A final push to halt the rollout of timed traffic bans around a North London private girls’ school has failed despite claims the vast majority of locals are against it. On Monday (14 July) Camden Council agreed to drive forward with plans to restrict motor vehicle access around the independent St Margaret’s and St Luke’s Church of England school in Hampstead after opposition councillors ‘called in’ the decision.
In May, the borough had moved to ban cars from surrounding streets during the schools’ opening and closing hours from Monday to Friday during term times, as part of its goal to cut traffic, make roads safer and encourage children and parents to walk to school. But resident Naomi Gordon said the scheme’s design was “disproportionate and irrational” and would “punish people and families”.
Ms Gordon said roughly 4 in 5 locals opposed the plans and that many had not received necessary information about the proposals during the consultation, which took place amid last year’s general election. “I only found out about the scheme when I saw a notice on a lamppost,” she said. Ms Gordon added that the designs had “miraculously changed” when the council swapped the avenues included in its restricted zones following backlash from residents.
Camden’s Conservative leader Steve Adams, who represents the schools’ ward, warned there would be “knock-on damage” and that one of the schools’ governors had told him there was a “serious likelihood” pupils would suffer.
“The council overlooked the fact that Frognal is different from the rest of the borough – it is hilly, has absolutely no public transport, and this is increasingly dangerous for small children. Many pupils come from outside the ward and there are no nearby buses and this scheme could effectively prevent them from reaching their place of education,” Adams said.
Adams’ deputy Shiva Tiwari – who defected from Labour earlier this year – also questioned why St Margaret’s was not consulted over plans “in their name”.
However, Francesca Agostini, a parent and co-founder of active travel charity, supported traffic controls in an area she said had become a “notorious rat run”. “Healthy school streets have been studied, tried and tested, and they work. Pickups and drop-offs are quieter, data shows traffic volume has gone down, and many families have changed the way they drive,” she said.
The council noted the “high level of disagreement” with the plans but argued that it had changed the designs, including by shortening restriction times and splitting the scheme into two different zones, to address people’s concerns. Officers added that there would be a “heavy period of monitoring” if the scheme went ahead.
The chamber became testy when Labour councillor Rishi Madlani gave the opposition’s call-in bid a “D for effort”. “It feels like it was scrawled on the back of an envelope after a Lord’s test match,” he said.
To this, his former colleague Tiwari shot back that he’d never received such a grade. “Rishi knows that because we were at the London School of Economics together, and I’m very clever,” he said. Adams added that he was not sure how to deal with Madlani’s “cheeky suggestion”.
Camden is now set to roll out the healthy streets scheme around the two schools for an 18-month trial period, during which it will monitor its effects.
Josef Steen is a London-based journalist and Local Democracy Reporter covering Hackney, Camden and Islington.
