• ERROR or incompetence? That is the question.

Camden consultations are myriad, on this and that, mostly (recently) piecemeal changes to the road network in central London.

They are not widely advertised and usually conducted online. Residents often only hear about them through word of mouth or Nextdoor, the neighbourhood social networking service.

The latest postal and online consultation by Transport for London and Camden is entitled “Proposed walking and cycling improvements – Farringdon area.”

One of these proposals is to close Frederick Street to motor traffic from King’s Cross Road. But Frederick Street is not in Farringdon. It’s in King’s Cross.

And the people who live nearby, in the neighbouring streets of Swinton, Acton, Wicklow, Britannia – who might in fact have something useful to say – were excluded from the very narrow “consultation area”.

There’s a street plan attached to the leaflet. It has misspellings – Fredrick not Frederick, Calthrope not Calthorpe – and the plan shows the route of Cycle Superhighway 6 accessing Frederick Street, when the proposed CS6 route uses Ampton Street.

So why these errors? Is it ignorance? Carelessness? Or simply a lack of local knowledge? But residents cannot respond meaningfully to a consultation where the circulated plan is inaccurate.

As for the proposed changes to Frederick Street, all the people who live in the affected area must be given an opportunity to express their views.

We have been in touch with the King’s Cross ward councillors. Cllr Jonathan Simpson acknowledges the errors and will “ask to see if the consultation can be extended.” But why is it up to residents to point out inaccuracies? Surely those concerned should be doing a better job?

DEBBIE RADCLIFFE
Chair, Bloomsbury Residents Action Group