Nearly 250 people in the hall  at La Sainte Union – and more watched online 

ANYONE walking past La Sainte Union School on Tuesday night may have thought a concert was taking place.

A steward dressed in high-vis jackets waved people down Croftdown Road, and attendees holding QR codes and tickets formed a queue outside the school gates.

This wasn’t for a sold-out gig, but a public meeting organised by the Highgate Society to discuss the highly contentious Dartmouth Park low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme. Nearly 250 people filled the hall – 100 more listened on Zoom – to tell councillors what they thought of the “healthy neighbourhood” trial.

The proposals were announced on Camden Council’s website on July 8. Feedback for the scheme closed on August 18 – which many attendees felt was unfair, given it was over the school holidays.

The LTN covers a large area – from Highgate West Hill down to Fortess Road in Tufnell Park and up to Archway – and includes one-way systems, “physical traffic filters” and “camera enforced traffic filters”, which will reduce northbound, southbound and eastbound through-traffic. Some people present said they had no idea what “filters” actually referred to and asked for clarification.

Highgate ward councillor Anna Wright speaks in support

Labour councillor Anna Wright – one of the most senior councillors at the Town Hall – opened the meeting, explaining her support, insisting it would address Camden’s “unacceptable health inequality”.

Green ward councillor Lorna Russell, who lives in Holly Lodge, said she was “very conflicted” by the proposals but said she was “struggling to see” how the plans would actually help meet the council’s Net Zero ambitions.

She said she is worried the plans will simply cause an increase in traffic on Highgate Road and Highgate West Hill and will block off access to the Whittington Hospital for those living west of Chester Road.

“That cannot be acceptable,” she said.

In two-minute speeches, resident groups gave impassioned pleas to stop the trial from going ahead.

Sir Chris Kelly, from the Brookfield Mansion Residents Group, whose wife Alison was a former Labour councillor, said “this scheme should be abandoned straight away, adding: “I cannot believe you think that these divisive, ill-thought through proposals are really in the interests of people. I gained some assurance from the fact that Anna [Wright] has said this is a trial. But trials have a habit of being set in stone at the end of it.”

In support, Graeme Blyth of Balmore Street, a parent at Brookfield School, said that many primary pupils walk to school and the LTN will improve childrens’ lives by reducing fumes.  He said “something needs to be done” about speeding vehicles, traffic accidents and pollution.

Mr Blyth added: “Really the only way it’s going to be done is to slow down traffic. A lot of people here tonight are concerned that these proposals are going to make car travel less convenient. Well, I’m sorry but that’s kind of the point. “It needs to be less convenient or it won’t work.”

Zia Teshome told the New Journal after the meeting that she supported the LTN and wanted to see an end to “gas-guzzling cars” speeding up to Highgate during the school run

She said: “The local primary school my children attend all seem to have growing numbers of pupils developing asthma frequently, especially those crossing Dartmouth Park Hill Road.  We don’t want another victim of pollution like Ella Kissi-Debrah (the child who died in Lewisham because of air pollution).”

A warning sign tells contributors they have 15 seconds left to speak

But Nick Bradfield from the Dartmouth Park Residents Association told the meeting: “I live in a large one-bedroom flat in Dartmouth Park Road. I’m not a celebrity or a KC and I’m proud to live in Dartmouth Park Road for the past 30 years.

“I’m not aware of what or who inspired Camden to undertake this new traffic exercise or how much council tax has wasted, similar exercises have taken place every five to 10 years. Traffic proposals have always been strongly opposed by the majority of residents.”

He added: “There is a simple solution to a problem, cease the project now, reallocate funding to something useful and never ever again come back with such a scheme.”

Edward Stanners from the Pond Square Residents’ Association said the beginnings of the proposals were held in an “undemocratic” and “disgusting fashion”.

Mr Stanners said: “We are not NIMBYs. Many of us do not own cars. In my terrace there are six houses, three have cars three don’t so we’re not big car-users but that doesn’t change the fact that this scheme is flawed.”

He asked the floor to raise their hands if they think there are “far too few council officers here”. Nearly everyone put their hand up. And he also asked if people would be prepared to contribute £10 for a judicial review into the process. Some people raised their hand in support.

William Britain, chair of the Highgate Society, said: “With a consultation in summer holidays that many said they never received information about, and the refusal of an extension in spite of 3,000 people signing our petition. Residents see that something is not right.”

Susan Rose of the Highgate Conservation Area Advisory Committee said: “The scheme may perhaps benefit Dartmouth park, but there’s been no clear data exactly pinpointing what those benefits were, apart from a picture of children dancing in the streets and old ladies, like me, chatting. “The traffic burden will undoubtedly increase.”

St Mary Brookfield Church gives out free lunches to vulnerable people and hosts a night shelter for people experiencing homelessness.

Its vicar Damien Mason said: “We are seriously concerned that we’re going to be cut off from the east side of our church. I have serious concerns about the impacts on our specific community, especially for the vulnerable, the elderly and disabled who use all of our services.”

Meanwhile, a York Rise resident speaking at the meeting feared that reduced access to the hospital could be dangerous.  “In 1995 my six-weeks-old baby fell off his pram and cracked his head on the steps of a neighbour’s house,” they said.

“I bundled him in my car and drove at a speed of lightning all the way to the Whittington hospital via York Rise, Crofton Road up to Highgate library into Magdala Avenue. I arrived there in 90 seconds. He’s alive today. That saved his life.”

Another attendee, who has MS and uses a wheelchair, said there was no mention of what the roads and pavements will be like for people in wheelchairs and buggies.