More on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
This concept does seem to be ‘flavour of the month’ with the new council administration and it seems to be a race to get your area onto the radar. Click here to see larger scale version. We will be meeting with Joanna Wright, the new joint lead for Transport as soon as we can, to make sure Camden and probably Walcot and possibly Larkhall get considered in the first wave. With the CAZ C (not involving cars) we may as well forget CAZ as the means by which we’ll reduce traffic through Camden and thus Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) becomes the main show in town. We’ll need to garner plenty of support from our residents to make progress so do comment on this blog to register your interest/support/ direct help.
As a ‘DFL’, down from London, we’ve seen these in action there and we’re naturally positive about them. The upsides so outweigh the downsides once residents have got used to it.
Finally here is a beautifully ironic piece from one of our residents in the ‘Chronic’ last week which should bring a wry smile to you.
Absolutely in favour of Camden becoming a Low Traffic area. This greatly needed. Likewise Larkhall. There are times when I want to use that plethora of resources, but can’t face battling the rush hour traffic. Businesses suffer. The whole area needs, urgently, to be included in this. Thank you CRA.
Thanks Nicky. Supporting and making use of local resources is such a good thing for the economic health of the neighbourhood.
The sooner the Government (and Local Government) acknowledge the direct link between congestion and pollution the better. I strongly support the concept of Camden Road being a Bus Lane during commuting hours and believe this would largely deal with the oppressive volume of traffic and the attendant pollutionat these times of day. We must not allow the present situation to continue longer than absolutely necessary.
Tomorrow would be good.
Thanks. Buses have a strong part to play in making the ‘modal shift’ away from the car as the habitual way of getting round the neighbourhood. This includes school journeys.
Agreed. Traffic speeds and pollution are major concerns. We need to see these as resident streets for people, not roads for cars.
Agreed. My understanding of LTNs is that they make a neighbourhood very difficult to traverse for vehicular through traffic which release space and clean air for pedestrians, cyclists and local deliveries.
I second Nicky’s comment. Massively in favour of this for so many reasons. Thank you for raising CRA.
Thanks, Rachel, as always.
Spot on! Rebalancing between people and cars in this way would transform our area for the better. Keep up the pressure!
Will do. Presssure is force per unit area. We need as many residents as possible to lend their weight to this push for a LTN and thereby increase the pressure.
This very much looks like the right approach for Camden. But we will need to produce some specific proposals and then get them supported. I’ll admit that when I tried looking at a map to work out a suitable approach, I felt out of my depth quite quickly. The topography of our area presents some particular challenges and we will need to bring in neighbouring areas too – especially Larkhall of course. Still, the idea of restricting rush hour access to Deadmill Lane looks like a easy win and it would be very interesting to see how much effect it would have.
Hi Bob, we’ve tried making specific proposals but they have had limited success and impact – mainly we are lay people and have no expertise. We can have a stab at a solution but, as you report, we can get out of our depth quite quickly. We are, with our local knowledge, probably much better at working with experts.
After the committee meeting with the councillors I thought the process was to be: we express the need very firmly perhaps in a campaign, to persuade the Council to employ theirs or outside experts to survey the situation with our input and then for us to garner support from the community for their solution.
As for Deadmill Lane peak time restrictions – yup, we proposed that in the report (Tackling Congestion and Poor Air Quality in Camden, Bath). It looked relatively easy to achieve and last year was inadvertently trialled when there was utility works happening at the bottom of the hill for several weeks. I think there would have to be some provision made for safely getting any school pupils from a drop-off points on Gloucester Road in Lower Swainswick to their schools, 400 meters away, in Larkhall. It might then also become part of the LTN for NE Bath.
Strongly support Camden becoming a Low Traffic Area. Thank you for all the work and info you have provided on this. Urgent action is needed.
I support this LTN initiative and look to experienced advisers to offer options for solving the problems of the current situation – above all the dangers for pedestrians. Thanks for the information and efforts.
I strongly support any increased focus on residential roads over normal roads. Apologies for potentially being another person with opinions and jumping to solutions – i feel more formal road signs probably increase the perception of a formal road which is not what we really want. Normally reducing road furniture, removing centre lines, moving kerb lines further from the kerb all help the drivers perception of narrower, less formal roads, this is also done by replacing tarmac with pavement material. People ignore signs but less likely to ignore road layout and road markings. A good example of this in Bath close to home maybe is the new junction next to Marlborough Tavern and the Weston Rd along the top of Vic Park.
Great work CRA, thank you for dedication in this topic. Full support from me.
Thanks, Nick. Only this morning, I was just talking to one of the leading proponents of the new junction you are referring to. It makes life so much easier when we have a real life working model to consider and the experience of local groups who have succeeded in getting it implemented.