The meeting scheduled for Friday 11 October 2024 was about whether to proceed with a scheme called ‘CE S382 Amhurst Road & Pembury Circus Transformation’. This was a proposal to reduce car traffic in Hackney Central by introducing a bus gate on Amhurst Road. The report also discussed how this would improve road safety, air quality, and travel times for public transport.

Amhurst Road & Pembury Circus Transformation

The main topic of discussion in the report pack was the ‘CE S382 Amhurst Road & Pembury Circus Transformation’.

The report pack describes how Hackney Central is undergoing a series of changes intended to support a growing population and provide ‘the new homes, workspaces, and facilities needed for a growing population’.

In 2022, Hackney Council was awarded £19 million by the Central Government¹ to deliver the 'Hackney Central Town Centre Strategy'. The strategy aims to create:

• 20,000sqm of improvements to streets and public spaces.
• 1,600sqm of new workspace.
• Improved digital access.
• Investment in the cultural ecosystem in the town centre, led by investment in Hackney Central Public Library.

The Council says that a key aim of the project is to improve pedestrian and cycle access in the town centre and reduce the impact of cars, noting that the area has up to 40,000 bus passengers every day and that the two central train stations have more passengers than ‘the entire city of Oxford’.

As part of this wider project, the report pack includes a proposal to introduce a bus gate on Amhurst Road between its junctions with Brett Road and Graham Road from 7am to 7pm.

The report pack says that this would improve safety, air quality, and would allow for ‘the planting of substantial numbers of mature trees and additional greenspace’.

The report pack says that the junction at Pembury Circus is one of the most dangerous in Hackney, and is one of the most polluted locations.

The report pack notes that:

The junction is one of the most dangerous in the borough - since 2020 there have been 44 people injured in collisions in the immediate area of Pembury Junction.

The pack proposes a redesign of the junction that would improve pedestrian access and safety, and a number of banned turns for cars to improve safety and traffic flow. The report also contains details of the traffic modelling that has been done to test the impact of the scheme on surrounding roads.

The pack goes on to explain the background to the scheme and how it would align with the council’s ‘Transport Strategy’ and ‘Town Centre Strategy’, saying that:

Introducing the proposals set out in the report would demonstrate the Council's commitment to making Hackney a more sustainable, greener, and safer borough by creating healthy neighbourhoods that are low-traffic or traffic-free, with a more pleasant residential environment suitable for an environmentally sustainable 21st-century lifestyle.

The pack contains details of other options that the council considered and rejected, such as ‘do nothing’ or ‘do minimum’, which would have meant simply making standard repairs to the existing infrastructure.

The report pack contains a full equality impact assessment (EQIA) and explains how this scheme would benefit different groups of people protected under the 2010 Equality Act.

The report pack says that because this project would lower car use, and improve conditions for walking and cycling, it would be positive for the whole population and ‘will, if anything, be disproportionately beneficial to people with protected characteristics’.

The report pack goes on to describe the consultations and public engagement sessions that the council has run on this topic, summarising the issues that people raised, such as the quality of cycling infrastructure and the need to mitigate the impact of the scheme on surrounding streets.

The report pack says that as a result of feedback from people with disabilities, the bus gate will be exempt for Blue Badge holders.

The pack contains detailed responses from the Council to the points that people made during the engagement sessions and explains the next steps in the statutory consultation process.

The report pack contains analysis of the impact the scheme would have on traffic flow, bus journey times, and air quality in the area, and includes a risk assessment that highlights the potential impact on surrounding streets as a key risk.

The pack contains detailed responses from the London Ambulance Service, the Metropolitan Police, TfL, and the London Cycling Campaign to the scheme proposals.

The report pack contains details of the financial implications of the scheme, and sets out the legal basis for the decision to be made.