Camden Council has unveiled plans for redesigning several streets in Holborn as part of its “Liveable Neighbourhood” initiative. And the designs are a far cry from paint on the corner of the road and wide traffic lanes.
The proposals have been drawn up in response to residential surveys and are themselves still open to further consultation. But the draft sketches have been warmly received by the London Cycling Campaign and praised for their ambition.
Southampton Place Future plan (credit: Camden Council)
Camden’s new plans for Holborn are mind-blowingly good: https://t.co/TMRbZYS7yL
Major changes for Theobalds Rd, Southampton Row, Kingsway, High Holborn & further afield. New Oxford Street & Great Ormond St plans look like big changes for better!
Kudos Cllr @AdamDKHarrison 👏 pic.twitter.com/e7mgkR0yKr
— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) November 7, 2025
The Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood campaign aims “to transform Holborn into a place for people with attractive, healthy, accessible and safe streets for everyone” which includes “clean air, more plants and trees, and beautiful new and improved spaces. We want it to be easy and fast to get around by sustainable and healthy types of transport.”
The project was first launched in February 2024 and feedback and suggestions remains open on the final plans until the summer of 2026. A further consultation on whether to implement those final plans will then be drawn up. The plans are also being part-funded by Transport for London.
Kingsway future plan (credit: Camden Council)
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The majority of proposals involve either narrowing lanes, making streets one way, or pedestrianising them altogether. Camden Council has also produced detailed factsheets summarising and justifying the changes.
Support for reforming Holborn’s road network is not new, a majority of residents both within and outside the Holborn area supported a council proposal to overhaul a gyratory junction where cyclists have been killed. That initiative was approved in 2022. Under these proposals, that street layout would be changed once again.
High Holborn future plan (credit: Camden Council)
There is not a strict timetable for the possible implementation of these proposals but it is hoped that the constant consultation window means that support for these street designs can be maintained in some form.
The proposals will also form part of the Borough-wide cycle network that Camden Council has committed to implementing by 2041 and will utilise “existing main road corridors” and a secondary cycle network of quieter, residential streets. That wider plan is also subject to central government funding and HS2 Road Safety Funds.