Healthy School Streets Consultation - West Hampstead Primary Proposals

Overview

Healthy School Street Consultation – West Hampstead Primary School Proposals (Dornfell Street, Ravenshaw Street, Broomsleigh Street and Glastonbury Street) 

We are seeking your views on proposals to introduce Healthy School Street timed traffic restrictions outside West Hampstead Primary School on Dornfell Street, Ravenshaw Street, Broomsleigh Street and Glastonbury Street as well as allowing two way cycling and installing two new cycle hangars on Dornfell Street.

The Covid-19 pandemic changed how people in Camden live, travel and work. Many people have spent 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 in both continuing recovery from the pandemic and by providing a lasting legacy of greener, safer, healthier travel, helping us to deliver our wider Transport Strategy objectives.

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.

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. The schemes help to discourage car trips, particularly amongst parents and carers, by providing a safe and inviting space for more walking, cycling, and scooting.

Seventeen Healthy School Street schemes have been rolled out across Camden since March 2020. This brings the total number of Healthy School Street schemes in the borough to 20, with 27 schools having timed or permanent road closures. The monitoring data that we have collected on these schemes, which can be accessed on our website, has shown 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.

About the proposed West Hampstead Primary School Healthy School Street scheme

Over the past two years, our Commonplace Safer Travel webpages have allowed residents to provide feedback on positive and negative transport issues across Camden. As part of this feedback, the Council received some comments that the streets around West Hampstead Primary School suffer from high levels of congestion at school run time, creating an unhealthy and unsafe environment around the school. We have also collected traffic count data across an average week during school term time which shows us that traffic levels on these streets are at their highest during school run times in the morning and afternoon. Figure 1 below outlines data collected on Dornfell Street, however, similar peaks of traffic at these times were also recorded on Ravenshaw Street, Broomsleigh Street and Glastonbury Street.

Figure 1 – Dornfell Street Average Weekday Daily Traffic Levels, w/c 15^th March 2021

As Figure 1 shows, traffic levels peak to an average of 25 vehicles between 8am to 9am, and then peak again to over 30 vehicles between 3pm to 4pm. The streets around West Hampstead Primary School are residential with little space for such numbers of motor vehicles around these times.

Therefore, we are proposing to implement timed Healthy School Street motor vehicle restrictions on the streets around the school between 8.30am - 9.30am and 3pm - 4pm, Monday to Friday during school term only.

The proposals would help make it safer and easier for children to walk, cycle or scoot to school, with less air pollution, road danger, congestion, and more space for people to interact. We propose to trial the below measures, using an Experimental Traffic Order, for a period of up to 18 months, at which point a decision would be made whether to make the scheme permanent, remove it entirely, or keep it with some changes. If it was proposed to keep the scheme with any substantial changes another full public consultation would be held.

A scheme drawing for the proposed measures can be found in the Related section at the bottom of this page. We are proposing the following changes:

• To create a timed Healthy School Street road closure Mondays to Fridays during school term time only from 8.30am - 9.30am and 3pm - 4pm, by preventing non-exempt motor vehicles from driving through the junctions of Mill Lane with Broomsleigh Street and Ravenshaw Street.
• To install relevant signage to alert people driving to the restrictions and Automatic Number Plate Recognition enforcement cameras on Mill Lane at the junctions with Broomsleigh Street and Ravenshaw Street. The signage would state the times when the road closures would be in place to all motor vehicle traffic and would be closed during school holidays.
• To install two cycle hangars on the road opposite number 12a Dornfell Street for local residents. This would result in the loss of 7.2 metres of resident parking space, 2 metres of which would be to provide adequate space between the cycle hangars and two way cycling provision outlined on the point below.
• To install two way cycling provision on Dornfell Street using relevant signage, junction protection and road markings, which would increase accessibility across the area. This proposal also aligns with our Cycling Action Plan commitment to convert all feasible one-way roads in the Borough to two-way for cycling. In order to facilitate this change, we would need to do the following (which can also be viewed on page 2 of the consultation drawing below):
• • At the junction of Dornfell Street and Ravenshaw Street, remove a section of the pavement build out and realign the kerb line, replace 5 metres of resident parking on the southern side of the road with double yellow lines and blips (no waiting or loading at any time). As mentioned above, a further 2 meters of resident parking would be replaced with double yellow lines on the northern section of the road to provide adequate space between the proposed two way cycling provision and cycle hangars.
  • At the junction of Dornfell Street and Broomsleigh Street, remove a section of the pavement build out and realign the kerb, and replace 5 metres of resident parking on the north side of the street with double yellow lines and blips (no waiting or loading at any time) to create space for people cycling to safely exit the junction. Double blips would be added to the existing double yellow lines on the southern section of the road.

The following vehicles would be exempt from the timed Healthy School Street restrictions:

• Cycles including standard and electric powered bicycles
• Vehicles registered to properties and businesses on Dornfell Street, Ravenshaw Street, Glastonbury Street and Broomsleigh Street (exemptions would need to be agreed with the Council)
• Any vehicle being used for ambulance, fire brigade or policing purposes
• Refuse collection vehicles
• Door to door services such as Plus Bus and Dial A Ride
• Blue Disabled Badge holders that require access (exemptions would need to be agreed with the Council)
• Vehicles belonging to parents or carers of pupils of West Hampstead Primary School that have a disability that prevents them from walking, cycling, or scooting to school (exemptions would need to be agreed with the Council)

West Hampstead Primary School staff and visitors to the school would not be exempt. Taxis and delivery vehicles would also not be exempt, and such trips would need to be scheduled outside of the restricted times or the vehicles would need to be parked outside of the restricted area. However, exemptions can be applied for in exceptional circumstances, such as when elderly or disabled people may need essential taxis during the restricted hours.

The Automatic Number Plate Recognition Cameras would only issue fines to non-exempt vehicles being driven into the restricted area during the restriction times, so any vehicle already parked within the restricted area could be driven out at any time without receiving a fine.                 

If the scheme goes ahead, details of how to apply for an exemption would be posted to residents and businesses in the consultation area.

The following photos show existing schemes within Camden which demonstrate how the Healthy School Street and two way cycling elements of the proposed scheme could look.

Photo of Healthy School Street Signage on Croftdown Road; similar signage is proposed to be installed on Mill Lane at the junctions with Broomsleigh Street and Ravenshaw Street

About the proposed cycle hangar installation on Dornfell 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 bike safely can put people off taking up cycling. As a result, we are rolling out a programme of installing cycle hangars across the borough.

Cycle hangars also help to deliver our own Transport Strategy priorities, which were strongly supported when we consulted on them, including increasing cycling, improving air quality, and making our streets and transport networks safe, accessible, and inclusive for all.

Cycle hangars offer local residents the opportunity to hire secure on-street cycle parking close to where they live. This is particularly beneficial to residents where storage space is limited within properties.

The above proposal would help us to provide new secure cycle parking space for local residents. There are currently 150 residents on the waiting list for the nearest cycle hangars on Hillfield Road.

Cycle hangars are installed and maintained by Cyclehoop, the Council’s approved supplier. Further details are available on their website: https://www.cyclehoop.com/product/shelters-canopies/bikehangar/

Each hangar is 1.33m high with a curved profile roof (see image below). Maintenance is covered by the annual membership fee which is currently £36 per year.

Photo of cycle hangars, which are proposed to be installed on Dornfell Street

Why your views matter

The proposed Healthy School Street changes, if approved, would be implemented as a trial under an Experimental Traffic Order for 18 months. Officers would seek the views of local residents and stakeholders during the trial period to help decide, alongside monitoring data and relevant policy contexts, whether to retain, remove or amend the scheme after the 18-month trial period. The proposed installation of the cycle contraflow and hangars would not form part of the trial and would be installed permanently, if approved, subject to this consultation and the statutory traffic order consultation process.

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.

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, relevant policies, officer observations, and other data/information including monitoring information collected to date.

All of this information will be considered in making recommendations in the report about (1) whether the proposed changes should be implemented as a trial under an Experimental Traffic Order for 18 months; and (2) whether the cycle contraflow and cycle hangars should be installed permanently.

We would collect a range of pre and post scheme monitoring data: traffic counts on the streets proposed to have restrictions and those nearby to ascertain the impact of the scheme, monitoring of traffic speeds, levels of cycling, and air quality as well as working with the school to learn about pupil’s thoughts on the scheme and its impact on travel behaviour. We would also have a Commonplace survey open for the duration of the trial so that feedback could be collected on the scheme and Camden officers would be available to answer any questions or concerns via our dedicated Healthy School Streets email inbox and phone line on 020 7974 8796.

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. 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.