Quietway 7 proposals

Update 9th March: this scheme has now been put on hold, pending the outcome of any future estate-wide traffic scheme to be implemented in place of the previously-proposed low traffic neighbourhood.

Westminster City Council has recently released proposals for a cycling quietway from Hyde Park to Camden. Whilst this is being described as a new cycling route, in reality it is parts of existing cycling routes joined together and improved. It follows on from original plans for a cycling “grid” in Westminster, originally consulted on in 2016.

Outline of proposals

This particular proposal is for a route from Hyde Park (at the east end of North Carriage Drive) to Bryanston Square, via Stanhope Place, Connaught Square, Porchester Place, Kendal Street and George Street. This is shown in the map below:

Details

Full details of the proposal are contained on the Council’s website (including detailed drawings). To save you trawling through pages of technical details, we have summarised the main changes below.

Improved cycling contraflow on Stanhope Place

The biggest impact of the proposals for the Hyde Park Estate concern Stanhope Place. For the bicyclists crossing the Bayswater Road from Hyde Park, and for vehicles leaving Connaught Square to join the Bayswater Road, Stanhope Place is very narrow and tricky. Despite having a right-of-way it seems like bicyclists are going the wrong way down a one-way street which can at times be frustrating for both bicyclists and vehicle drivers. Under the plan the road space would be widened to allow much more room. Six residents parking places would be relocated to Connaught Square, Porchester Place and Norfolk Crescent. (Note the motorcycle parking bay in Norfolk Crescent would be lost to maintain residents parking.)

It is proposed to relocate car parking to facilitate a better 2-way cycling route

Improved pavement around Connaught Square

The other main impact is the improvement of the pavement around Connaught Square, which will result in the loss of some paid parking spaces. Those who frequently walk along Connaught Street between Edgware Road and the village will be familiar with the difficulty of traversing this route by foot:

The road is wide and difficult to cross, the pavements are narrow

The proposal is to bring the paving out further into the road and “square it” in a similar manner to the opposite corner on the west side. A wider pavement is proposed for the north side of the square.

Diagram showing the proposed changes around Connaught Square

Other changes

The scheme also proposes a number of other changes to try and improve walking routes and slow traffic. These include:

Widened pavement at the junction of Portsea Place and Connaught Street
Widened pavement at the junction of Porchester Place and Connaught Street
Raised table and wider pavements at the junction of Porchester Place and Kendal Street
Raised table and wider pavements at the junction of Stanhope Place and Seymour Street
Raised table for the existing zebra crossing on Connaught Street (east end)

A raised table and wider pavements are proposed for a number of junctions including this one

Changes to parking

Any changes to parking are mainly a consequence of the Stanhope Place and Connaught Square proposals summarised above. There are other changes to improve road safety at junctions and pedestrian crossings that are fully detailed in the Council’s proposals. The table below summarizes the changes to parking by location.

Stanhope Place	Reduction of 6 residents’ parking places. Relocation of disabled bay to opposite side of road.
Connaught Square	Addition of 4 residents’ bays outside number 30. Reduction in 3 pay bays on north-east corner. Relocation of residents’ bays from north-west corner to north-east corner.
Porchester Place	1 additional resident parking bay.
Norfolk Crescent	Replacement of motorcycle bay with 2 new residents’ parking bays.
Seymour Street	Relocation of shared-use parking to outside Victory Services Club. Shortening of residents’ parking bay on north side by 3.5 metres.

Detailed drawings

For those interested in the specifics, we’ve pulled out the detailed “before” and “after” drawings for the Hyde Park Estate:

Stanhope Place	Current	Proposed
Connaught Square (south)	Current	Proposed
Connaught Square (north)	Current	Proposed
Kendal Street	Current	Proposed
Norfolk Crescent	Current	Proposed

Have your say

What do you think of these proposals? Let us know by leaving a comment below. You can also respond formally to the council by emailing tmo.westminster@wspgroup.com quoting reference7567/LH, by 27th January 2021.