Millfield Lane Safe and Healthy Streets

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 helping us to deliver our wide Transport Strategy objectives.Transport strategies and plans - Camden Council

To help we have been making changes across Camden in our Safe and Healthy Streets Programme. This included making trial changes on Millfield Lane in June 2020 to reduce traffic and make it safer for people to walk and cycle while observing social distancing, and to improve air quality.

A motor vehicle restriction was installed on Millfield Lane, at the junction with Merton Lane, to prevent drivers travelling south, except for cyclists. In addition, 1 parking space was removed at the southern end of Millfield Lane, on the northbound approach to the bend, to improve sight lines for drivers and pedestrians; a further 15 metres of parking (3 spaces) were removed outside Millfield Cottage to provide a safe space for pedestrians to walk, initially protected by barriers.

These changes were implemented using an Experimental Traffic Order (ETO) for a trial period of 18 months. As promised, we are now consulting on whether this scheme should be made permanent when the trial ends.

Monitoring 

During the trial period we have been collecting monitoring data which can be viewed in detail in the monitoring factsheet in the Related section at the bottom of this page. Headlines include:

• Traffic using the junction at Merton Lane / Millfield Lane / Fitzroy Park increased in all directions in both peak periods, except for southbound onto Millfield Lane (due to the southbound restriction) during the morning peak. The morning peak saw the greatest increases.  

• Total traffic turning into Merton Lane at the junction with Millfield Lane increased by 93% in the morning peak and 29% in the evening peak, an increase of 76 and 32 vehicles respectively.

• Total traffic movements at the junction with Merton Lane / Highgate West Hill decreased by 1% in the morning peak and increased by 8% in the evening peak.  However, vehicles exiting Merton Lane at the junction, eastbound, increased by 82% in the morning peak. 

• This trend is also reflected in the 56% increase in traffic turning westbound into Millfield Lane at Highgate West Hill, although total traffic movements at the junction were relatively stable between the monitoring periods.

Feedback

During the trial, residents and local stakeholders provided feedback on the scheme and we are proposing some additional options and changes to the trial to respond to the key concerns raised.  The feedback is summarised in the Information Sheet in the Related section at the bottom of this page.

What we are now consulting on

This consultation now asks local residents and stakeholders to give their views on whether the scheme should be made permanent after the 18-month trial period ends. We are also asking local residents and stakeholders to give their views on some proposed amendments to the scheme to improve road safety for all road users and based on the feedback received during the trial. The proposals include the following measures:

• Retaining (by making the current trial permanent) the one-way northbound for motor traffic on Millfield Lane and two-way for cyclists, including the removal of one parking bay on the northbound approach to the bend on Millfield Lane to improve sightlines for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians and 15 metres of shared permit holder/paid for parking bays (three spaces) outside Millfield Cottage, to create a safe space for pedestrians to walk and for cyclists and vehicles to pass each other safely. The new space in the road for pedestrians outside Millfield Cottage would be replaced with permanent pavement widening.
• Improving the signage at Highgate West Hill to highlight to drivers that Merton Lane is a ‘no through route’ except for cyclists.

In addition, we propose amendments to the scheme to improve road safety for all road users, as follows:

• Converting 11 additional permit holder/paid for parking bays on Millfield Lane to double yellow lines and double kerb blips (no parking or loading at any time), to improve visibility, reduce conflict between drivers and cyclists and to minimise vehicle movements which are hazardous to pedestrians. This includes removing 1 parking space at the northern end of Millfield Lane, near the junction with Merton Lane, in line with our ‘Safer Junctions Programme’, to keep 10 metres clear of parking around all junctions to improve visibility for pedestrians crossing and sightlines of approaching drivers and cyclists. This would enable us to widen the pavement there, making it safer for people to walk and to cross to Hampstead Heath. 

We are also proposing options to address residents’ concerns and feedback received during the trial:

Option 1: Making Merton Lane one-way (eastbound only) and amendments to parking provision

• Under this option we would make Merton Lane one-way, eastbound only, for motor traffic with two-way for cyclists. This proposal includes removing 2 parking spaces near the junction with Highgate West Hill to enable cyclists to turn in safely and improve visibility for all road users.  This proposal would help to address the U-turning problem observed at the junction of Millfield Lane and Merton Lane, reduce traffic on Merton Lane and improve road safety.

Option 2: Keeping Merton Lane two-way and amendments to parking provision

• Keep Merton Lane two-way (as current) for traffic and convert 7 permit holder/paid for parking bays on Merton Lane to double yellow lines and double kerb blips (no parking or loading at any time). This option helps to provide passing points for vehicles and includes removing 5 parking spaces near the junction with Highgate West Hill to enable safe passing, reduce congestion and improve road safety, and 2 spaces opposite Haversham Place to enable drivers to turn out of that street safely. 

You can view the drawings of the proposed retention of the existing scheme and changes in the Related section at the bottom of this page.

The proposals aim to address some of the concerns raised by residents' feedback during the trial and help to improve safety for all road users. Subject to this public consultation and a decision on whether to make the trial permanent, officers will continue to monitor the scheme. 

Why your views matter

The previous changes were implemented as a trial under an Experimental Traffic Order (ETO) 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.

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. To view the plans and find out more about each proposal, 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. 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.

What happens next

 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. As part of the processing of the data your responses will be confidentially shared with Sustrans who are undertaking data analysis on our behalf. https://www.sustrans.org.uk/legal/privacy  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.