace permanent, replace existing planters with removable bollards and make the conversion of 5m of residents’ parking space on the west side of Mornington Place (north of the junction with Clarkson Row/Mornington Terrace), to double yellow line with double blips permanent
• Make the parking amendments on Arlington Road, Albert Street and Mornington Street, which increased the availability for resident parking in line with comments made during the engagement, permanent

We are also proposing the following additional measures in response to feedback received during the engagement period:

To reduce congestion and improve bus journey time reliability on Parkway we are proposing to:

• Remove the TfL Bike hire docking station from Parkway and replace with Double Yellow Lines, which enable loading outside peak times
• Amend Single Yellow Lines outside 33-43 Parkway to restrict loading to outside peak times
• Amend Single Yellow Line in Pay by Phone parking bays outside 45-49 Parkway to restrict loading to outside peak times. No changes proposed to parking times.
• Convert Single Yellow Line outside 40-34 Parkway to Double Yellow Lines with Double blips
• Widen pavement outside 141 Albert Street and Relocate TfL Bike hire docking station from Parkway to Albert Street. No changes proposed to loading provision at this location
• Install double yellow lines and double blips at the junction of Parkway and Albert Street

To improve the pedestrian environment on Arlington Road we are proposing to:

• Build out the footway outside 172 -172a Arlington Road, by removing 11.5 metres of Pay by Phone parking bays and 10 metres of Single Yellow Line.

To improve the pedestrian environment and the public realm on Delancey Street we are proposing to:

• Remove the right turn motor traffic slip lane at the junction with Albert Street and replace with a new paved area with trees and benches
• Raise the carriageway at the junction of Delancey Street and Albert Street to slow vehicle speeds and improve road safety

To improve the pedestrian environment and the public realm on Clarkson Row we are proposing to:

• Introduce rain gardens on carriageway outside 1-31 Clarkson Row.

To provide more street bike storage in the area we are proposing to introduce bike hangars at the following locations:

• Oval Road, near the junction with Jamestown Road
• Albert Street, south of the junction with Delancey Street

Stakeholders are asked to note that, in addition to the above proposals, we are continuing to carry out a feasibility study on a 3.5 tonne weight restriction on Delancey Street, in line with the request made as part of a previous petition submitted to the Council and discussed at Scrutiny Panel. Officers have met with local residents to discuss the progress of the study and have also began to discuss with businesses on Delancey Street. Further feasibility work is now being undertaken to assess the implications of the 3.5 tonne restriction on the surrounding road network and the results of this study are expected to be available in January 2022. Following the conclusion of that study, if any further proposals are recommended to take forward with respect of weight limit restrictions on Delancey Street, they would be separately consulted on thereafter

Camden Council, HS2 and its contractors have engaged with each other on the forthcoming HS2 work and the consultation on the Arlington Road Area LTN. All parties will work together to seek to use reasonable and feasible measures to mitigate against the impacts on potential future road closures in the area and their impact on the Arlington Road Area scheme.

Why your views matter

As two thirds of households in this area do not have access to a car or van and public transport patronage levels remain lower than before the pandemic, we know that safe and easy walking, cycling and scooting routes are more important than ever. Supporting and encouraging those who are able to walk and cycle, by creating safer streets will ensure that there is more space available on public transport and on our roads for those who need it the most.

Your views are important in providing feedback both on the proposed scheme as a whole and elements of it, and we would therefore welcome your responses on the pages that follow.

Our final decision will be made based on evidence, including the results of this full public consultation but also feedback received during the trial, results of monitoring data and relevant policies and plans

What happens next

After the consultation, a decision report will be produced and published online via our website. Local residents and stakeholders will be notified of the outcome. The report will consider a broad range of information including consultation responses, feedback received during the trial period, relevant policies and other data/information including monitoring information collected during the trial period.

All of this information will be considered in making a recommendation in the report about whether, at the end of the trial period, the experimental scheme should be made permanent, modified or allowed to lapse.