First projects delivered in Camden Council's Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood project
Camden Council has started to build the first set of projects under the transformational Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood, working in partnership with Transport for London.
This major project invests in the Holborn area to make it safer to get about, greener and less polluted.
At Camden, we have long wanted to give Holborn the investment it deserves. We have brought in a number of permanent transport safety improvements over the last few years. In February 2024, we announced plans for further enhancements and launched the Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood scheme.
Excitingly, we have already started delivering “STARter” projects in the area, including at Keeley Street and Red Lion Street.
We want to transform Holborn into a place for people with attractive, healthy, accessible and safe streets for everyone, with cleaner air and more plants and trees, in new and improved spaces. To this end, we have been engaging with residents, businesses and community groups to better understand how they would like to see the Holborn area.
In this time, the council has engaged with over 1,050 people and received over 3,000 useful insights through a combination of focus groups, pop up sessions and online responses.
Feedback included a request for well-maintained new public spaces, that are inclusive and accessible but also creative and unique to the area. Respondents also asked that we provide information and evidence that any plans will not negatively impact on traffic in the wider area.
Councillor Harrison continued:
“We are continuing to undertake further targeted engagement with a range of local groups. Everyone with an interest in this scheme can share their comments online.
“Recently we talked directly to a range of people we didn’t hear much from in our engagement last summer. This including Coram’s Field Future Girls, LSE women’s entrepreneurs, Dragon Hall teens, Holborn Mosque, South Asian women’s group, the local homeless soup kitchen, LSE BME Mentoring, and Camden Disability Action.
Everyone can still share their comments online: Have Your Say Today - Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood - Commonplace
“We also had a range of focused conversations with people with vision impairments, sensory and physical disabilities. It is vital to us that we hear from as many voices with different experiences as possible so that our proposals reflect improvements for the whole Holborn community.
“We will be sharing our draft designs for the wider scheme as part of a full public consultation, expected to be next year. In the meantime, we have produced this video which summarises our plans and the engagement feedback received.”
James Stewart, Director of Urban Symbiotics our engagement consultant said:
“Last year’s engagement for Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood was a great opportunity to bring together residents, businesses, and visitors to shape a more inclusive and people-friendly Holborn. We’re excited to continue working with Camden on more targeted engagement, making sure local voices help drive the area’s transformation.”
The scheme is in the heart of London and was approved by Transport for London (TfL) in 2019 under their Liveable Neighbourhood Programme. The project is expected to cost around £40m and will be funded from a range of sources including TfL funding, council capital investment, s106 and third-party contributions.
Everyone can still share their comments online: Have Your Say Today - Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood - Commonplace