Fresh road upgrades and traffic control measures will go ahead in north London despite an outcry from local residents. A new ‘Safe and Healthy Streets’ scheme at Fitzjohn’s Avenue in Hampstead was approved by Camden Council in March this year.
The £1.7m project will install new segregated cycling lanes, zebra crossings and rain gardens, remove parking spaces and relocate several bus stops. A traffic ban on College Crescent during school drop-off and pick-up times, commonly known as a School Street, will also be trialled.
Consultation opposition
These proposals were largely rejected by the 950 people who responded to the public consultation. Residents living within the area affected opposed the scheme by almost three to one, with just 23 per cent of people backing the plans – though three in four respondents who lived outside the borough were in favour.
The scheme is designed to prevent collisions and cut air pollution by reducing car use in favour of promoting active travel, as part of the borough’s wider transport strategy. Fitzjohn’s Avenue was also chosen based on Transport for London (TfL) flagging it as a medium-priority for risks of casualties.
Residents' concerns
However, many questioned whether the scheme was necessary at all, as some respondents argued the cycle lanes and rain gardens would either waste money or take away from the local area’s “historic character”. Other concerns included that trying to attract more cyclists in an area with such a steep uphill climb would encourage “speeding” e-bikes ignoring traffic lights and hitting local schoolchildren.
Further fears around the loss of parking spaces, and the dangers that new ‘floating’ bus stops intersected by cycle lanes posed to the elderly and disabled, were backed by Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors representing Belsize, Frognal and Hampstead Town wards, who called in this decision earlier this year.
Petition and council response
Camden pushed through the scheme despite these objections, although it scrapped proposals to merge bus stops due to the backlash. Officers maintained that the council could encourage behaviour change for drivers, and cited its commitment to make cycling safer and promote active travel.
But the row has endured as a petition urging the council to “please think again” has garnered 1,100 signatures.
“Our neighbourhood urgently needs better air quality and streets that are safer to walk and cycle along. The busy junction with Arkwright Road is unsafe and improvements are vital. But the current scheme instead seeks to push through a cycle lane onto Fitzjohn’s Avenue in a way that does not put pedestrians, children, older people and access to vital public transport first,” the petition argues. It lists the feared impact of narrowing pavements near primary schools, removing “essential” bus stops for schoolchildren and the elderly, and “ignoring” a more dangerous junction between Arkwright Road and Prince Arthur Road.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on Friday (August 28), Cllr James Slater, Cabinet Member for Planning and a Sustainable Camden, said: “Following a consultation which had over 950 responses from residents, we made the decision to move forward with the Fitzjohn’s Avenue scheme to make the streets in the area safer, greener and healthier.
“Among many improvements, the scheme includes a new cycle lane, new and upgraded crossings, bus journey improvements and a Healthy School Street. We are aware of the concerns that some residents have raised and want to assure that feedback from the consultation was carefully considered and reflected in current proposals.”
