• FOLLOWING your summary of the Tavistock Place traffic decision taken at the council cabinet meeting, I thought it would be useful to clarify the situation for your readers.

It is important to state that the council in fact did follow the recommendation of the independent inspector. He advised that the council consider switching the direction of motor traffic to west-bound if the council deemed feasible a “modification” to the existing traffic order.

However, we did not believe that flipping the flow of an important route through Bloomsbury to be a mere “modification”. Rather this would have been a major change, which may have come under challenge had we rushed to put it in place without taking time to understand the implications.

Indeed local residents’ groups attended the cabinet meeting concerned at the prospect of this. The inspector further advised that if the council did not believe west-bound working to be possible via a modification then it is open to the council to make a further order to provide for this.

To properly consider the implications, the council would need to consult the public, giving us a chance to consider all views. This is exactly what the cabinet chose to do. This autumn the council will consult on how Tavistock Place might operate if the traffic lane were west-bound rather than east-bound.

The inspector also recommended that we retain separate cycle lanes running both east and west. We were pleased the inspector agreed with the need to make the road safer given its rise in popularity for cycling.

It reflects exactly our commitment to healthier, more affordable, forms of travel like cycling and walking, one which we hope to take this further forward through the new Camden Transport Strategy, to be consulted on later this year.

CLLR ADAM HARRISON
Cabinet Member for Improving Camden’s Environment