‘Highgate West Hill will become a major arterial road for traffic going to the north of London’

• WITH Camden and Islington councils planning road closures as part of the so-called Dartmouth Park Healthy Neighbourhood scheme, remarkably little research has been done on how this will affect surrounding streets.

If both Dartmouth Park Hill and Swains Lane are closed, Highgate West Hill will become a major arterial road for traffic going to the north of London.

It’s not hard for people who currently use this already severely congested road to imagine what the impact of that will be.

For one thing Highgate West Hill wasn’t built to withstand heavy traffic and it’s already literally buckling under the pressure.

Its distinctive geology means that roadworks are a constant, with the differential movement of the strata of Bagshot Sands, Claygate Beds and London Clay creating cracks in pipes and other services that need to be constantly repaired.

Indeed I can reveal that an FOI, freedom of information, request has shown that roadworks on the carriageway – not even including works to the footpath – of Highgate West Hill were taking place for 270 days between August 2023 and July 2024 alone.

This is a problem that can only get worse if any of the surrounding roads are closed, creating more congestion and pollution, alongside massive delays to buses and the termination of the 214 bus at Parliament Hill.

How does this make sense to anyone?

I absolutely support Camden and Islington’s wish to reduce carbon emissions, but why propose changes that will increase emissions and pile further pressure on roads that can’t sustain more traffic?

At the very least please can we have more research, more consultation and more time to understand and debate the impact these potentially damaging proposals will have?

EDMUND COULTHARD, N6