Bedford Row [Mike Quinn_CC BY-SA 2.0]

• BELOW are my thoughts on proposed changes in Camden (Prescribed Routes) (No. 4) Traffic Order 2022 to my favourite street.

Very few pedestrians cyclists or vehicles use Bedford Row except for access to neighbouring residences and businesses. So why is there a need to provide extra footways and cycle lanes?

Residents’ parking will be at a premium. All residents’ parking (often shared use) in the area is full during a working week, where will the displaced cars go?

Local road closures over the past few years have resulted in residents with cars feeling trapped in an enclave. I use my car to transport the elderly and disabled to appointments and shopping.

Driving to and from a suitable pick-up area will involve nearly a mile extra driving. This is approximately 800 grams of extra CO₂ emissions a week for just one car.

Quotes from an English Heritage document: “The broad, tree-lined, and essentially elegant Bedford Row is said to be one of the best places in London where one might go to gain a good impression of early 18th-century street architecture … it is a street which remains essentially Georgian, described by Ralph in 1734 as ‘one of the noblest … that London has to boast’.”

It is, too, a street which reflects a particularly interesting phase in the development of the modem capital.

Why ruin a piece of historical London at a high cost when it will be of no benefit to anyone and detrimental to many?

I hope that the above observations are worth sharing with others.

ALTEA WALKER, WC1