The City of London Corporation is to explore potentially restricting most vehicles from accessing a street by the Barbican as part of a wider neighbourhood improvement scheme.
By Ben Lynch
The City of London Corporation is to explore potentially restricting most vehicles from accessing a street by the Barbican as part of a wider neighbourhood improvement scheme.
The Corporation’s Bunhill, Barbican and Golden Lane Healthy Neighbourhood Plan (HNP), on which it has worked with Islington Council, outlines the potential to introduce the restriction to Beech Street.
Exemptions would apply to some vehicles including buses, with access to also be retained to the car park and forecourts entrances and exits and the Barbican Centre loading bays.
A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said the proposals “will enhance the world-class cultural identity of the Barbican Centre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, by making streets safer and more pleasant places to spend time”.
The Bunhill, Barbican and Golden Lane HNP is the latest in a series of healthy streets plans progressed by the Corporation.
The purpose of such plans is to provide a framework for improving areas across the Square Mile, with a particular focus on air quality and people walking, wheeling and spending time locally. These range from traffic restrictions to new crossing facilities and additional tree planting.
Islington Council has also been involved with this HNP due to it incorporating the Bunhill ward.
An 18-month Zero Emissions Scheme trial was run on Beech Street for much of 2020 and 2021, under which all petrol and diesel vehicles were banned.
Corporation members however chose not to resurrect the project, for reasons including it proving polarising among locals and some drivers not understanding the signage, impacting activities such as deliveries and taxi journeys.
It was following this that the Corporation teamed up with Islington to tackle traffic and pollution through the Healthy Neighbourhood Programme.
The draft HNP for Bunhill, Barbican and Golden Lane, which went to the Planning and Transportation Committee last week, detailed how a 2023 consultation found support for traffic restrictions, which may increase journey times but would provide more space for people cycling, walking and for trees and other planting.
A second consultation was carried out in 2024 on the draft HNP, indicating overall support.
For Beech Street, two options were presented. The consultation found more than 70 per cent of respondents preferred the option that restricted traffic in both directions.
Other proposals to receive support included improvements to Chiswell Street and exploring the closure of Golden Lane to through motor traffic at the junction with Beech Street.
On Beech Street, the draft HNP presented to Corporation members stated it will: “Explore the potential to introduce a restriction to through traffic on Beech Street in both directions between the junction with Aldersgate Street and the junction with Silk Street, except for buses, people cycling and access to the carpark (and forecourts) entrances and exits on Beech Street and the Barbican Centre loading bays.”
This is expected to deliver benefits including reducing the amount of traffic and allowing more people to walk and cycle.
Enforcement will be done via Automatic Numberplate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.
Common Councillor Deborah Oliver asked officers at the committee meeting about access to Beech Street for taxis and emergency service vehicles.
Bruce McVean, Assistant Director, Policy and Projects at the Corporation, confirmed there would be no prevention of emergency vehicles accessing the area, and that no issues of this kind had been identified during the previous trial.
Alderwoman Liz King voiced concerns about the limited plans for Aldersgate Street and Goswell Road, which she said “must be the most heavily, densely populated street in the entire City”.
“Almost anything that’s going on in this is likely to displace traffic onto Aldersgate Street where people have no respite from the traffic and the pollution, and I want to make sure that anything is modelled to look at the impacts on Aldersgate Street going forward beyond a few extra zebra crossings or whatever was proposed,” she said.
Mr McVean said wider public realm improvements will be considered.
He told the committee: “I think it may be a while before we’re in a position to do something about it, but we definitely have ambitions to look hard at those streets and what the opportunities might be for improvements as well.”
Members agreed to adopt the draft HNP. Maps will now be finalised with a PDF to be uploaded onto the Corporation website.
A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said: “The City Corporation’s Healthy Neighbourhood Plans are improving the quality of the Square Mile’s streets and public spaces, for residents, workers and visitors alike.
“For Bunhill, Barbican and Golden Lane, the proposals will enhance the world-class cultural identity of the Barbican Centre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, by making streets safer and more pleasant places to spend time.”
