Background
The London Borough of Camden commissioned Project Centre to develop a Freight and Services Action Plan (FSAP) for Kilburn High Road. This is a key area of the broader regeneration efforts for Kilburn, which will be developed in partnership with the London Borough of Brent. These works included proposals to widen footways and introduce protected cycle facilities, which would reduce the space available for vehicles using the High Road to service business premises there.
Currently, Kilburn High Road is a car-dominated environment, with a poor road safety record and high traffic congestion levels. With over 300 businesses on Kilburn High Road, it was important to consider how they can continue operating within the wider project’s constraints. Given the number of businesses, and the fact that the High Road is used by eight bus services and 1,000 cyclists every weekday, the plan required a high level of detail to consider the variety of users of the High Road. The FSAP was produced to assess existing loading activity on the High Road and its 30 side roads and to develop solutions to accommodate the needs of local businesses.
Process
Phase one – Extensive data analysis, community and stakeholder engagement
In the early phase, our approach centred around information gathering. Project Centre:
- Analysed a loading survey commissioned by the Council. This contained data on all vehicular activity on Kilburn High Road over seven days
- Comprehensively analysed this data allowing us to calculate hotspots of loading and unloading. Also determining which side roads were already experiencing high levels of servicing activity, where on the High Road vehicles were already loading or unloading, the types of vehicles used and the length of stay
- Undertook an in-person engagement exercise with over 100 businesses. It helped better understand the nature of their servicing requirements and typical loading activity
- Through our bespoke survey, we collected information on the frequency of deliveries. As well as the nature and size, and the type of vehicles they typically use
Phase two – Suggesting sustainable transport improvements
The second phase of the work entailed using our findings from the data analysis. We use these to suggest improvements to loading facilities in line with Transport for London (TfL) Kerbside Loading Guidance. These improvements included:
- New loading bays on the side roads
- Changes to the hours of loading and waiting restriction on Kilburn High Road
Using the discussions we had with businesses, we also had several responsive recommendations such as location where we needed loading pads on the High Road itself, to acknowledge that not all businesses could service their premises from side roads.
Our outputs
Over the course of the project, we:
- Conducted a comprehensive analysis of complex data on vehicular activity on Kilburn High Road
- Created a bespoke survey to engage with local businesses on their loading and servicing requirements
- Produced a set of tailored recommendations as part of the FSAP
- Produced a high-level design of the proposed loading provision on the High Road and its side roads, for integration with a detailed design
- Facilitated the dissemination of findings through engaging visual presentation with key internal stakeholders
Outcome
We incorporated our interventions into the detailed design of the regeneration work where feasible, as the London Boroughs of Camden and Brent collaborate on improving the pedestrian environment on Kilburn High Road, whilst helping it to continue functioning as a key town centre in the area.
“In this relatively new field of developing local Freight and Servicing Action Plans, Project Centre did a great job in providing me with a hyper-local analysis of what deliveries and servicing activity is going on in the town centre.”
Katie Dickson, Principal Transport Planner, London Borough of Camden
