Newsletter March 2025

Camden was consulting on two School Streets in Holborn. One at St George the Martyr in Millman Street where several permeability measures are proposed (two-way cycling on one-way streets) but CCC is concerned about safety at some of the junctions as many of the contraflows are on very narrow streets.

Local residents and parents of children from Brookfield School protested on Tuesday morning (25 March) over the announcement to pause the Dartmouth Park & Wider Area Healthy Streets scheme.

The news that Camden is halting its plans to reduce rat-running motor traffic in Dartmouth Park came as a bitter disappointment to those who have long awaited area-wide measures, similar to the successful and desirable (albeit limited) schemes in place at both Croftdown and Dartmouth Park Roads.

Opponents of the road-danger reduction scheme – the current Highgate ward Green Councillor and a Highgate Society spokesperson – welcomed the decision with clichéd and contradictory remarks such as “we care about cyclist safety”.

We would therefore suggest that you write to your local councillors (Camden or Islington, as this is a shared, cross-borough scheme) to express disappointment at this decision and to ask that Camden consider a scheme that is perhaps more 'radical' (not less), that absolutely prioritises the movement of people (and buses) over rat-running motors and congesting through-traffic. You can also write to Richard Olszewski, the councillor responsible for the DP HN decision, maybe noting that it is a year since the last government's failed attempt to discredit LTNs (along with safe speed limits, cycle lanes and other societally benevolent measures, as it prepared to roll-out its 'plan for drivers'). Amongst overwhelming evidence that supports the introduction of LTNs (largely overlooked by a media that is inclined to notice opposition-focussed noise and bias) are the findings that health gains of low-traffic schemes are up to 100 times greater than costs.

Read the DfT 2024 LTN Report here.

• Explore Cycling Spring Meetup – Saturday 29th March 2025, 2pm. This CCC Social will replace April's CCC meeting that would have fallen on Easter Monday.
Hire bike and cargo bike users welcome! Learn about the best routes, cycle lanes, and quiet ways at this fully inclusive informal gathering. Meet local Cycle Buddies; discuss the best way home and perhaps even cycle together.

• The Daffodil Ride took place on a sunny and cool 1st March, with about 60 children and families cycling from Archway to Hampstead Heath. The ride was led by Anke Boehme with support from several LCC groups and parents, to navigate a mix of hostile roads and quieter streets. Though the event demonstrated support for the much anticipated DP HN scheme, due for its final consultation, a decision has been taken by Camden, to pause the plans, leaving the outcome of this scheme unclear (read more about the decision above). Read about the Daffodil Ride here.

• The Northwest Pedal Express is a new Friday Bike Bus, launched two months ago to enable children and parents to ride safely between Willesden Green and north of Regent's Park via West Hampstead. They welcome parents/carers with children as well as volunteers and would be really pleased if anyone can help with marshalling.

Email mumswhocycle@gmail.com for more details.

• The next Kentish Town Pedals ride is on Saturday April 5 2025, at 10:00 am. Join them for a friendly bike ride to explore the local area. Keep active, build your cycling confidence and have fun with this gentle ride and café stop.

• Staying with the above LTN theme, a closer look at the picture on the left (image taken cycling from Churchill Road onto Dartmouth Park Hill, both part of the DP HN plan) reveals an approaching ambulance, attempting to get to Whittington Hospital or the Royal Free via Dartmouth Park, where an ambulance-gate allows congestion-free access or exiting for emergency service vehicles. In the light of the DP HN decision, It is worth perhaps, reviewing this statement from London Fire Commissioner Andy Rowe on the impact of LTNs on attendance times: “We genuinely couldn't find any evidence of LTNs doing anything to our overall attendance times”. Consistent with DfT review: “LTNs do not adversely affect response times for emergency vehicles.”

• Join the LCC Community Skills Summit – Saturday, 5 April – this full day of talks, workshops and networking is for everyone that wants to improve walking, wheeling and cycling in their local area. Everyone is welcome!

• Further north, read about Manchester's new 'woodland town' where “the streets will be for kids, not cars” Via Low Traffic Future @lowtrafficfut on Twitter

• In Shropshire over 500 people are on a waiting list for Ebikes as part of a council-run pilot scheme to help get more people cycling. Ebike-user loans are £10 a month, rising to £20 after six months. The bikes come fully serviced, with child carriers and battery chargers.

• Amidst the fuss about pot-holes is a simple overlooked truth: A two-tonne SUV does SIXTEEN TIMES more damage than a one-tonne car. Vehicle's road surface damage is proportional to the 4th power of its axle weight.

• On March 23, 2025, 66% of Parisians voted to create 500 additional pedestrian streets, replacing over 10,000 ‘parking spaces’ with green space and enhanced pedestrian infrastructure. @berkie1

• Despite Trump's sabotage threats, mayor Kath Hochul is onto a winner with the NYC Congestion Charge. In its first weeks, the $9 charge to drive into the central business district has already cut road violence and air pollution, boosted the local economy and massively boosted funding for NYC transit (and cut driving times!).

• Finally, with the news that Wales’s 20mph speed limit has cut road deaths, Peter Walker poses the question “Why is there still even a debate?”

This picture is of the same junction, taken a week later on the same weekday around midday. A temporary motor traffic road closure on Dartmouth Park Hill was in force.

Much nicer no?

• The article below informs us that, “if road deaths were a virus, we’d call it a pandemic. Safer transport helps us all – and we need it urgently”.

RTCs (road traffic collisions) are the leading cause of death for children and young people globally, claiming over two lives every minute––nearly 1.2 million people annually.

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