South End Green Public Realm, Road Safety and Streatery Improvements

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 a lasting legacy of greener, safer, healthier travel with places for people to spend time in and enjoy.

In 2020, the Council temporarily closed the slip road to motor traffic at South End Road, removed a parking bay and relocated the bus stand for route 168, in order to create a new, traffic free public space.  This enabled businesses there to offer safe outdoor dining on the road (a 'Streatery') during the pandemic while social distancing rules limited opportunities for indoor seating; it also made it safer for pedestrians to cross the road to access the Green.

To accommodate these changes, the loading bay outside no.3 Elm Terrace was moved 9 metres eastwards to facilitate the extension of bus stop B on Elm Terrace with a reduction in the length of the paid-for parking places next to the loading bay. 

We are now proposing further changes at South End Green to permanently improve the public realm and road safety, as well as opportunities for a Streatery. 

Why your views matter

We are now proposing the following permanent measures: 

- close the slip road on South End Road to motor traffic, and retain access for cyclists in both directions;

- remove the paid for parking bay on the slip road;

- relocate the bus stand for route 168 from the slip road on South End Road to the other side of the Green, on South End Close, alongside the bus stand for route 24. 

Closing the slip road would create a new public space for community use, including a Streatery; it would also address a long-standing local concern about air quality and noise, and mitigate the inhospitable environment caused by standing buses. 

In addition we are proposing the following changes: 

• reverse the entry and exit points to the bus interchange on South End Close for buses and local traffic: entry would be from Elm Terrace and exit from South End Green;
• relocate bus stop A (the first bus stop) for route 24, from the interchange on South End Close, and combine it with bus stop B, round the corner on Elm Terrace which would then serve three bus routes - 24, 46 and C11;
• extend bus stop B on Elm Terrace by a further 6 metres to accommodate the additional bus route (route 24) to a total of 28.5 metres (in line with bus stop accessibility guidance). 
• move bus stop B on Elm Terrace 4 metres eastward to provide space for new zig zag 'keep clear' markings next to the new proposed zebra crossing on Elm Terrace, in line with road safety guidance;
• move the loading bay next to bus stop B 10 metres eastward to enable the 4 metres of zig zags and additional 6 metres of extended bus cage and
• remove 10 metres (2 spaces) of paid for parking bays from adjacent to the loading bay.

To improve road safety we propose creating three new zebra crossings:

• Replace the traffic island on South End Green with a new zebra crossing and zig zag keep clear markings, to provide a safe crossing from the park to the bus interchange;
• Replace the existing three-way zebra crossing at the junction of South End Road, Elm Terrace and Fleet Road with two direct zebra crossings and keep clear zig zag markings, across Fleet Road and Elm Terrace

In addition, we also propose changes to road edges to allow vehicles to manoeuvre more easily through the area following the slip road closure.

Further proposal details to accommodate these changes can be found in the Related Section (at the bottom of this page).

What happens next

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.