Proposals to make the trial Safe & Healthy Street and 'C50' cycleway changes in the Camden Square area permanent, alongside new road safety and public realm improvements.
We made a mistake on one of the maps on our online consultation, we have now fixed that but to be clear and fair we are giving everyone extra time to share their views on the plans.
Our proposals include keeping the U-Turn restriction for motor vehicles on North Villas.
If you have already filled in our survey and want to change your comments please do get in touch with us atsafetravel@camden.gov.uk
We apologise for any confusion this error might have caused.
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, to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles and for you to be breathing cleaner air. Further, we want to ensure that our streets support a strong recovery from the pandemic and provide a lasting legacy of greener, safer, healthier travel.
To help, we have been trialling changes across Camden in our Safe and Healthy Streets Programme. The trial changes introduced in the Camden Square area via an Experimental Traffic Order on 16th December 2021 included new through-traffic restrictions, new cycle connections between Royal College Street and York Way (cycleway “C50” route), pedestrian improvements, and upgrades to green spaces and the public realm.
These changes helped support walking and cycling trips and prevented motor vehicles from using local streets, such as Murray Street, as a shortcut between Camden Road and York Way.
It is also important for us to support the 17 recommendations from Camden’s Citizens Assembly on the climate crisis, and help to deliver our Transport Strategy priorities, which were strongly supported when we consulted on them. This includes, improving walking and cycling, improving existing green spaces, creating new spaces, improving air quality and making our streets and transport networks safe, accessible and inclusive for all. The proposals in this consultation would help to support these strategies.
What are we now consulting on
This consultation now seeks your views on a number of proposals which seek to continue to reduce motor vehicle volumes in the area, to improve the public realm at various locations, to improve road safety and prioritise walking and cycling journeys, and to further improve air quality in the local area. For full details and how to respond to the consultation see the sections and supporting information below.
Information on the trial changes and background to the scheme can be found further down this page.
This consultation now asks local residents and stakeholders to give their views on the following proposals:
The enhanced permanent proposals for the Camden Square area have some key differences to the trial scheme. These changes seek to retain benefits of the trial scheme (such as improved air quality, less motor vehicle traffic and increased levels of cycling) while making amendments and improvements based on feedback from the community.
Changes to the trial scheme we are proposing:
In the related documents section at the bottom of this page you will find a map of the how the proposed simpler layout of the Murray Street/Camden Square junction scheme compares to the trial layout.
New changes we are proposing based on your feedback:
We are also proposing:
In the related documents section at the bottom of this page you will find a list of all the parking changes.
History of the Camden Square area Safe and Healthy Streets Scheme
In 2021 a Safe and Healthy Streets scheme was introduced as a trial using an Experimental Traffic Order (ETO). The scheme built upon the existing motor vehicle restrictions in the Camden Square area and provided new safe cycling facilities from Royal College Street to York Way.
In the related documents section at the bottom of this page you will find information on the historic motor vehicle restrictions that have been in place in the Camden Square Area since the early 1970s.
The trial launched in December 2021 with the aim of reducing traffic volumes, improving air quality, and prioritising walking and cycling journeys across the area.The ETO changes are outlined as follows:
Junction or location |
Type of Restriction |
Camden Square/Cantelowes Road |
No entry from Cantelowes Road into Camden Square (north side of green space) |
Murray Street/Stratford Villas |
No motor vehicles (diagonal restriction on Murray Street) |
Camden Mews/ Cantelowes Road |
No motor vehicles (except for access) |
Camden Terrace/North Villas |
No entry to Cantelowes Road for east bound vehicles on North Villas |
North Villas/Camden Terrace |
No right turn from North Villas into Camden Terrace |
North Villas |
No U-turn for motor vehicles |
Murray Street/Murray Mews |
No motor vehicles (except for access) |
Image shows diagonal motor vehicle restriction at junction of Camden Square, Murray Street and Stratford Villas with a taxi approaching along Stratford Villas
In addition to the above trial measures, changes were also made to several streets to provide a safer cycling connection between Royal College Street and York Way. These included:
In addition we introduced cycling and walking changes to Rochester Square and Cantelowes Road at the junction with Camden Road, improving connection to Transport for London’s pedestrian crossing improvements on Camden Road.
You can view the decision report relating to this trial.
Following feedback received from local businesses and residents during the first weeks of the trial we made changes to signage to make it clear that access to businesses and properties on Camden Mews was retained.
After 6-months of the Camden Square Area Safe and Healthy Streets trial scheme, we consulted on making minor amendments in the area to respond to comments raised by local people and businesses.
These amendments were implemented under an Experimental Traffic Order in July 2022 and included:
Monitoring information collected before and during the trial
We have been monitoring motor traffic volumes, cycle volumes and air quality and our factsheet on this data is available in the Relevant Information section below.
Some of the key findings in the data include:
Accessibility Audit
During the trial, Camden Disability Action supported by the charity Sustrans undertook an on-site accessibility audit of the scheme and provided a report containing their feedback. Issues that were reported included the potential in some locations for collisions between cyclists and pedestrians, the width of crossing areas in parts of the scheme area, narrow footway widths, and the lack of dropped kerbs and seating. We considered their recommendations and the issues that members of the group encountered during the site visits, and have made proposals for changes based on a number of those recommendations, and which are incorporated in the proposals we are consulting on.
Feedback during the trial
Over the course of the trial members of the public have been able to provide feedback on the schemes dedicated engagement pages. You can access these engagement pages at the below links:
We have analysed the feedback received during the trial. Several of the proposed amendments to the trial scheme are based on ideas provided through that feedback.
The final decision on whether to go ahead with the proposals contained in this consultation will be made based on evidence including engagement and consultation responses, relevant policies, officer observations, and other data/information including monitoring information collected over the course of the trial.
Online meeting
A facilitated session with members of the community and the Council will be held on Tuesday 21st March 2023 from 5pm-6:30pm.
If you wish to register your attendance at this event please register your interest.
The final decision on whether to go ahead with the proposals contained in this consultation will be made based on evidence including engagement and consultation responses, relevant policies, officer observations, and other data/information including monitoring information collected over the course of the trial.
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 officer observations, consultation responses, feedback received during the trial period, relevant policies, and other data/information.
Subject to the decision to make the scheme permanent, officers will continue to monitor the scheme and will consider additional measures if necessary. These will be progressed and publicly consulted on as part of a separate scheme.
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