LCC/PP/HT/001

Proposed South Cross route and North Cross route

Date range	1965
Location	London Metropolitan Archives (see all files stored here)
Catalogue	See entry
File base	Fond LCC, subfond PP/HT

{{{1}}} is returning to this file later. Why this might be the case is open to all manner of unsavoury speculation, but one insuperable fact remains: {{{1}}} has taken this file out before, and he has every intention of taking it out again soon. In most cases this is because he wants camera copies and wasn't able to get them on the first attempt, but it may also be just because he misses it and longs to be near it again.

Context

In 1965 the Highways and Traffic Committee of the brand-new GLC was given a presentation by two firms of consultants, Travers-Morgan and Husband & Co., who had been working on urban motorway proposals for the former LCC. The purpose of this meeting seems to have been to appraise the new GLC of the progress that had been made by its predecessor.

The committee papers themselves are elsewhere, but here are found the large plan documents that were presented to the committee by the two firms of engineers to illustrate their presentations. Endearingly, the words "Greater London Council" on each plan sheet are affixed on a separate sheet of paper, most of which are now peeling away to reveal that the original text underneath is - of course - "London County Council".

NB. This file was 'missing' in May 2010, but has turned up again now and is available for viewing.

Contents of note

• Plan and longitudinal drawings of the South Cross Route and connecting roads, as published in the 1963 report by Husband & Co. These are the same diagrams as found at GLC/TD/DP/LDS/02/097, but here they are at full A0 size, whereas the report only includes them in something like A3 size.
• Plan drawings of the North Cross Route from Western Avenue to Kentish Town, which was then still a work in progress. These drawings differ significantly from the finished report at MT 106/437, mostly in the arrangement of the interchanges. Specifically:
  • the layout at Willesden Junction is noticeably simpler and more spaced-out, and shows West Cross-North Cross movements forming the mainline through the junction.
  • the M1 interchange is more spread out.
  • the A41 interchange is free-flowing and allows movements in all directions.
  • the Camden Town Bypass is completely absent, and instead Camden Road is shown as being realigned to the east, meeting the North Cross Route at a free-flowing junction that allows access in all directions.
  • the Belsize Park tunnels are not explicitly shown, and it's not clear whether tunnels were being planned at this stage.

Links to related files

MT 106/437 GLC: North Cross route and Eastern Avenue extension; consideration of proposed major road network for North Central London; includes consultants' reports (5 parts) (1967-1972)

GLC/TD/DP/LDS/02/097 South Cross Route drawings (1965)

People with camera copies

None known.