The 20 year backstory

Attempts to find a solution to the problems of through traffic between Dartmouth Park Hill and Highgate Road have a long history. The underlying issue is a historic road network which evolved around radial travel routes into and out of the centre of London. The implications of travel between Hampstead and Highgate at the south side of Hampstead Heath were not considered. Railway lines in the area have further constrained the road network. The problems of traffic in Chetwynd Road have their origins in this historic legacy.

Early attempts at a solution involved closing Dartmouth Park Road near the junction with Highgate Road (other than for emergency vehicles) as a response to the difficulties at the Highgate Road junction. The “rat-run” through Glenhurst Avenue and Lissenden Gardens was also closed. In Chetwynd Road, on street parking was permitted, speed bumps added and traffic lights introduced at the junction of Chetwynd Road and York Rise. These solutions have not proven satisfactory for Chetwynd Road, and in many cases solving one problem has created another.

In 2009 one attempt at dealing with the situation ended with the Camden officer writing; “… the suggestion of introducing any widespread traffic management measures to try to address this problem was rejected by the vast majority of those present. It was felt that any area wide restrictions would have a negative impact for the majority of residents as a consequence of addressing an issue affecting just a few roads.” “It was therefore agreed that council officers would now concentrate on improvements that addressed the traffic problems in Chetwynd Road, Spencer Rise, Churchill Road and York Rise.” [Letter dated 3 April 2009 from Mr Cliff Thompson.

The underlying issues caused by the Victorian road design remain the same now as in 2009.

In December 2014 the Four Roads of Dartmouth Park (Chetwynd Road, Churchill Road, Spencer Rise and York Rise) submitted a petition of 200 residents expressing concern about traffic and air quality in their roads. 

Camden responded to the issues identified for the Four Roads, preparing a slide pack of three options as well as a “do nothing option”. (The copy we have is undated but is probably 2017). The options were presented by Camden in June 2018. They were then discussed at a meeting of the Dartmouth Park Road Residents Association in July 2018 which included other local residents. They were also discussed by the Four Roads in July 2018. At this stage the options only involved the Dartmouth Park area.

The DPRA and Four Roads took different views:

In response to the options presented, a letter from the Four Roads dated July 2018 supports option 1. This option would have closed Chetwynd Road just the Highgate Road side of the York Rise junction. Access to the eastern end of Chetwynd Road would have been from Dartmouth Park Hill, while access to the western end would have been from Highgate Road.

A letter dated 20 July 2018 to Camden from the Dartmouth Park Road Residents Association says:

• the issues have been “raised twice in the last 20 years and generated animosity between streets that took years to heal.”
• supports the “Do nothing” option
• proposes working with other streets to develop an option 5 and sets out certain principles for this option

This letter, although suggesting a way forward, was not followed up by Camden.

As the Four Roads and DPRA took different views of the options, none of them were progressed. The Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Forum was not in existence at this time, and so was not involved.

A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that Camden continued to work on the issue with consultants PJA who in May 2021 prepared a report called “Dartmouth Park Low Traffic Neighbourhood Baseline Analysis”. The enlarged area including Highgate and the northern part of Kentish Town is shown on maps including a map of “trip attractors” but the content in respect of the northern Highgate part is largely absent. For example, Channing School is shown as only on one side of Highgate Hill, and Highgate School is not shown. The omission is serious because these two schools are probably the main “trip attractors” in the whole area given the greater propensity of private school parents to drive children to school. Under the heading Neighbourhood Plan the report mentions the Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (approved in 2020) but not the earlier Highgate Neighbourhood Plan nor the Kentish Town plan. With the enlarged area both these Neighbourhood Plans should also have been considered. [See file attached – 12mb.]

Thus, with the failure to solve Dartmouth Park’s issues, the plans started to pull in Highgate, Kentish Town and Archway in an attempt to find a solution, though confusingly the name Dartmouth Park was retained.

The Commonplace website now says in respect of the period 2018 to March 2021: “We’ve been listening to local people on issues in the area for the last number of years. You can find out more about this on the Project Background page.” But this statement is only correct in respect of the original Dartmouth Park area, not the enlarged area that includes Highgate, Kentish Town and Archway. 

https://dartmouthpark.commonplace.is/

The Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan highlighted a number of local issues around traffic and the street environment.  Following the approval of the Plan in March 2020, the Forum secured funding in April 2021 from Camden to undertake a study of local traffic issues. See https://dpnf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210329-Dartmouth-Park-report-FINAL-lowres.pdf  The area covered was the area of the DPNF and so excluded both the Highgate and Kentish Town Neighbourhood Form areas. The study includes a survey of resident views, and the questionnaire results are summarised in the report, with between 50 and 59 voting on each of the questions. The numbers participating seem very low. The results obtained are unsurprising as these surveys only confirm the obvious and would most likely be supported by residents in Highgate, Kentish Town and Archway, or indeed anywhere.  For example, responses with the highest favourability scores were:

(i) 89% agreed that “improvements should apply to every street. Traffic should not be displaced to other streets in the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood should be kept as one, any scheme should not break it up.”
(ii) 100% agreed that “schemes should not negatively impact people reaching healthcare.”
(iii) 86% agreed that “any scheme should aim to reduce emissions and improve air quality, particularly around schools and areas with high pedestrian activity.”

Most residents of Highgate, Kentish Town and Archway, quite reasonably, will expect nothing less for their own streets, as the present scheme develops. 

The story brings us up to date and in 2023, Camden launched the present Dartmouth Park Healthy Neighbourhood scheme, covering the enlarged area between Highgate, Archway, Kentish Town and Dartmouth Park, though confusingly still with the title Dartmouth Park.