CAMDEN’S REPLY:
Dear Councillor Meric Apak (Cllr),
This is the response to your enquiry MEM23197 from Debby Hyams Inkerman Area Residents Association about Road works and closures.
The main objective of a continuous crossing is to give priority to pedestrians. This is done by removing the dropped kerbs, raising the footway and encouraging vehicles to slow and yield. These designs improve mobility for the impaired, wheelchair users, parents with buggies and people who struggle with kerbs and gradients. They also aim to reduce jolting and tripping risks as providing level surfaces are preferred for walking and accessibility.
Continuous crossings are a standard practice across Camden and provide pedestrian priority. They are part of national design guidance and other junctions along the Prince of Wales Road such as Hadley St, Harmood St, and Talacre Rd, have been upgraded to continuous crossings. These were implemented in 2020, and Anglers Lane is now being upgraded.
The footway across junctions has a different material to the footway and carriageway, which indicates a shared space with priority being given to the pedestrian. This material change is noted by drivers and causes behavioural change resulting in lower vehicle speeds, and reduced severity of any collision.
Trust that this addresses your enquiry, but if you need any further information, please let me know.
Kind regards
Hyacinth Daley
Principal Design Engineer
From us: We have circulated this on the WhatsApp group and invited comments as to whether it answers the issues.
D&D
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OUR ORIGINAL EMAIL:
From: Inkerman Area Residents Association <inkermanara@hotmail.com>
Date: 15 April 2026 at 16:55:35 BST
To: Meric Apak <meric.apak@camden.gov.uk>, “Joseph Ball (Cllr)” <Joseph.Ball@camden.gov.uk>, anne.clarke@london.gov.uk
Subject: The works at the junction of Willes Rd, Anglers Lane and Prince of Wales Road.
Dear Councillors, and Assembly member for Camden
Following our earlier exchange of emails, we are writing again now that the work is finished. We have had a high number of comments from residents, all of them expressing concern about this alleged improvement. We give some of these verbatim below.
- On the general issue:
“I also can’t see any improvement for drivers, cyclists or pedestrians at all – not sure who this was supposed to benefit”
“It is puzzling that this particular junction gets fine-tuned over and over (and made worse) while the junction of POW and Grafton or KT Road and Holmes Rd get no attention / traffic calming pavement measures at all.”
- One of the most serious issues is the fact that there is no clear distinction between road and pavement.
“My daughter didn’t realise this was a road! This is the opposite of an improvement. You can’t tell where the pavement ends and the road starts! Can’t understand how a visually impaired person would have any idea it’s a road”
“agreed. It took my kids a long time to learn about the one like that on Ryland Road. Borough of Kensington & Chelsea uses this system predominantly and, as a parent it majorly stresses me out
“Agreed. Also noticed the islands are the same material which also makes them hard to see while driving”
“and the right turn into anglers lane causes all the traffic to stop behind you as you wait to move. People keep honking”
“We have the same issue. Hard to teach a toddler how to cross a road and when to stop and look when there is no obvious delimitation between road and pavement…just pointless money spent and dangerous for everyone all round. They could at least paint some road markings to make it clear what is road and what is pavement. Perhaps that’s a cost effective way for Camden to make some limited safety improvements”
“There needs to be tactile paving which those with impaired sight rely on”
3.On cycling
“I don’t understand how the Anglers Lane corner is for cyclists…”
“Very confusing as there is no cycle lane to be seen and as stated above just utterly confusing what is a road/ pavement !! It is a shame those pots of money are so restrictive and don’t allow the money to actually go to good use”
“I’ve tried cycling / did a complete series of Camden cycling courses (free). There is no way I’d cycle in London unless we had a lock down again
“Camden’s idea of a good cycling path is at best curious: cycling is never an affair as stable as walking or driving a car, and in particular more wobbly for the young and the old. Yet the paths are designed as narrow slivers of roads with elevated borders rather than being furnished with simple and cheap AND safer painted lines (as in the rest of the cycling world), making cycling accidents more likely when a cyclist touches these silly borders inadvertently.”
“I’m a cyclist…these changes do nothing for cyclists”
“I’m all for cycling improvements but I can’t see how this helps at all”
“Same, I cycle this junction about 8 times a week and can’t think how this could be under a cycle budget”
“I cycle every day here, and as i said before, while they are doing the work, they make the situation much much worse for pedestrians and cyclists by not signing or laying out alternatives (as well as making it a pain for cars / traffic too obviously)”
” I have been always cycling in London. Even before it became a thing. Much has improved overall. But these ‘improvements’ I have seen recently around Camden make things worse.”
“I’ve been commuting by bike from kentish town down to UCL (Gower St) since 1980, Kings Cross since 2001, and British Library (Midland Rd) since 2015, and agree many things got quite a bit better with some decent bike lanes and re-laid-out intersections on many of the routes, but the recent stuff seems potentially counterproductive (and its no use the council saying it isn’t their money – it is still our money being spent whatever random bit of government it came from, and you’d kind of hope there’d be a bit more joined up thinking on what was actually needed. Appreciate the separate lanes, and the bike hangers for sure though.”
4. On cost and priorities
“Someone is making a lot of money. Construction guy said those cobbles cost £250 – £300 per sq meter!!”
“Money came from cycling improvements pot. It’s an allocated London wide borough by borough fund. The guy and team that runs London cycling campaigns is very very powerful and strong lobby.”
“The headline figure is that Camden is investing £22m in active travel, aiming for 30km of segregated cycle lanes by late 2026, alongside significant pedestrian enhancements. Time to make your voice heard and send in your comments ….and not just in here. And for a bigger context – there are plans to completely change Bloomsbury traffic and pedestrianisation programme along with the Oxford street plans plus Euston Road cycle way is coming soon. Bus journeys are going to take longer and longer”
“My understanding is the boroughs have to bid for it so Camden could have stood aside and let others bid who need it more…”
“And bus journeys are taking longer. The other often overlooked alternative to cycling and walking is buses. Recent audit shows that bus trips across London now take 60% longer. Two reasons – more complex intersections and junctions / road narrowing from cycling routes and then traffic road works”
5. The response of your officers to residents, and some unintended consequences
“I sent in my comments and got a completely unintelligible one line response from the senior engineer responsible for the work and when I replied asking for clarification got a reply saying this email is not monitored and therefore cannot be replied to. Just shows what officers think of their residents. Wish they would use that money to fix dreadful broken and wobbly pavements which are a real trip hazard.”
“And to add to the pain I had a close look at the chunks of paving bricks left over by the workers at the end of Ryland Road yesterday and they match the missiles used to smash our windows earlier this week.”
6.In summary
- Pedestrians feel the work has made the junction more dangerous
- It is causing more traffic delays, including for buses.
- Cyclists are in agreement that, far from improving things for them it may have made matters worse.
- The money should have been better spent. Camden did not have to agree to the work.
- There is a clear need for money to be spent on pavement improvements that actually benefit pedestrians (newly laid paving outside St. Patricks is already breaking up)
- Views of residents are not sought and, when expressed anyway, are disregarded
- Remedial action is urgently needed – as an absolute priority, the end of the pavements and the edges of the islands should be clearly defined, and tactile paving provided to distinguish road from pavement.
We look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency with confirmation that the issues have been raised with the relevant officers and/or contractors and we will see their response and deadlines for the remedial action.
Best wishes
Debby Hyams Chair of IARA
Inkerman Area Residents Association Limited
Registered in England No. 10075818 Registered Office: 31 Alma Street, London, NW5 3DH