The clutter outside Holborn tube station could be cleared away, and the British Museum entrance pedestrianised, under plans outlined by Camden Council for £40 million of street improvements.
The Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood, as it is being called, was approved by Transport for London (TfL) in 2019 under their Liveable Neighbourhood Programme. The project is expected to cost around £40 million and will be funded from a range of sources, including TfL funding, council capital investment, s106 and third-party contributions.
Initial ideas include a new people-focused public space on New Oxford Street, segregated cycle lanes and public space improvements on Theobalds Road, and a Healthy Hospital Street along Great Ormond Street. There’s also a plan being looked at to restrict traffic outside the front of the Britsh Museum so there’s more space for pedestrians.
Early concept for British Museum entrance (c) Camden Council
One of the ideas being explored outside Holborn tube station could see the kiosks in front of the entrance moved away, which would help considerably reduce congestion on a very busy pavement space.
Early concept for Holborn tube station entrance (c) Camden Council
The consultation is in its early stages, but preliminary details are here.
There will be public exhibitions:
- 19th Feb: 10am-4pm at Red Lion Street
- 20th Feb: 12pm-7pm at Holborn tube station
- 21st Feb: 12pm-6pm at Leather Lane
- 23rd Feb: 12pm-6pm at Great Russell Street
- 26th Feb: 9am-12pm at HCA Under 5 group
- 6th March: 4pm-6pm at HCA Steam Tybalds Estate
- 7th March: 4pm-6pm at HCA Steam Bourne Estate
…and some more to be added later.
It’d be nice to have that pedestrianised, it’s really too crowded at the moment to be safe. But it’s also one of the few Eastbound routes to Southampton Row avoiding Holborn, and also a loading entrance to the British Museum is there. So the emergency services would need to assess the impact of this closure were it to happen.
Proposals like this don’t get released for public consultation without the emergency services first being consulted and their comments incorporated.
Would be great to pedestrianise the road outside the British Museum. When it’s raining, and there’s long queues snaking around the block for the entrance, and those snack vendors standing everywhere, and taxis rushing past, it’s horrible.
This would be a great improvement on the present deeply unsatisfactory situation for pedestrians.
It is disappointing that the station itself (obviously not the responsibility of Camden Council) remains unchanged. I never understood the choice of Elizabeth line stations – bypassing any connection with the Piccadilly (and Victoria) line.
Probably because it was too much of a diversion from the Liverpool St – Farringdon – TCR route.
Plus costs of building another station
Plus it would have been too close to TCR.
Crossrail / Lizzie wasn’t meant to connect with every other tube line. Plus the more stops the slower it becomes
Looks fantastic! Such a nicer and safer environment than the area used to be in the past. Seen a few near-misses between pedestrians and cars around there.
Hmm, where to start? Holborn is my local station (for work) and I’ll be there again tomorrow. I’ve worked all over London, from Bow to Brent and Southwark to Islington, but it’s the crappiest area I’ve ever had to navigate. There is a massive homelessness problem (Westminster seems not to have the issue despite CentrePoint the charity being in the area), business rubbish and street clutter everywhere (not just the awful tatty greengrocers), poor traffic control, etc etc. Highly amused to read, on the link, “We want the air you’re breathing to be cleaner” – indeed, so maybe not great to push all the cars displaced by the Strand scheme into Kingsway?!
But yes to anything that improves Great Russell Street and the BM entrance, which is an embarrassment frankly for a world class museum. Perhaps Camden were reading my blog 2 years ago when I called for the same thing: https://www.chrismrogers.net/post/what-s-british-about-the-british-museum
Camden council have spent hundreds of millions on Holborn over the years and it is still a mess.
Closing off roads to cars, banning left and right turns and narrowing junctions seems to be their main priority all to enable cyclists a clear path and supposedly to give pedestrians more space. Camden have a history of anti motoring policies this is just another scheme to add to the
list.