The Heath continues to grow in popularity, with over seven
million visitors each year. This intensity of use inevitably means
that the City of London Corporation, which owns and manages the
Heath at no cost to any taxpayer, has a major duty to seek to
ensure that the Heath is as safe as possible for its users.
The new proposed section of track runs along the southern and
eastern edges of the existing cricket field. The track will be
approximately three metres wide and 200 metres long. Essential
Heath support vehicles such as contractors and postal vans will
travel at a maximum speed of 5mph on the track. Most Heath staff
will be required to park at the Lido and walk to their offices as
the number of parking spaces at the Parliament Hill staff office
will be cut to two.
Altering the layout of access routes to Parliament Hill will in
no way mean more vehicles on the Heath, but rather will ensure area
is made safer for all users.
Consultation
The proposal has the “in principle” support of Camden's Highway
Officers and was generally supported in the consultation.
In 2007 the City of London Corporation produced a new management
plan for Hampstead Heath. This involved a large consultation
process with local, regional and special interest groups. The
consultation highlighted the fact that the Parliament Hill Triangle
has become an extremely important gateway to the whole Heath for
millions of visitors and potential visitors and also an area of
possible conflict between pedestrians and motorised vehicles.
The City of London Corporation’s works hard to make the Heath
safer for all users as well as to ensure that the day to day
operation of the Heath runs smoothly. Managing a site as large as
Hampstead Heath does necessitate City staff and external
contractors using motorised vehicles, the aim of this project is to
reduce the risks that have been identified.
To address this issue, in Part 1 of the Heath Strategic
Management Plan there are several references to the importance of
improving safety for Heath visitors. Specifically Essential Action
A10 states we must “review pedestrian entry points and the conflict
between pedestrians and delivery vehicles (especially at Parliament
Hill depot).”
Although the Plan looked at all aspects of Heath usage, given
that the Parliament Hill area has the highest number of visitors
(between 3-4 million pedestrian movements have been recorded per
annum), is a focal point for sporting activities and close to
communities of deprivation, it was considered to be one of the most
urgent issues to address.
Since then the City Corporation has produced a Masterplan,
detailing proposed future improvements to the Parliament Hill
Triangle. This has been produced in conjunction with our Heath
partners and following the usual rigorous consultation process.
Overall the results of the consultation identified significant
support for all the main principles of the Masterplan, with 84% of
respondents giving a rating of between 3 and 5 where 5 is totally
agree and 1 is totally disagree. It is important to emphasise that
one of the key issues that the City is seeking to address with the
proposed changes is improved accessibility and safety for
Heath users rather than convenience for staff.
Currently the main vehicular access point to Parliament Hill is
off Highgate Road, which is the busiest pedestrian access point
onto the Heath (there are in excess of 3,500 pedestrian movements
each day). In 2003 there was a fatality at Golders Hill Park
involving a collision between a contractor’s vehicle and an elderly
man on a shared access route. Therefore the segregation of vehicles
and pedestrians was considered to be a key objective.
Summary of the proposals
The proposals can be understood as follows:
- Having explored a number of alternatives, the creation of an
access way for service vehicles from Gordon House Road to the rear
of the staff Depot, utilising the existing access way and the
construction of a new pedestrian access path was considered the
most appropriate design and engineering solution to make the
Parliament Hill area safer for pedestrians.
- The only “new” section of track runs along the southern and
eastern edges of the existing cricket field. The track will be
approximately 3 metres wide and 200 metres long. Essential heath
support vehicles such as contractors and postal vans will travel at
a maximum speed of 5mph on the track.
- As part of the overall Masterplan we plan to reduce the
operational aspects such as storage and diesel tanks from the Depot
at Parliament Hill. They will be moved to a more appropriate
location off Hampstead Lane where they will have access off a main
road without pedestrian access issues. We also propose using
existing buildings as the headquarters for Heath administration
which will hopefully improve services to Heath users (these offices
are currently located in the Archway Road).
- There is one access point from Lissenden Gardens that already
crosses and will continue to cross this service route. With careful
design the City believes that appropriate measures can be made to
accommodate a safe pedestrian entrance (there is a similar
situation at Golders Hill Park that has operated effectively). Such
a solution needs in any event to be found, whether or not the
proposed service vehicle access route is implemented.
To help clarify further exactly what is proposed the Chairman of
the Hampstead Heath Management Committee is going to hold a site
meeting at 10.00am on the 14 February 2009, starting at the Lido
car park to walk the route and explain the proposals. Readers are
most welcome to attend.