The Planning Issues

Our aim is to try to reflect as closely as possible what the community tells us they want for Archway, so please Contact us.

Rebuilding or Regeneration

Who Should Develop the Site

Type and Scale of Redevelopment

Buildings and Open Space

Dominant Type of Accommodation

Types of Retail Units and Space

Other Types of Retail Unit (non-food)

Leisure and Community facilities

Public Transport

Road Layouts and the Roundabout

Strategic changes to improve the wider area

Public Transport

The area’s bus stand is currently behind the swimming pool. Moving it would free up that land for building and remove a nuisance to local residents. The bus stand could be moved as a whole, or different routes could be moved to different places.

Any traffic re-organisation scheme would be likely to involve moving bus stops in the surrounding area. Depending where they move to this could offer a chance to widen pavements in places with a lot of pedestrian traffic, such as the south side of the Junction Road.

Redevelopment options	Pros	Cons
Buses: the bus stand (currently behind pool).
Leave where it is	No building disruption.	Buses annoy residents at bottom of Girdlestone Estate. Buses leaving their engines running when standing cause pollution for the children in the garden of the Archway Early Years Centre in Vorley Road.
Move elsewhere:	Frees land on main site for redevelopment. This would remove buses from an area where they cause nuisance.	Bus routes currently starting and ending at Archway might have to be lengthened by one or two stops to reach the new bus stand(s).
a) Move northbound routes terminating at Archway to the space in front of the current Whittington Hospital entrance (after the entrance is relocated to Magdala Road). Possible bus numbers to use this space would be 390 and 41.	More convenient for the many visitors to the hospital who currently have a long walk or to catch another bus one stop up Highgate Hill. There would be no demolition of treasured local buildings. Bus drivers could use the hospital café.	Less space than current stand, so possibly requiring some reorganisation of bus routes or timetables. Possible noise impact inside hospital. (How good is their window glazing?) Buses would need re-timetabling to allow for the extra stop to their runs.
b) Move southbound routes terminating at Archway to somewhere south of the centre. Possible locations could include:	A new site could be chosen to make some interchanges more convenient, eg	Buses would need re-timetabling to allow for the extra one or two stops to their runs.
The disused petrol station site at the Tufnell Park tube station end of Junction Road, just north of the North London railway line, plus along Station Road (on the other side of the railway). Station Road carries very little traffic as it leads only to a small light industrial estate and, since the CPZ, is empty of parked cars. Possible bus numbers to use this alternative space would be the C11, W5, 143 and 263. The 17 and 4 could go either here or at the hospital.	- a bus stand on Junction Road and/or Station Road would be close to Tufnell Park tube station and also fit well with the idea of rebuilding the old Junction Road station which used to enable changes from the Gospel Oak to Barking branch of the North London Line to the Northern Line at Tufnell Park station.
Take some land from the Holloway Road edge of Whittington Park to create a bus stand. Converting the existing Monnery Road bus depot to a park by way of exchange of equivalent space.	- a bus stand by Whittington Park would facilitate bus interchanges with the with North London line (this might turn into an up-graded cross-London route for the Olympics).	If the Whittington Park space were used, it would mean the loss of a green space view from the Holloway Road. A bus stand (fumes) and park (people outdoors) are not ideal neighbours.
c) Replace most buildings currently on the island, with a new bus station (stand and stops).	Bus stand and stops not near residential area - minimises noise impact. If well designed this would be an opportunity for a fine new bus station if well designed.	It would reduce the area in centre of Archway available for either buildings or open space. It would mean losing the last part of ‘traditional’ Archway. This option is almost certainly only available if paid for by a large developer working on the whole site.
Tube	The location of the existing tube station is already ideally convenient for the area. This could be used as an added draw for those considering coming to the area.	The line which serves Archway is operating at and beyond capacity. Any increase in peak hour traffic (inevitable with new residents commuting to central jobs) should be discouraged as it will lead to problems such as the station being closed at some peak times to prevent overcrowding. Development encouraging use against the main flow, ie of office workers coming to Archway in the morning and leaving in the evening, would be a safer use of the line.

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