‘It is sad that the council has not been able to follow through on this objective when it comes to Queen’s Crescent’

• SO Camden Council has decided to permanently close Queen’s Crescent to through traffic.

In anticipation, we have submitted complaints to Camden Council and the Greater London Authority over their failure to properly consider the impact on residents and businesses in coming to this decision, and hope that there will be the opportunity to review it.

Life has been made particularly difficult for the elderly and those who find it hard to travel around without a car. Taxis and delivery vehicles now avoid the area, and we are more isolated and cut off.

Decision-making by these two authorities has been far from democratic. Consultation following the trial of the road closure showed 80 per cent of respondents against it. This is because of the disruption to everyday life and to local businesses, and increased traffic on side roads.

However, Camden haven’t listened to what people have told them and are pushing through with the proposal regardless. Camden Council states they want to improve air quality and make cycling easier.

They could justify the closure of any road on this basis. Cycling was not difficult in our area before the road closure, and air quality has got worse on the residential side streets.

Nowhere else in the borough has a commercial street such as Queen’s Crescent been made into a so-called “Low Traffic Neighbourhood”. The concept is always to close rat-runs on residential streets.

We wonder what Camden’s true objective is. Do they think that by cutting the community into two we are going to be easier to gentrify?

Ironically the Greater London Authority’s objective in awarding Camden Council £1.1million in 2018 was to empower local residents.

London mayor Sadiq Khan, said: “I am using this funding to challenge preconceptions about how regeneration takes place. I want to give all Londoners – regardless of background – the opportunity to be actively involved in their city and have more places to live, learn, work and play.”

It is sad that the council has not been able to follow through on this objective when it comes to Queen’s Crescent.

It is possible to improve the public realm in Queen’s Crescent without stopping through traffic, as shown in the initial co-designed proposal that included traffic calming measures and tree planting.

NEIGHBOURS OF WEST KENTISH TOWN, NW5