Healthy School Streets consultation - The Cavendish school

Overview

In line with our Camden Transport Strategy, Climate Action Plan, and Clean Air Strategy and Clean Air Action Plan, and to continue supporting safe, healthy, and active travel, we have been making changes across Camden as part of our Safe and Healthy Streets Programme.

We recently made some improvements on Arlington Road and Inverness Street as part of a Safe and Healthy Street project, to provide more space for people to walk and wait near the school gates.  We now want to make further Safe and Healthy Streets improvements and are seeking your views on the proposals to introduce a trial Healthy School Street scheme (timed restrictions to motor vehicles) on Inverness Street, where the main entrance of The Cavendish School is located.  

A Healthy School Street (HSS) creates a safer and healthier environment by temporarily closing roads to motor traffic outside schools during drop-off and pick-up times. This enables more children to walk, cycle or scoot to school, with less air pollution, road danger, congestion, and more space for people to interact. A HSS also helps to discourage car trips, particularly among parents and carers, by providing a safe and inviting space for more walking, cycling, and scooting.

There are now 32 HSS schemes in Camden, with 36 schools having timed or permanent road closures. The data that we have collected on these schemes, which can be seen on our website, has shown that they can have a positive impact on reducing traffic levels outside schools, contribute to improved air quality and are often supported by pupils who want us to do more to improve their journey to school.

About The Cavendish School Healthy School Street proposals

Several traffic reduction changes and improvements to the pedestrian environment have been made in Camden Town in recent years including on streets around Inverness Street.  A Safe and Healthy Streets scheme has been delivered on Arlington Road and surrounding residential streets to reduce traffic volumes, improve air quality and encourage walking and cycling, improvements to the look and feel of the area, more space for pedestrians to walk and stop and chat, and rain gardens and trees.  This included changes on Inverness Street to provide more space for children and parents near the school gate, such as wider pavements, more cycle parking and new street trees.

The following picture shows these recent improvements near Inverness Street.

Building upon these improvements in the wider area, we are now proposing HSS timed motor vehicle restrictions on Inverness Street to reduce motor traffic at pick-up and drop-off times of the school and reduce road danger.  A HSS would provide more space for school children and parents to walk to and from school and wait at the school gates to pick up their children.  

The Cavendish School has two entrances for pupils with the majority of pupils entering the school via the entrance on Inverness Street. There is also a smaller entrance on Arlington Road which acts as a secondary entrance. On Arlington Road, as part of a previous scheme noted above, parking spaces have been removed and, directly outside the school entrance, the pavements have been widened and rain gardens have been installed making it safer for those walking and wheeling to school. We are now bringing forward HSS timed motor restrictions on Inverness Street where the main entrance of the school is located. 

We have collected traffic count data at a number of locations in the area across an average week during school term time which shows that traffic levels on these streets are at their peak on some days around school run times. Figure 1 below outlines data collected on Inverness Street on the section with the school entrance.

Figure 1 –Inverness Street Average Weekday Daily Traffic Levels, week commencing 10/09/2024

For Inverness Street, traffic data (in Figure 1) shows that traffic volumes increase during school drop-off times in the morning at over 106 vehicles (weekday daily average). The traffic levels at school pick-up times in the afternoon are slightly lower with over 94 vehicles (weekday daily average).  The school itself has also highlighted road safety concerns from vehicles entering Inverness Street from Gloucester Crescent and, due to the restricted access to Arlington Road eastbound, turning around in front of the school to exit. Turning movements happen at the same time as vehicles enter the street westbound from Arlington Road, further increasing road risk for school children, parents and carers.

Following the feedback from the school, the above monitoring, and in line with our ambition to roll out HSSs to all feasible schools by 2025, we are proposing a trial timed HSS with motor vehicle restrictions on Inverness Street (from Gloucester Crescent to Arlington Road) between 7:45am – 8.45am and 3.15pm – 4:15pm, Monday to Friday during school term times only.

The drawings of the scheme can be found in Related section of this page.

The proposed trial scheme would include relevant signage alerting all road users to the restrictions and ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras for traffic enforcement at the start of each restricted section of the street. The trial HSS signage would include the times of the road closures and would be closed during school holidays.

We propose to trial the changes using an Experimental Traffic Order (ETO) for a period of up to 18 months, at which point a decision would be made whether to make the project permanent, remove it entirely, or keep it with some changes. If we proposed to make the trial permanent with any substantial changes, we would hold a further full public consultation beforehand.

If the trial proposals are approved following this consultation, we would carefully monitor the impacts through traffic volume monitoring on both the restricted roads and those nearby.

The following vehicles would be exempt from the timed HSS restrictions by applying for an exemption.

• Vehicles registered to properties and businesses on the sections of the streets within the timed restriction area (exemptions would need to be applied for and agreed with the Council)
• Vehicles belonging to parents with a Blue Badge who have a pupil attending The Cavendish school, or parents/carers of pupils of these Schools that have a disability that prevents them from walking, cycling, or scooting to school (exemptions would need to be agreed with the Council)
• Emergency services such as ambulance, fire brigade or police, Door to door services such as Plus Bus and Dial A Ride and refuse collection vehicles and other statutory services will be automatically exempt.

School staff and visitors to the schools would not be exempt. Taxis and delivery vehicles would not be exempt, and such trips would need to be scheduled outside of the restricted times or the vehicles would need to be parked outside of the restricted area. However, exemptions can be applied for in exceptional circumstances, such as when elderly or disabled people may need essential taxi journeys during restricted hours. All the requests for exemptions can be applied for by contacting the Healthy School Streets team over the phone or via email. If the scheme goes ahead, details of how to apply for an exemption will be posted to residents and businesses in the consultation area. 

The drawings of the scheme can be found in Related section of this page.

The following photo shows an example of an existing HSS which demonstrates how that element the proposal could look. Similar signage is proposed to be installed as a part of this scheme. 

Why your views matter

Your views matter in helping us shape streets around The Cavendish school and the surrounding area to help people to walk, wheel, cycle or scoot safely while also improving the attractiveness and biodiversity of the local area, helping reduce and mitigate the impacts of climate change, poor air quality and road danger.

To view the plans and to find out more about what the proposal would achieve, click on the links in the Related Section at the bottom of this page.

How would these changes be made?

After the consultation, we will carefully consider the responses, alongside other information, including relevant data, safety audits, and policy context, to help us decide whether or not to progress the scheme.

A decision report will be produced and published online via our website. Local residents and stakeholders will be notified of the outcome.
Should a decision be made to proceed, we would implement the changes under a permanent Traffic Management Order (TMO).

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