Low Traffic Neighbourhood
Whose health is it anyway?
Camden and Islington have published proposals for an LTN covering nearly all of the Highgate (Camden) ward and the triangle of Islington between Dartmouth Park Hill, Junction Road and Highgate Hill. This will have a very significant impact on residents, including those in nearby areas of Haringey.
In spite of our previous comments, the scheme still only has Dartmouth Park in the name. Don’t be fooled – this very much relates to Highgate, and will also have an impact on Highgate residents in Haringey.
The proposals are outlined in a slide pack available here. Where page numbers are referred to they are to the page numbers in the slide pack.
Comments are required by 18 August. Publication at the start of the holiday period and the short timescales for responses seem likely to discourage resident responses especially from those who identify as living in Highgate. We encourage you to prove them wrong. Let’s crowdsource a solution that actually works for residents!
WE CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!
PEOPLE POWER WORKS.
Submit your comments to safetravel@camden.gov.uk or submit comments online at https://dartmouthpark.commonplace.is
Keep a copy of your comments
Send them to your local councillors anna.wright@camden.gov.uk Camron.Aref-Adib@camden.gov.uk Lorna.Russell@camden.gov.uk [Add Islington Councillors]
Send a copy to us and we’ll keep in touch newsletter@highgatesociety.com
Write to the Camden New Journal letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk
Attend one of the consultation sessions:
On Zoom at 6pm on Wednesday 17 July
In person at 6pm on 23 or 24 July [It’s not clear where these are being held.]
To book, go to https://dartmouthpark.commonplace.is/en-GB/proposals/frequently-asked-questions/step1
Equivalent Islington contacts to be inserted
As this is a proposal relating to roads, we had assumed that the objective is to improve health by reducing particulate emissions by vehicles, but shockingly, the proposals have been created seemingly without any reference to pollution levels. The word “pollution” appears nowhere in the document.
The lack of any rigorous analytical framework means that the scheme fails even on its own limited terms. There are no costs and no cost-benefit analysis to justify spending £millions.
Traffic will be diverted onto Highgate West Hill, Highgate High Street and Highgate Hill and potentially onto South Grove and Bisham Gardens as a cut through to avoid congestion at the West Hill – Highgate High Street junction. And yet the worst pollution was at the far north end of Highgate High Street near the Gatehouse pub, and at Archway – both locations that can expect no benefit from these proposals.
We made comments to the Camden project team in March, and we’re really disappointed that there is (i) no clear plan to improve the whole South Grove – High Street junction; (ii) widen pavements and introduce some proper traffic calming on Swains Lane between Bisham Gardens and South Grove; (iii) include a zebra crossing across West Hill near The Grove and the Flask pub; and (iv) do anything meaningful for West Hill.
Chetwynd Road would be made one way westbound preventing Chetwynd Road from being used as an eastbound route. This is even more significant than it seems because it will be really hard to get into Dartmouth Park Hill in order to turn into Chetwynd Road and use it in a westbound direction.
The map on page 6 shows a further camera enforced traffic filter near the eastern end of Chetwynd Road which is not explained in the text. Our guess is that this is to prevent a right turn off Dartmouth Park Hill into Chetwynd Road. This seems to be confirmed by the access maps on pages 13 onwards which suggest the only way to enter Chetwynd Road to travel westbound on it, would be via Fortess Road and then into Dartmouth Park Hill before turning left into Chetwynd Road.
This is ridiculous and goes way beyond addressing local pollution and the (legitimate) concerns of Chetwynd Road residents about the unsatisfactory parking and traffic flow in the street at present.
On Dartmouth Park Hill, the document states “three camera-enforced traffic filters with exemptions for buses located along Dartmouth Park Hill would prevent north-south and south-north vehicle movement” (page 6). There are actually four shown on the map. We can think of no justification for complete closure of Dartmouth Park Hill though could see the benefit of one way traffic in a downhill direction, from Highgate Hill to Magdala Avenue. Incidentally, closure would make redundant the new zebra crossing just outside St Josephs School – a waste of public resources.
These changes to Chetwynd Road and Dartmouth Park Hill are very significant because they mean traffic going to or from Gordon House Road must travel either via Highgate West Hill or via Kentish Town Road. West to East travel through the area is made impossible except via Highgate Village or Fortess Road.
In that context the changes to West Hill sound feeble and inconsequential, where the document simply states: “To reduce motor vehicle speeds and improve road safety, a number of speed reduction measures are proposed on Highgate West Hill. [The map shows these changes as being in the section between Swains Lane and Millfield Lane.] These measures could include more 20mph signs, vehicle activated signs, changes to the road layout, new pedestrian crossings and speed humps.”
Taking account of both directions, around 6,000 vehicles a day use Chetwynd Road. Our guess is that more than half of these will shift onto travelling via Highgate Road and Highgate West Hill. Between 10,000 and 12,000 vehicles a day already use this road. We could easily see this going up to 13,000 to 16,000. And remember this road (unlike Chetwynd Road) carries HGVs with all of the related particulate pollution involved with diesel engines.
Where is the net health benefit in this? Vague words about how LTNs reduce overall traffic simply won’t hack it as a basis for this scheme.
Among other significant proposals:
Swains Lane will be closed to traffic north of the Cemetery. (page 7)
On Highgate Hill a northbound bus lane on Highgate Hill is proposed. This would run from Dartmouth Park Hill to the stop below Bisham Gardens. This bus lane and the section in the Islington section of Highgate Hill below St Josephs would operate according to “extended hours”. The impact on parking is not mentioned, though given the width of the carriageway along most of the stretch, there may be ways to retain parking, include a bus lane, and single north and southbound carriageways. The works required to implement these would probably require changes to the pelican crossing outside Channing Junior School, and the scheme could be implemented as a bus gate, giving buses priority and holding back other vehicle traffic at lights which combined a safer pedestrian crossing. See our Campaign on this topic. [Link to be inserted.]
In the absence of these measures the proposals to make Highgate Hill two lanes northbound, including a bus lane will be likely to increase traffic speeds and increase danger at the crossing by Channing Junior School.
On Highgate Road – a northbound (towards Swains Lane) segregated cycle lane is proposed. It seems unlikely this could be accomplished while still retaining parking.
Various improvements to local streets are proposed including to the old 271 bus stand.
There is no mention of the changes needed to the wider junction area.
York Rise will be closed at its junction with Chetwynd Road.
A camera enforced restriction will prevent a right turn from Swains Lane into Chester
Road. (page 7)
Some of the other issues we spotted are below.
There is extensive data on traffic flows on many roads in the area, but it is not clear how these have impacted the proposals. However, no measurements for traffic have been made in the centre of Highgate Village, and this causes a sense that the area has not been considered. The relative concentration people and activity in the shopping centre mean additional traffic measurements should be taken for the section of Swains Lane between Bisham Gardens and South Grove; Highgate High Street near The Gatehouse, immediately south of the Hampstead Lane junction; West Hill between the Grove and Highgate High Street; The Grove near its junction with Hampstead Lane; and South Grove outside 10 South Grove.
Residents of The Grove will be upset that they appear not to warrant inclusion in the LTN area. Indeed, the existence of the road seems to have been overlooked (see page 22).
Pages 11 onwards show how vehicles would navigate around or to various parts of the area. These are riddled with errors as anyone who knows the area could quickly spot. For example:
Try a route from Chester Road to York Rise via Raydon Street, Dartmouth Park Hill, Bickerton Road, Junction Road, Brecknock Road.
The vehicle route from Gordon House Road to Hampstead Lane is shown as via the Gatehouse, when a simple check with Google maps shows the route as being via The Grove both now and in the future.
Residents of Cholmeley Park will be upset that they will now apparently be on the preferred route from Gordon House Road to Archway Road.
So whose health is it? What is the justification for these extensive and hugely expensive measures which benefit a small number of streets, and undoubtedly will make pollution worse for those who live on the peripheral main roads, who already suffer more badly from pollution? We make a small and partial exception for Chetwynd Road, where modest measures are supported.
This is a massive waste of money, with an overall net disbenefit for resident health.