Improvements to make St Peter’s people-friendly streets neighbourhood safer, greener and healthier

The St Peter’s scheme was introduced as Islington’s first people-friendly streets neighbourhood in July 2020.     

Earlier this year, the council published a monitoring report, which indicated that local people had enjoyed reduced traffic, less air pollution, and less speeding in its first six months.   

The report also revealed an increase in traffic in the Packington Estate, caused by motorists seeking to avoid a traffic filter on Prebend Street. The council is listening carefully to feedback from local people on all of its people-friendly streets, and recognises from this feedback that the issue has caused concern.   

In order to address this, the council is therefore making several adjustments to the St Peter’s people-friendly streets neighbourhood. These include:    

• Relocating the existing bus gate on Prebend Street to just west of the junction of Coleman Fields, and introducing a new filter at Coleman Fields. Both of these filters will be camera-enforced.    
• Removing an existing width restriction on Prebend Street, so that emergency services and larger vehicles can pass through these filters    
• Converting the existing shared-use parking bay on Basire Street into a loading bay for local businesses.  

Work on implementing these changes will start on Monday, 14 June, and is expected to be completed by Friday, 25 June. Residents living in the area will soon receive a letter about the changes.    More information is available on the council website's people-friendly streets pages.

Cllr Rowena Champion, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Transport, said: “People-friendly streets are at the heart of our ambition to create a fairer Islington, and make it easier than ever to walk and cycle, improve air quality, and make roads safer.   

“The council is listening to local people and we are more than willing to make changes to our people-friendly streets schemes where necessary. Those living in and around Packington Estate can expect better streets as a result of the alterations we are making in the St Peter’s people-friendly streets neighbourhood.    

“We are grateful to local people for raising this issue with us, and for their patience while we have considered the most effective way to address it.”     

Islington Council has so far introduced seven people-friendly streets neighbourhoods as 18-month trials, with full public consultations scheduled to take place approximately 12-months into each scheme so that local people can have their say on whether they should remain permanently.     

In order to allow for the changes to the St Peter’s trial to settle in, and to give local people sufficient chance to experience them, the public consultation for scheme will take place in September 2021.     

Public consultations on Islington’s other people-friendly streets neighbourhood trials will still take place approximately 12-months into each scheme as originally planned.  

In the meantime, local people are invited to have their say on people-friendly streets by filling in the council’s surveys on each scheme. These can be found on the council’s people-friendly streets webpage by clicking the link to the relevant scheme.       

Notes to editors    

People-friendly streets create a better borough and address the sharp rises in traffic that have been seen in recent years – with 24.3 million more miles being driven in Islington in 2019 than in 2013. The Covid-19 pandemic has made these measures more pressing, with research indicating that urgent action was needed to prevent further rises in traffic.        

The changes to the St Peter's neighbourhood will mean that residents living in the Arlington Square will have a different access route to the neighbourhood, via Essex Road.