Busy junction outside Camden Town Tube set for a revamp

Published: 18 March 2010
by DAN CARRIER

IT is a busy thoroughfare where people jostle for space, seeing ­hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. But now the Britannia Junction – the traffic islands and pavements around Camden Town Tube station – is set for a £900,000 revamp that will make it safer and more pleasant.

The plans, unveiled yesterday (Wednesday) include planting a tree at the pinnacle of the pavement looking down Camden High Street, and removing railings previously thought to make the roads safer.

The funding has come from Transport for London (TfL) and will be completed in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Camden Town Unlimited business group chief Simon Pitkeilthy, who has been lobbying to make the busy areas of Camden Town more ­pedestrian friendly, said: “This is part of a bigger plan we put in place in 2007. 

“Getting rid of barriers on our streets makes everyone behave ­better, from pedestrians to drivers. The junction is so complicated at the moment, with all that extra street furniture.”

And Conservative environment chief Chris Knight added: “We have recently completed a similar project in Camden High Street North, also known as the ‘Naked High Street’. The project has been a pioneering, successful scheme which has seen the high street transformed into an attractive, pleasant and safe space for all who use it. We look forward to rolling the success of this scheme out even further.”