Camden High Street Permanent Pedestrianisation Consultation

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Dates: 13th July - 23rd August 2026; Reply to: safetravel@camden.gov.uk; CCC member dealing with it Jean Dollimore.

Camden is

  • consulting on making the trial pedestrianisation on Camden High Street permanent. If it is made permanent they would improve the closures with bollards – cf the Strand.
  • seeking views on ideas for a high-level plan to create a larger pedestrianised zone in the future.

Trial pedestrianisation on Camden High Street

Bus improvements on Kentish Town Road (a 24/7 3.3 m bus lane from Britannia junction to Hawley Crescent) have been consulted on and agreed. These will be implemented.

Issue: for cyclists going north on KTR there is a serious left-hook risk at the junction with Hawley Crescent.

Otherwise we should support making this scheme permanent so as to allow the larger scheme to go ahead.

Consultation here

Camden has carried out surveys:

  • the air is cleaner: Overall, the  pedestrianised area and surrounding roads saw 11.6% lower levels of harmful  NO2  pollution;
  • safer: less pickpocketing etc with CSOs; 
  • Pedestrian safety better. No collisions in Camden High Street N of the station. Streets in the wider area have also seen a 28.5%  reduction in the total number of collisions and a 100% reduction in the number of serious collisions compared to the same months of the year before;
  • pedestrian numbers stable (doesn’t mention cycles).  with less overcrowding.  Spend on the street is stable;
  • bus journeys that are diverted around Camden High Street take on average approximately 1.5 minutes longer between 7am and 7pm. Bus journeys that continue along Kentish Town Road are taking an extra 50 seconds. However, thanks to recent changes, bus journeys on Parkway are now faster by around 1m 24s on average ; 
  • overall, total traffic volumes have seen a 3.5% reduction across all monitored locations. There are increases on roads where traffic is diverted around Camden High Street: Kentish Town Road and Hawley Crescent;
  •  Survey. 52.9% liked or strongly liked the changes,  6.2%  neutral,  40.9% said they disliked or strongly disliked the changes.  

Expanding the Camden High Street Pedestrianised zone

Main features

  • Hawley Road 2-way with bus priority and cycle measures;
  • 2-way cycle connection between Chalk Farm Road and Arlington Road;
  • the pedestrian area will also include Jamestown Road to Arlington Road and Hawley Crescent to Stuckley Place.

There will be a consultation if the trial scheme is made permanent

Benefits for cycling

  • N-S link between Chalk Farm Road and Arlington Road with connections south with the Cross Camden Cycleway, Crowndale Road and Hampstead Road as well as connections from Castlehaven Road (north) and Kentish Town Road;
  • E-W link via Hawley Road and Jeffreys Street to C6 in Royal College Street.

Issues

  • Design of the Hawley Road link and in particular the junction with Kentish Town Road to ensure a 2-way link with Jeffreys Street;
  • Design of the new section of Camden High Street to enable safe two-way cycling in the presence of very large pedestrian numbers e.g. make visible the difference from the southern section where a small number of NB cycles are tolerated.
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