Hampstead Road walking and cycling changes

In July 2020, as an emergency response to the pandemic, we made a series of temporary changes to help vulnerable people to walk, cycle and use the bus on Hampstead Road. The scheme was a temporary emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic.

We introduced temporary pop-up cycle facilities on Hampstead Road, Oakley Square, Lidlington Place and Harrington Square to help protect those people choosing to cycle.

This page provides you with information on what has happened so far with the scheme, and our plans, including for engagement and consultation.

What effects has the scheme had so far?

We’ve monitored the effects of the scheme, and we’ve made it possible for local people and other stakeholders to tell us about their experiences of it. Our monitoring has shown that the scheme has been a success: in November 2022 for example, we found that around 1,500 people a day were cycling on Hampstead Road. This number will clearly grow in the spring and summer.

We’ve prepared a short report to explain the effects we have seen so far.

Continuing to support active travel on Hampstead Road

Local people will know that HS2 has been undertaking works on Hampstead Road, and these works will continue. We are working with HS2 to ensure people are aware of the disruption and can plan ahead. Some cyclists may prefer to avoid Hampstead Road while these works are ongoing, and we are also working with HS2 to ensure there are safe alternative routes for cyclists. HS2 will publish details of an alternative route (for those cyclists who prefer to use it) in due course. Other people may wish to continue to cycle along Hampstead Road however, for example because it is a more direct route. It's important that we support these people and ensure that they can use Hampstead Road safely and easily. This will mean that we need to make some changes to the current scheme.

We used what’s called a Temporary Traffic Order to make it possible to make changes to Hampstead Road originally. Traffic orders make it legally possible for us to make certain changes to roads. The current order will expire later this year. We’ll need shortly to make a new traffic order, and you may see a notice to this effect in the local press shortly: if you wish to comment you can do so by following the instruction in the notice.

Changes to the current scheme

The new order will allow us to make the changes to the current scheme that are necessary to support cyclists who will continue using Hampstead Road while the HS2 works are ongoing. There are maps available to illustrate what changes we will be making, but broadly speaking the key changes we’ll be making to the existing scheme are:

• Reinstating the banned left turn from Oakley Square into Eversholt Street
• Banning the right turn from Oakley Square into Eversholt Street
• Allowing motorcyclists to access the southbound bus lane on Hampstead Road
• Introducing an area of shared space close to the junction of Mornington Crescent (south) and Hampstead Road (south). The new shared space will help people cycling to access the southbound bus lane on Hampstead Road

We plan to begin constructing these changes later in the Spring, but we will keep local people informed of our plans as they become more developed.

Next steps

In the longer term, and once the HS2 works on Hampstead Road are complete, we will look again at how best we can support everyone who uses Hampstead Road. It might be necessary to propose further changes to keep everyone safe, but we will consult you before deciding whether or not to make any changes.