During October/November 2022 we consulted on changes proposed for Somers Town.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their views. We had over 30 responses and following the consultation, we have made the decision to implement the proposed changes as a trial.
The new scheme around Somers Town will now be implemented as a trial and a letter has gone 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.
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 (HSS) help to discourage car trips, particularly amongst parents and carers, by providing a safe and inviting space for more walking, cycling, and scooting.
Somers Town has received funding from the Mayor of London to become a more sustainable neighbourhood, through the Future Neighbourhoods 2030 Fund. Through the implementation of 10 different projects, Somers Town Future Neighbourhoods 2030 aims to make Somers Town a more climate resilient and healthy place to live. One of these projects is focused on introducing Healthy School Streets, which restrict traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times, outside the 5 Schools within Somers Town.
We are currently carrying out a joint consultation on introducing Healthy School Street measures outside:
These changes include proposals to make the current, trial Healthy School Street on Polygon Road permanent, whilst extending it out to cover more streets, and restricting traffic outside Regent High and Edith Neville Schools at school-run times.
We will be carrying out a separate consultation on introducing a healthy school street outside Maria Fidelis Catholic School, on Doric Way/ Drummond Crescent.
We will also be consulting on wider proposals for reducing through-traffic and enhancing green space in the Somers Town area through the Greening Phoenix Road project, which we will bring forward in a separate consultation later in the year, for which further details will follow in due course.
Image of the current, trial Healthy School Street on Polygon Road
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how people in Camden live, travel and work. Since the start of the pandemic many of us have been spending more time closer to home, making our neighbourhoods more important than ever. We want our streets to be safe spaces for you to walk and cycle, for children to get to and from school safely and healthily, for businesses to be able to flourish and for you to be breathing cleaner air. 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.
The information below sets out our proposals to make the current, trial scheme on Polygon Road permanent with an expansion to cover other neighbouring streets, and install new Healthy School Streets to cover Regent High and Edith Neville Schools.
Map of the proposed Healthy School Streets in Somers Town that are part of this consultation
What is proposed?
Scheme 1: St Mary and St Pancras School, and Blossom House School, Healthy School Street
This proposal includes:
Why are we proposing to make the trial scheme permanent and to expand it to neighbouring streets?
We introduced a trial healthy school street outside St Mary and St Pancras school, on the section of Polygon Road between the junctions with Werrington Street and Chalton Street. This scheme came into force on 17th June 2021 for an 18-month trial period, to improve road safety around the school and create safer spaces for walking and cycling.
During the trial period, we have been collecting monitoring data to assess how well the scheme is working. A full summary of this monitoring is provided in the monitoring factsheet in the ‘related’ section of the webpage.
Scheme 2: Regent High Healthy School Street
This proposal includes:
Why are we proposing to introduce these changes?
Scheme 3: Edith Neville Primary School Healthy School Street
This proposal includes:
Why are we proposing to introduce these changes?
Some vehicles will be exempt from the restrictions. Further information on who can apply for an exemption is provided in the information sheet, which can be found in the related section at the bottom of this page.
Proposed cycle hangar installations on Aldenham Street, Chalton Street and Purchese Street:
Residents in Camden have told us that they would like to have more lockable cycle parking close to where they live. We know that a lack of somewhere to keep a cycle safely can put people off taking up cycling. As a result, and in line with commitments in our Camden Transport Strategy, we are rolling out a programme of installing cycle hangars across the borough.
In order to provide secure cycle parking for local residents, we are also therefore consulting on introducing the following proposals on a permanent basis, alongside the Healthy School Street proposals shown above:
Photo of cycle hangars, which are proposed to be installed on Aldenham Street, Chalton Street and Purchese Street
As 69% of households in Camden do not own a car and public transport usage 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 can 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.
Through the Somers Town Future Neighbourhoods work, we are keen to work with the community, including local residents and other stakeholders to inform the measures that are taken forward through the fund, and this consultation is one part of that commitment.
The previous Healthy School Street measures on Polygon Road were 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 whether or not to retain, remove or amend the trial scheme after the 18-month trial period. This consultation meets that commitment as well as seeking views on a wider set of proposals as shown above and in the supporting information.
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 the proposals, click on the links 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. You can share your views by filling on the consultation questionnaire by Sunday 23rd October 2022, a link to this is provided at the bottom of this page.
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 (i) at the end of the trial period, the experimental scheme should be made permanent, modified, or allowed to lapse, and (ii) about the proposed new permanent scheme elements set out above.
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 (i) at the end of the trial period, the experimental scheme should be made permanent, modified, or allowed to lapse, and (ii) about the proposed new permanent scheme elements set out above.
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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