Holmes Road Area Safe and Healthy Streets Consultation

Overview

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:

• Holmes Road saw significant decreases in average traffic volumes during the morning and afternoon restriction times. During the morning restriction times, there was a 77% (- 408 vehicles) reduction in traffic on Holmes Road within the Healthy School Street restriction zone, a 56% (- 379 vehicles) reduction between Willes Road and Cathcart Street and a 30% (- 135 vehicles) reduction between Grafton Road and Willes Road. During the afternoon restriction times, there was a 65% (- 303 vehicles) reduction on Holmes Road within the Healthy School Street restriction zone, a 41% (- 212 vehicles) reduction between Willes Road and Cathcart Street and an 18% (- 69 vehicles) reduction between Grafton Road and Willes Road.
• Some streets recorded an increase in average traffic volumes during the morning and afternoon restriction times. The most significant percentage increases were recorded on Willes Road between Anglers Lane and Inkerman Road where traffic volumes increased by 69% (89 vehicles) during the AM Peak and 56% (77 vehicles) during the PM Peak. Traffic volumes increased by 48% (61 vehicles) on Willes Road between Inkerman Road and Holmes Road during the AM Peak and 54% (56 vehicles) during the PM Peak. The proposed scheme aims to respond to this by reducing motor vehicle traffic further on some streets.
• Analysis of average traffic speed data on the section of Holmes Road within the Healthy School Street restriction zone showed a reduction in speed of 1 mph during the AM Peak and no change during the PM Peak. Average speeds recorded at all sites were below the 20mph speed limit in the during trial scheme scenario.
• Levels of cycling on the section of Holmes Road within the Healthy School Street restriction zone reduced by 1% (-1 cycles) during the AM peak and increased by 27% (11 cycles) during the PM peak. Across all of the sites surveyed before and after the implementation of the trial scheme, there was an overall 25% increase (125 cycles) during the morning restrictions and a 34% increase (98 cycles) during the afternoon restrictions.
• Analysis of average air quality (NO2) data from 2021 to 2022 across three sites in the local area showed a reduction in harmful NO2 both in absolute terms (0.64µg/m3 of NO2) and as a percentage (2.7%).

What we are now consulting on

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:

• Make the '8am – 10am' and '2pm - 4pm' Healthy School Street motor vehicle restrictions on Holmes Road permanent.
• Make the ‘at all times’ motor vehicle restriction on Raglan Street permanent.

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

• Prevent motor vehicles from proceeding westbound on Holmes Road 'at all times', to the west of the junction with Raglan Street in response to data we collected during the trial and requests to reduce traffic volumes further on Holmes Road at all times of the day. Vehicle access would still be maintained on Holmes Road in both directions between Kentish Town Road and Raglan Street (outside of the Healthy School Street restriction times). Emergency service and bin lorries would be exempt.
• Widening the pavement directly outside St Patrick’s Primary School to improve road safety and provide additional space for parents and children during school drop-off and pick-up times.

Raglan Street new proposals

• Replace the existing planter at the location of the motor vehicle restriction, with pavement widening to provide space for tree planting and plants.
• Remove existing bollards, at the entrance to the pedestrian passageway between Inkerman Road and Raglan Street, to improve access to the pedestrian passageway in response to issues raised in the Accessibility Audit.
• Widen the pavement at the entrance to the passageway and provide space for additional tree planting and plants.

Willes Road new proposals

• Introduce a motor vehicle restriction in both directions on Willes Road, south of the junction with Holmes Road to stop Willes Road being used as a cut-through for motor vehicles. Emergency service and bin lorries would be exempt.
• Introduce a Healthy School Street (timed motor vehicle restriction) on Willes Road between Inkerman Road and Holmes Road outside Collège Français Bilingue de Londres (CFBL). The restriction would operate Monday - Friday, 8am - 9am and 3:30pm - 4:30pm, during school term times.
• Widen the pavement outside Collège Français Bilingue de Londres to improve road safety and provide additional space for parents and children during school drop-off and pick-up times.

Cathcart Street New Proposals

• Introduce a southbound motor vehicle restriction on Cathcart Street at the junction with Holmes Road. Access from Cathcart Street onto Holmes Road (northbound) would be retained. This restriction is intended to prevent southbound vehicles which would typically travel down Willes Road, from being displaced onto Cathcart Street, if the proposed restriction on Willes Road is implemented. Northbound access would be retained, to enable CFBL school buses/coaches to exit Cathcart Street without having to turn around in the street.
• Widen the pavement outside Collège Français Bilingue de Londres to provide additional space for planting.

Anglers Lane new proposals

• Introduce a Dockless E-scooter and Cycle hire bay.

New proposals on other Streets

• Provide nine secure cycle hangers at various locations in response to demand in the area for secure cycle storage. Locations include: Inkerman Road x2, Willes Road x4, Alma Street x1, Cathcart x1 and Raglan Street x1
• Improve tactile paving and provide/extend double yellow lines at the junctions of Inkerman Road/Willes Road and Inkerman Road/Cathcart Street/Alma Street as part of Camden’s Junction Protection Programme. 
• Introduce measures to improve pedestian crossing points for visually impaired people such as tactile paving and dropped kerbs at the junction of Grafton Road/Inkerman Road and Raglan Street and Anglers Lane in response to issues raised in the Accessibility Audit.

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.

Why your views matter

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.