North Circular Road Walking and Cycling Scheme - An Update

I have been very keen to see improvements in walking and cycling along the North Circular Road. The footpaths and crossing points are often in bits here and the cycle lanes are unprotected and feel pretty hairy at times.

The Council opened a consultation on a proposed scheme between Amien Street and Dorset Street in December 2022 and have yet to produce a report on the consultation. I have pushed a lot for progress here. I don’t think it is acceptable that the Council have not come back to the members of the public yet who participated in the consultation on the promise of rapid progress.

However, I have received a few updates from the Council about the direction we are moving in. I will keep pushing to have this scheme officially commenced as soon as possible. Below is the report I recently received:

Dear Councillor Horner,

The project team acknowledges the frustration felt by members of the public and elected members in the delay in publishing the Public Consultation Report for the North Circular Road (Dorset Street Lower and Amiens Street)  walking & cycling scheme.

However over the last twelve months, due to new considerations directed from the NTA, the scheme has evolved  from an interim  (short-term) scheme with bollard protection to a more robust one that will provide a better quality, longer lasting and safer infrastructure. Therefore, the provision of civil works and the upgrade of the complex junctions along the route  requires greater  analysis and engineering design which takes longer to develop. Our Active Team also support this more robust approach for such a key route.

Simultaneously, on review of the submissions from the Public Consultation ( for the interim scheme) it was evident that there were a number of key recurring themes and issues raised, such as the need for improved segregation and protection for cyclists, the requirement for enhanced pedestrian safety and the need for better junction design for both pedestrians and cyclists.

Following all this, the design team determined the need to carry out a review of the design taking on board the submissions and this also provided the opportunity to provide more permanent infrastructure along the scheme to align with, as indicated above, new National Transport Authority (NTA) design guidance relating to pedestrian and cycle infrastructure, such as the NTA Rapid Build Advice Note (February 2023) and new Cycle Design Manual (September 2023).

In August 2023, Consultants Jacobs were appointed  to the new Active Travel Design Office and in October 2023 they commenced a review of everything. As part of the review process, site surveys, tree surveys and traffic modelling have been quickly undertaken. Appropriate changes are being proposed along the route such as the use of concrete kerbs/islands to segregate cyclists from traffic instead of bollards.

Significantly improved cyclist protection, bus stop islands  and controlled pedestrian crossing points are also proposed at the major junctions, in particular the Belvedere Road and Fitzgibbon Street junctions. The Consultants are currently working through the preparation of the revised design drawings and have prepared a detailed Feasibility and Option Selection Report which outlines the preferred option.

This report along  with the revised drawings will be issued to the NTA for their review and once approval is received it will  allow the publishing of the Public Consultation Report. The publication of the Report along with an updated design will provide  the public not only a summary of the submissions made but also demonstrate that these submissions were taken on board where feasible by providing updated drawings of the proposed scheme.  Assuming NTA approval, it is expected to have the report published by May/ June 2024 and we will then proceed to the next stage for what promises to be  much more sophisticated infrastructure for all users.

The Active Travel webpage will continue to provide further information and updates as this project progresses.