During September/October 2023 we consulted on changes proposed for the Holmes Road area.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their views. We had over 300 responses and following the consultation, we have made the decision to make the trial scheme permanent alongside trialling other new changes.
The changes will now be implemented from Spring/Summer 2024 and a letter will go out to all local residents and businesses. You can read the decision reports relating to this, and our feedback to the consultation responses in the decision report.
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 you to be breathing cleaner air, to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles and for businesses to flourish.
69% of households in Camden do not own a car, and around 85% of all trips by Camden residents are made on foot, by bike or on public transport. Supporting and encouraging those who can walk and cycle, by creating safer, healthier streets, will also help ensure that there is more space available on public transport and on our roads for those who need it the most.
In line with our Camden Transport Strategy and Climate Action Plan, and to continue supporting safe, active travel following the pandemic, we have been making changes across Camden as part of our Safe and Healthy Streets Programme.
About the trial Holmes Road Area Healthy School Street Measures
Healthy School Streets create 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. Healthy School Streets help to discourage car trips, particularly amongst parents and carers, by providing a safe and inviting space for more walking, cycling, and scooting.
Several Healthy School Streets have been rolled out across Camden since March 2020. The monitoring data shows that they have had a significant impact on reducing traffic levels outside schools, contributed to improved air quality and are strongly supported by pupils who want us to do more to improve their journey to school.
The Holmes Road Healthy School Street was requested by a representative of St Patrick’s Primary School and a number of local residents and stakeholder groups, to address road safety concerns on Holmes Road and Raglan Street at the start and the end of the school day. The pavements next to St Patrick’s Primary School are narrow (see photo) and often become overcrowded when parents are waiting to collect their children, making it difficult for people to pass by without walking in the road.
Photo of Holmes Road outside St Patrick’s Primary School with parents congregating on narrow pavements
In response, we launched the Holmes Road Healthy School Street, which consists of a timed road closure for motor vehicles along a section of Holmes Road. We also added an at-all-times motor vehicle restriction on Raglan Street to prevent through traffic from using Raglan Street, Anglers Lane and Holmes Road to bypass the traffic signals at the junction of Prince of Wales Road and Kentish Town Road. The motor vehicle restriction on Holmes Road operates Mondays to Fridays between 8am - 10am and between 2pm and 4pm, during school term times.
We implemented the scheme as a trial in May 2022, under an Experimental Traffic Order (ETO) which came into force on 19 May 2022, as part of Phase 5 of our Healthy School Streets programme. The decision report related to this ETO was approved on 1 March 2022. The decision report noted that a further consultation, after approximately 12 months of the trial scheme, would take place.
During the trial period, the scheme has been monitored and comments from local residents and stakeholders have been reviewed. This consultation now asks local residents and stakeholders to give their views on whether the scheme should be made permanent at the end of the 18 month trial period. In response to data with have collected during the trial and feedback we've recieved, we are also proposing several additional changes as part of this consultation. For more information on the new proposals, please see the sections below.
Monitoring information
During the trial period of the scheme, we have been collecting data which can be viewed in detail in the factsheet provided in the 'Related' section at the bottom of this page. This is called the monitoring factsheet and key data collected includes:
Based on the the data collected and the feedback received from residents and stakeholders during the trial period, and in line with the 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 and introducing several additional changes on streets in the area, as outlined below.
Proposed permanent changes:
We are also seeking your views on some new proposals we’ve developed based on feedback from the local community and the data we’ve collected. Our new proposals include:
Holmes Road new proposals
Raglan Street new proposals
Willes Road new proposals
Cathcart Street New Proposals
Anglers Lane new proposals
New proposals on other Streets
These proposals require the loss of approximately 27 resident parking bays from within the Controlled Parking Zone CA-L.
Across the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) CA-L there is a permit-to-space ratio of 72.15%, or 72 active parking permits for every 100 parking bays within CPZ CA-L. This means that the proposed parking loss could be accommodated within the CPZ.
The existing scheme was implemented as a trial under an Experimental Traffic Order for 18 months. We committed to undertaking a public consultation after around 12 months of the trial scheme to seek the views of local residents and stakeholders on making the trial scheme permanent after the 18-month trial period. We are also seeking your views on the additional proposals detailed above.
Your views are important in providing feedback both on the proposed scheme as a whole and elements of it, and we would therefore welcome your responses on the pages that follow. More information on the proposals, including monitoring data collected during the trial and the proposed scheme plans are contained in the 'Related' section at the bottom of this page.
We 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, the Decision Report(s) on the proposals in this consultation 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(s) about whether, at the end of the trial period, the experimental scheme should be made permanent with some changes, modified, or allowed to lapse and whether the proposed additional measures contained in this consultation are introduced.
As the consultation is now closed, your views, and those of everyone who contributes to this consultation, will be analysed and considered, alongside relevant data available on the scheme and in light of how the scheme aligns with our current policy objectives, in order to put forward recommendations on whether to proceed with the proposals. A summary of this analysis will be provided in the decision report and will be made available on the Camden Council website in due course.
If you have any other ideas for improvements to make travel safer and healthier in this area, please go to Safe Travel Camden Map to make some suggestions.
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