COUNCIL TEXT
Camden Council has a duty under the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Section 39) and a commitment to prepare and carry out a programme of measures designed to promote road safety. As part of Camden Council’s policy to reduce accidents and provide a safer and more pleasant residential environment, the Council is proposing a 20mph Zone for the Hatton Garden area. The proposed 20mph Zone is bounded by Gray’s Inn Road, Holborn, Charterhouse Street, Farringdon Road and Clerkenwell Road (none of which are included in the zone). Also, Portpool Lane, Verulam Street, Brook Street, Dorrington Street, Beauchamp Street and Ely Place will not be within the zone. A layout of the proposed Hatton Garden Area 20mph Zone is shown on the inside of this leaflet.
The area lies within the Holborn Local Streets and Transport Plan area, and a consultation with local groups showed strong support for road safety and traffic management measures. A significant amount of the Hatton Garden area is already traffic calmed and this scheme fills in the gaps that would constitute a 20mph zone. However, the current features may be upgraded to create consistent features within the 20mph Zone
Accidents:
During the 3-year period up to April 2005 there were 51 recorded accidents with 56 casualties, in and around Hatton Garden area.
• 11 serious, and 40 minor accidents.
• Of the 56 casualties, 14 were pedestrians and 14 were cyclist.
Speed:
Speed surveys have since been conducted on various roads within the proposed 20mph Zone area. Speed of traffic is a known factor, which contributes to the number and severity of accidents. A 24- hours, 7-day speed surveys were carried out February 2005.
Excessive speeds have recorded, over the proposed 20mph speed limits; the worst record is Hatton Gardens (27.4mph). Although the majority of vehicles travelled at speeds within the current 30mph speed limit, their speeds were higher than would be permitted in a 20mph Zone.
In 2002, a consultation was undertaken by Camden with the local groups of the Holborn area. As a result, the ‘Holborn Local Streets and Transport Plan 2003-2006’ was produced. The report discusses the results of the consultation and outlines the various requests for improvements to streets and traffic management in the area. The Hatton Garden Area 20mph Zone was one of the items identified for further investigation. It should be noted that all groups who responded to the consultation were in favour of 20mph Zones being considered for all residential streets.
Government Regulations specify that a 20mph Zone must have physical traffic calming measures to
ensure vehicular speeds are kept to 20mph and below, making the speed limit within the zone ‘self
enforcing’. The following explanation of the various traffic calming features proposed for the Hatton Garden area.
Scheme Proposals
The traffic calming measures proposed for the Hatton Garden area 20mph Zone are as follows:
- Speed humps in the proposed area on Hatton Garden, Kirby Street, Saffron Hill and Baldwin’s Gardens.
- Raised entry treatments at the junctions of St Cross Street at either Kirby Street or Saffron Hill.
- A raised crossing on the line of the build-out outside St Alban’s School on Baldwin’s Gardens.
- Relocation of the zebra crossing at the north end of Hatton Garden. The zebra crossing on
Hatton Garden at the junction with Clerkenwell Road to be relocated further south, subject to a suitable and safe location. - 20mph Zone signage at all zone entry points as well as 30mph signs at the exit points and
combined with CPZ signage (where appropriate). All existing hump signs will be removed
within the zone.
CCC’s response
CCC believes that the use of a 20 mph speed limit is one of the most effective ways of making streets safe for cyclists. Therefore we support this proposed new zone with enthusiasm.
It is very important to have raised entry treatments at all of the junctions on the boundary to emphasise the entry to the 20 mph zone and to help pedestrians to cross the side road. These are indicated on the plan at all of the junctions with Farringdon Road, Clerkenwell Road and Grays Inn Road; all of those are existing ones except the one on Hatton Garden which is not mentioned in the text. We believe that it is very important to have a raised junction at the north end of Hatton Garden and also at its junction with Charterhouse Street.
The recent CRISP study of Farringdon Road (by Buchanan’s for TfL) advocates putting a cycle contraflow lane into Greville Street, making a connection to Hatton Garden. TfL appears to be supportive of this idea. It really ought to be done at the same time as the 20 mph zone.
Other roads in this area are one-way (Leather Lane, Saffron Hill and St Cross Street). The presence of so many one-way streets in the area is a barrier to the permeability of cyclists. This study should look into the possibility of making cyclists exempt from these one-way restrictions, or better still, revert to two-way working. Within a 20 mph zone, safety considerations should not prevent contraflow cycling. The DfT Local Transport Note 01/04 says that cyclists should be exempt from restrictions (including one-way streets) unless there are overriding safety considerations that cannot be overcome.
We request that you review the number of cycle parking stands (specially in streets with shops). A useful target could be one cycle stand for each 1-2 parking bays in the area.
Finally, we would like to see some trees or seating introduced so as to make the streets more user friendly.
Question 1:
Do you agree with the proposed Hatton Garden 20 mph zone and the associated traffic calming measures?Yes
Question 2:
Do you agree with the proposed relocation zebra crossing at the north end of Hatton Garden? (Subject to safe and suitable location)Yes