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Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 28 June 2007

Protesters gather outside the Town Hall to make their point about the new Kentish Town bus route

‘We’ll sit in roads to stop buses on this new route’

Protesters’ warning during town hall protest against backstreets service

Demostrators are preparing to sit in front of buses in order to stop a new route earmarked for backstreets in Kentish Town.
The 393, which runs from Stoke Newington to Holloway, is due to be extended across Camden to terminate in Chalk Farm. But people living along Leighton Road, Castle Road and Castlehaven Road say they do not want the bus to come down their streets.
Around 30 people gathered on the steps of the Town Hall in Judd Street on Tuesday morning to show their strength of feeling over the route to councillors on the Town Hall’s transport liason committee, which discusses transport issues with Transport for London.
Private bus company Arriva, which will take around £1.5 million extra each year from the route, plans to start the new service in mid-July.
Castlehaven residents association chairwoman Silla Carron said roads around her estate in south Kentish Town were already accident blackspots, and warned that having buses running down them regularly would put people’s lives in danger.
She said: “We have seen five accidents in the past 18 months. It has got to be stopped, and we’re prepared to sit in front of the buses if Transport for London push this through. Buses currently come round as they head towards their garages and they take the corner in such a way that they literally go on two wheels.”
Ms Carron said that the vast number of tenants on Castle Road and Castlehaven Road did not want the bus.
She added: “This is bureaucracy winning over democracy.”
The decision to run the new route was confirmed two weeks ago, despite a consultation that saw widespread anger against the plans.
Residents in Leighton Road say the street is too small to accommodate buses. Sue Prickett, of the Leighton Road Neighbourhood Association, said the street had traffic-calming measures and bans on lorries already because it was not suitable for large vehicles.
She said: “We have spent years trying to make this road safer. There is no room for buses. TfL have to recognise that.”
Labour councillor Pat Callaghan said the protesters would appeal directly to London Mayor Ken Livingstone and then on to central government if the decision was not reversed.
She said: “This is a case of TfL and bus companies putting profit before people.
“They are not listening, so we just have to shout louder.”
An alternative route which would see the buses head from Holloway along Agar Grove before turning towards Chalk Farm was a more sensible choice, she added.
She said: “This was a done deal before TfL asked anyone their views. It was simply a tick-box exercise.”
A TfL spokesman said the decision had been taken after asking residents’ views and the new route would link people living across Hackney, Islington and Camden with Kentish Town Tube and overground rail networks, providing a valuable link to trains.
“After careful review and consideration it has been found this is the best route for the bus extension to take,” the spokesman added.

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