Christ Church Safe and Healthy Streets consultation

Overview

We are seeking your views on proposals to make the temporary pavement widening outside the school permanent, and your ideas for other road safety and public realm improvements outside the school that we could consider in future consultations.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how people in Camden live, travel and work. Since the start of the pandemic many of us have been spending more time closer to home, making our neighbourhoods more important than ever. We want our streets to be safe spaces for you to walk and cycle, for children to get to and from school safely and healthily, for businesses to be able to flourish and for you to be breathing cleaner air. We want to ensure that our streets support recovery from the pandemic and provide a lasting legacy of greener, safer, healthier travel, helping us to deliver our wide Transport Strategy objectives.

As 69% of households in Camden do not own a car and public transport usage remains much 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 can 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.

To help respond to the transport challenges on our streets caused by the pandemic, and in line with our Camden Transport Strategy, Climate Action Plan and Clean Air Action Plan, we have been making changes across Camden as part of our Safe and Healthy Streets Programme.

About the Christ Church Primary School Safe and Healthy Streets scheme

The Christ Church Primary School Safe and Healthy Streets scheme consists of a widened pavement on Christchurch Hill outside the school. This included replacing 27 metres of resident permit holders parking bay with double yellow lines. The objectives of the scheme were to aid with social distancing for pupils and parents/carers and to improve road safety outside the entrance to the school.

The scheme was initially requested by parents/carers of Christ Church Primary School who were concerned about social distancing outside of the main entrance to the school. The scheme was subsequently requested by a representative at the school.

We implemented the Christ Church Primary School pavement widening scheme as a trial in June 2020, under a Temporary Traffic Order (TTO) which is in place between the 10^th June 2021 and 19^th March 2022, as part of our School Road Safety Programme. The decision report related to this TTO (and the TTO for 2 other schools) was approved on 3^rd February 2020 and is provided in the Related section at the bottom of this page.

The approved scheme involved widening the western footpath of Christchurch Hill for a 27-metre section directly outside the main entrance to the School. The widening was achieved through the temporary buildout of the existing pavement, introducing new 150mm wide concrete kerbs offset between 1.3 to 2 metres from the existing kerb line, with the gap between the previous and new kerbs infilled with asphalt (tarmac).

The decision report noted that a further consultation, after around 5 months of the temporary scheme being constructed, would take place relating to any proposed permanent changes. The temporary scheme went live in June 2020 and during this period, comments received from the school, local residents and stakeholders have been monitored.

This consultation now asks the school, local residents and stakeholders to give their views on whether the Christ Church Primary School temporary pavement widening scheme should be made permanent. The proposed permanent scheme would remain unchanged from its temporary version.

What we are now consulting on?

Based on officer observations and the feedback received from the school, residents, and stakeholders during the trial period, and in line with policies and objectives set out in our Camden Transport Strategy, Climate Action Plan and Clean Air Action Plan, we are now consulting on making the trial changes permanent as follows:

• Keeping the widened pavement outside the school on Christchurch Hill.
• Keeping the double yellow lines adjacent to the widened pavement outside the school on Christchurch Hill. The yellow lines replaced 27 metres of resident permit holders parking bay.

You can view the drawing of the changes in the Related section at the bottom of this page.

The proposed permanent scheme, if approved, would remain unchanged from its trial version.

We are also using this opportunity to gather your views on whether you would like us to investigate any other changes which could make the area around Christ Church Primary School safer and healthier, beyond the pavement widening proposals. This could include, for example, a “Healthy School Street” (timed road closure at school opening and closing times) on the north-western section of Christchurch Hill or widening other sections of pavement locally. Other improvements could include traffic speed reduction measures, trees and other planting, cycle parking facilities (including bike hangars) or seating. Further details on Healthy School Streets in Camden can be viewed here. We will carefully analyse recommendations and, where feasible and subject to funding, carry out separate consultations on such measures going forward.

Why your views matter

As 40% of households in the area do not have access to a car 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.

The previous changes were implemented as a temporary measure under a TTO. We committed to undertaking a public consultation after around 5 months of the temporary scheme being constructed to seek the views of the school, local residents and stakeholders on making the temporary scheme permanent.

Your views are important in providing feedback on the scheme, and we would therefore welcome your responses on the pages that follow. To view the plans and find out more about the proposals, click on the links in the Related section at the bottom of this page.

The Council will be pleased to hear your views on the proposals as well as any alternative suggestions or objections you may have to any aspect of what we are proposing.

What happens next

After the consultation, a decision report will be produced and published online via our website. The school, 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.