Camley Street and Granary Street - Safe and Healthy Streets Consultation

Overview

We are seeking your views on changes proposed to Camley Street and Granary Street.

We want our streets to have more safe space for everyone to walk, wheel 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.

We want our streets to provide a lasting legacy of greener, safer, healthier travel.

As 71% of households in Camden do not own a car and public transport can feel overcrowded, 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, wheel 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.

Camley Street and Granary Street are important local streets connecting homes, schools, workplaces, green spaces, the Regent's Canal, and the wider King’s Cross area. We are proposing changes to make it easier and safer for people walking, wheeling, and cycling in the area, including people travelling to and from Camley Street Natural Park, nearby schools, local homes, workplaces, and the Regent’s Canal towpath.

As Camley Street forms part of a signed cycle route between Camden Square in the north and Bloomsbury in the south, we also want to make it safer and more comfortable for people cycling.

In addition, a few major developments are planned for the northern section of Camley Street, including sites with planning permission at 120-136 Camley Street and 3-30 Cedar Way. These will result in additional walking and cycling trips which require additional road safety improvements and provision for pedestrians and people cycling

The proposals

We are proposing changes at three locations on Camley Street and Granary Street.

Camley Street at the entrance to Camley Street Natural Park

• Adding a zebra crossing, with widened pavements to reduce the crossing distance, making crossing Camley Street easier and safer for pedestrians.
• Adding anti-skid surfacing to the road on the approaches to the crossings, which helps increase grip between vehicle tyres and the road and is visually different causing people to slow down and thereby helps reduce the likelihood of speed-related collisions.
• Adding double kerb blips (which restrict loading) to the double yellow lines on the west side of Camley Street between the junctions with Goods Way / Pancras Road / and Granary Street to make it easier and safer for people cycling up the hill. Restricting parking vehicles by adding the double kerb blips would also make it easier to see along the bend in the street which would help to make this section of Camley Street safer for all road users, particularly pedestrians and people cycling.

Photo of the location for the proposed zebra crossing

Camley Street and Granary Street junction area 

• Shortening the crossing distance across Granary Street by widening the existing pavements and removing the existing traffic islands, making it easier and safer for pedestrians to cross the road at this section of the junction by making the road shorter to cross.
• Adding a zebra crossing on Granary Street at the junction with Camley Street to make it easier for pedestrians to cross Granary Street at the junction
• Adding a raised table (where the road level is raised to the same level as the pavement – see images in our photo guide) to help reduce vehicle speeds and make the junction safer for all road users.
• Adding two uncontrolled pedestrian crossings on Camley Street, either side of the junction with Granary Street, to make it easier for people to cross Camley Street at the junction.

• Adding a raised zebra crossing to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the street. This would provide a useful connection between the Tribeca site (2 - 6 St Pancras Way) and the St Pancras Hospital site, both currently under construction. It would also provide a useful connection to Camley Street via a new footbridge to be constructed across the Regents Canal.

• Adding plants, including rain gardens (where plants soak up excess rainwater – see photo guide for example) and trees on the widened pavements on the north-west corner of the junction and next to the Dennis Geffen Centre, subject to ground conditions.

Photo of the location for the proposed junction improvements

Camley Street north of the junction with Granary Street

• Converting single yellow lines to double yellow lines and double kerb blips (which restrict loading) on the west side of Camley Street next to 101 Camley Street to make it easier and safer for people cycling up the hill.
• Converting single yellow lines to double yellow lines and double kerb blips on the east side of Camley Street to make it easier and safer for people cycling down the hill.
• Converting the single yellow lines to double yellow lines and double kerb blips would also improve sight lines along a bend in the street which would help to make this section of Camley Street safer for all road users, particularly pedestrians and people cycling.

Photo of the location for the proposed double yellow lines and double kerb blips

About raised tables and raised junctions

Raised tables and raised junctions bring the road surface up closer to pavement level. They are used to encourage slower vehicle speeds and make streets safer and easier to cross for people walking, wheeling, and cycling.

You can see an example of a raised junction in the photo guide.

About zebra crossings

Zebra crossings give pedestrians priority when crossing the road. We are proposing a zebra crossing near the entrance to Camley Street Natural Park to make it easier and safer for people to cross Camley Street. We are also proposing two zebra crossings on Granary Street to make it easier and safer for people to cross the street.

You can see an example of a zebra crossing in the photo guide.

Plants and trees

We are adding more plants and trees (subject to surveys) across Camden to help local flooding. One way to do this is by using trees and plants to increase on-street water storage, helping soak up water during heavy rainfall (made more likely by the climate crisis).

Rain gardens capture and store rainwater, function as great local habitats for wildlife, and improve the look and feel of an area. They can also have a positive effect reducing air pollution, as well as bringing additional benefits through increased biodiversity, improved mental health and wellbeing, and absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at pavement level.

The proposed plants and trees would be introduced on existing and proposed widened areas of pavement. You can see an example of rain gardens in the photo guide.

To view the plans, click on the links in the Related Section at the bottom of this page.

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, which will be presented to our Director of Environment and Sustainability (following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and a Sustainable Camden) will consider a broad range of information including officer observations, consultation responses, relevant policies, and other data/information.

For information on how we will use data collected from this consultation read our privacy statement: Data protection, privacy and cookies - Camden Council

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