Oakley Square (north) - Safe and Healthy Streets Consultation

Overview

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how people in Camden live, travel and work. 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 businesses to be able to flourish, to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles and for you to be breathing cleaner air.

We want to ensure that our streets support a strong recovery from the pandemic and provide a lasting legacy of greener, safer, healthier travel.

As 69% of households in Camden do not own a car and public transport use 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 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.

To help we have been making changes across Camden in our Safe and Healthy Streets Programme. This included making trial changes on Oakley Square (north) at the junction with Crowndale Road in December 2020.

This consultation sets out proposals for retaining and improving the existing scheme at the junction of Oakley Square (north) and Crowndale Road with a new cycle hangar and improved pavement crossings and a new proposal for pedestrian priority and junction improvements at the junction of Oakley Square (north) and Eversholt Street.

At the bottom of this page you can find drawings of the final scheme, an information sheet providing more information about the scheme and a fact sheet providing a summary of the data collected during the trial. Please also scroll to the end of the page to access the consultation questionnaire, where you can share your views on the proposals for Oakley Square (north).

Why your views matter

This consultation now asks local residents and stakeholders to give their views on whether the trial scheme should be made permanent after the end of the 18-month trial period, including amendments to the trial design. It also asks for feedback on if the new proposals at the other end of Oakley Square (north) should be implemented as a new, permanent scheme.

The designs for both ends of Oakley Square (north) which are now being consulted upon, are described in this section. You can view the drawings of the changes in the ‘Related’ section at the bottom of this page.

Junction 1: Oakley Square (north) – Crowndale Road

Based on the monitoring data and the feedback received from residents and stakeholders during the trial period, and in line with policies and objectives set out in our Camden Transport Strategy and Climate Action Plan we are now consulting on making the following trial changes to Oakley Square (north) permanent:

• Keep the traffic restriction on Oakley Square (north) and exemption for cyclists
• Access to all properties on both sides of the restriction would be maintained so residents would still be able to reach their homes by car and receive deliveries, but through-traffic would continue to be prevented. Pedestrians and cyclists would be able to travel through at all times. Emergency services and bin collection teams will still have access at all times.

We are also consulting on whether to make the following changes:

• The planters and droppable bollard are proposed to be replaced with a new ‘continuous footway’ (an uninterrupted pavement that extends across a side road, see Figure 5) on Oakley Square (north), at the junction with Crowndale Road. This will promote pedestrian priority and safety at this junction
• The existing pavement along Crowndale Road is proposed to be widened to accommodate the new continuous footway crossing
• The cycle entry gap is proposed to be re-aligned to accommodate the pavement
• A new tree and bench are proposed to be installed alongside the continuous footway
• A new bike hangar is proposed to replace a residents’ parking bay outside 50 Oakley Square (north), providing secure space for residents’ to park 6 bicycles.

Example of a continuous footway – like the ones proposed

Junction 2: Oakley Square (north) – Eversholt Street

We are also consulting on whether to install a new, permanent scheme on Oakley Square (north) at the junction with Eversholt Street. This would include:

• Narrowing the junction with a continuous footway at the junction of Oakley Square (north) and Eversholt Street to reduce the crossing distance, giving pedestrians clear priority at this location
• Widening the pavement on Oakley Square at the approach to the junction to provide a continuous link between pavement and footway
• Guardrails along the motorcycle parking bay outside number 70 are proposed to be removed and replaced with ground anchors
• A new tree is proposed to be planted near where the new pavement meets the Oakley Square (north) pavement

To view the plans and find out more about what each proposal would achieve, click on the links in the ‘Related’ section at the bottom of this page.

In line with new Department for Transport guidance, we are now consulting on all new and amended Safe and Healthy Street schemes so that we can engage our local residents, businesses and stakeholders in changes happening on their streets. We want to know what you think about these additional proposals.  

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 officer observations, consultation responses, feedback received during the trial period, relevant policies, and other data/information.

The report will then outline if at the end of the trial period, the experimental scheme should be made permanent, modified, or allowed to lapse. Subject to the decision to make the scheme permanent, officers will continue to monitor the scheme and will consider additional measures if necessary. These will be progressed and publicly consulted on as part of a separate scheme.