Overview
Camden Council will be creating a Low Emission Neighbourhood in Camden Town, after being awarded £500,000 from the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Fund. Our goal is to reduce air pollution over the next three years by working with the community and local businesses in the Camden Town area. We will do this by reducing emissions from transport, as well as from heating and cooking appliances in buildings. You can see a map of the Low Emission Neighbourhood area below.
Over the summer of 2019 we held the UK’s first Citizens’ Assembly on the climate crisis. One proposal the citizens put to the council was to promote and trial more car-free zones and days. The Camden Town Low Emission Neighbourhood directly responds to this by trialling the pedestrianisation of Camden High Street, north of the junction where Camden Town station is located.
The Camden Town Low Emission Neighbourhood project area is outlined on this map.
What is happening in the Low Emission Neighbourhood?
Camden’s Low Emission Neighbourhood will deliver a variety of measures that improve our environment for everyone. These include closing roads (where appropriate) to through traffic and opening them up to healthier ways of travelling; cutting emissions from transport and buildings; lowering traffic casualties; and providing more efficient use of the road space. This will bring about better air quality for all who Iive and work in, and travel through, the area. Taken together, these steps will also benefit the local economy. Camden Town Unlimited Business Improvement District supported the Low Emission Neighbourhood bid.
The actions we are looking at carrying out include:
- Trialling a weekend pedestrianisation scheme on Camden High Street, removing all motor vehicles from the stretch between Camden Town station to Hawley Crescent. This will be implemented during the summer and festive periods as well as on National Clean Air Day and Car Free Day, creating a temporary new pedestrianised area. This will provide a safer and more pleasant environment for residents, businesses, and visitors, and all those simply walking through the area to other parts of Camden.
- Improving and upgrading the walking and cycling connections into and through the Low Emission Neighbourhood.
- Installing a network of Electric Vehicle Charging Points (EVCPs) across the Low Emission Neighbourhood, while also reducing emissions from cars and other vehicles around residential roads by taking action to discourage and prevent people leaving their engines idling.
- Supporting local businesses to reduce emissions from freight deliveries and waste collections, while reducing overall emissions from the market’s activities.
- Implementing a series of ‘Healthy School Streets’ and ‘Play Streets’ in the area, while reviewing a range of parking approaches that will reduce traffic levels.
- Targeting building emissions by using our environmental business network, the Camden Climate Change Alliance, and working with Camden Town Unlimited.
You can read the press release about on the funding award for this project – and Camden’s other air quality improvement projects – here
Share your views on the Camden Town Low Emission Neighbourhood
We are currently running an engagement hub to help us shape the development of the Camden Town Low Emission Neighbourhood by sharing your views about transport, air quality and public spaces in Camden Town.