Camden Park Road and Torriano Avenue Safe and Healthy Streets consultation

Overview

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

To help we have been making changes across Camden in our Safe and Healthy Streets Programme, including implementing trial changes along Camden Park Road and Torriano Avenue in February 2021. These changes were intended to improve bus journeys, support walking and cycling, and make it easier and safer for parents/carers who are dropping off or picking up children at Torriano Primary School.

We are proposing to retain the changes the trial changes we made last year as well as introducing additional improvements.

We are proposing to make the following trial changes permanent:

• Continuous bus lane (permitting taxis and cycles), operating “at all times”, on Camden Park Road and Torriano Avenue, used by bus routes 390 and 393.
• Advanced Stop Line and Early Release for cyclists on Camden Park Road at the signalised junction of Camden Park Road/Cliff Road/North Villas.
• Additional speed humps and minor changes to the existing speed humps to reduce traffic speeds and road noise along Camden Park Road and Torriano Avenue.
• Vehicle Activated Sign on Torriano Avenue to encourage slower vehicle speeds.
• Widened pavements along Torriano Avenue, outside of Torriano Primary School, to provide parents and carers with more space to drop off and collect children safely.
• Changes to waiting and loading restrictions and removal of parking bays along the scheme to provide space for widened pavements and the bus lane.

We are proposing to make the following new changes permanently:

• Add new modernised junction signals and pedestrian countdown timer facilities at the junction of Camden Park Road, Torriano Avenue and Camden Road to provide safer crossing facilities for pedestrians.
• An extension of the right turn lane on Camden Park Road at the junction with Camden Road to reduce queuing vehicles. This requires removal of 25m of “paid-for” parking bays.
• Add new “broken” bus lane road marking across junctions along Torriano Avenue to ensure bus lane continuity and clarity for traffic crossing the bus lane.
• Add new double yellow lines and 2 disabled parking bays on Busby Place following feedback from the Kentish Town Community Centre, replacing the existing “Keep Clear” markings. To enable these changes, the relocation of 3 cycle stands to the opposite footway (outside 30 Busby Place) is required.
• Add new widened pavements outside 59-75 Torriano Avenue to continue pavement widening already in place, provide more safer spaces for pedestrians, including children and parents walking to and from Torriano Primary School. This requires removal of 35m of “paid-for” parking bays.  
• Add 4 potential new trees to existing and new widened pavements to help improve air quality, shade cover and public realm amenities in the area.
• Maintain the loading provision for the Rose and Crown (71-73 Torriano Avenue), including a new and extended reinforced loading area. 

You can see plans for these changes and more information in the Related documents section at the bottom of this page this includes information on the monitoring and data that we have been collecting during the trial. 

Why your views matter

As 69% of households in the area do not own 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. Your views are important in providing feedback on the proposed scheme and we would therefore welcome your responses on the pages that follow.

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.