• THIS must be the worst time in history to be narrowing pavements and forcing pedestrians to walk in close proximity to each other and yet this is just what Camden Council has done.

The pavement on one side of Lansdowne Terrace has been narrowed by heavy barriers to 1.2metres. This allows about 0.2m gap (one-tenth of the safe distance) between passing pedestrians.

On most pavements you can step out on to the road but the barriers make this impossible. There is no helpful notice saying what the works are about. It could be pavement “improvements” (the word the council loves to use for any change, regardless of its impact).

Or it could be the changes to Brunswick Square, long since threatened by the council, in spite of local opposition. Either way it is not urgent, not necessary, and, in large part, a waste of much-needed public funds.

It is causing workers to commute to the site, increasing the risk of infection to themselves and others; and causing local people to have to walk closely to each other, increasing the risk to their health.

So, who is pushing for this work to be done, regardless of the risk to health, now at this acutely dangerous time? Is it to the financial advantage of the contractors? Or the council? Or does it just please the council to progress with speed another vanity project?

I don’t know who benefits from this ill-judged, untimely, and dangerous work. But it is certainly not in the interests of residents.

I am afraid this is not the first time that hidden interests are prioritised over the health and wellbeing of local people.

NICKY COATES
Co-Chair
Bloomsbury Residents’ Action Group