Safer, Quieter Streets
for Queen’s Park
Queen’s Park is a lovely place to live. It’s walkable, full of families, small shops, parks and schools.
But many of our streets are now carrying far more traffic than they were ever designed for. Every day thousands of cars cut through the neighbourhood to avoid congestion on bigger roads.
That means:
busy residential streets
difficult crossings
unsafe routes for children
more noise and pollution
We think Queen’s Park should work first and foremost for the people who live here.
Our goal is simple:
calmer streets, safer crossings, and a neighbourhood where walking and cycling feel normal again.
What’s Happening on Our Streets
Many of the roads in Queen’s Park were laid out in the late 1800s. They were never meant to carry large volumes of through-traffic.
Today some streets see 10,000–13,000 vehicles a day.
A lot of that traffic isn’t local. It’s drivers cutting through the neighbourhood to avoid congestion elsewhere.
The result is something most residents recognise straight away:
rat-running through residential streets
fast traffic near schools
junctions that feel unsafe to cross
pavements crowded with parked cars
This affects everyone — whether you walk, cycle, take the bus, drive locally, or push a buggy.
Why It Matters
For many residents, the biggest issue is safety.
Children walking to school should not have to cross streams of traffic on residential streets.
Older residents should feel comfortable crossing the road to get to the shops.
Traffic also affects everyday quality of life:
parents rushing through traffic dragging a child to get them to school
noise from constant vehicle flow
air pollution
difficulty walking or cycling locally
streets that feel like shortcuts and motorways rather than neighbourhood spaces
We believe Queen’s Park should be a place where local streets feel calm and welcoming again.
What We’re Working Towards
We’re not trying to stop people getting around.
Most of us here drive sometimes, take taxis, or receive deliveries. That’s normal city life.
What we want is a neighbourhood where through-traffic sticks to the main roads, and residential streets feel like residential streets again.
That could include ideas like:
School streets at drop-off and pick-up times
Modal filters that stop rat-running while allowing access for residents
Safer crossings near busy junctions
Better walking and cycling routes for short local trips
20mph streets that actually feel like 20mph
These kinds of changes are already working well in many parts of London.
What can I do to make Queen’s Park more liveable?
If you’d like to help improve our local streets, you can:
Join the Queen’s Park Residents Association (it’s £8 a year) so you can attend meetings (in-person or zoom), speak up and demand better streets
If you live within the bounds of Queen's Park, you have a right to join and vote
You don’t need to attend in person - meetings and votes are available via Zoom
Email our Brent councillors and tell them you live in Queen’s Park, and support healthy streets, pedestrian safety and reduced congestion in Queen’s Park
Sign up to our low-traffic email list (below) to receive alerts about meetings, consultations and other opportunities to speak up on behalf of our community
Talk to your neighbours about our road safety issues, the potential for improvements and how they’d make our community better
Help collect more data. If you live facing one of the congested roads, you can collect and publish traffic data using a device like a Telraam S2. It counts car and pedestrian traffic without recording video, and it publishes the results online. This can be useful, objective information for public consultations and planning.
The more residents who take part, the better the outcome will be.
Common Questions
“Won’t traffic just move somewhere else?”
Sometimes traffic shifts slightly, but evidence from many schemes across London shows that overall traffic levels often fall as people change routes or travel patterns.
The goal is not to push problems around — it’s to reduce unnecessary traffic across the neighbourhood as a whole.Why isn’t more being done?
“What about people who need to drive?”
Local access always remains.
Residents, deliveries, tradespeople and emergency services still reach homes and businesses. The main change is that rat-running becomes much harder.
“What about local shops?”
Places that are easier to walk around and spend time in often see more local footfall, not less.
Many London high streets have found that calmer traffic and safer crossings make them more pleasant places to visit.
A Simple Goal
Queen’s Park doesn’t need huge changes.
A few sensible improvements could make a big difference.
Safer crossings.
Less rat-running.
Calmer residential streets.
A neighbourhood that feels like a neighbourhood again.
Contact Us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!
