Proposals for 17 new or upgraded pedestrian crossings have been published for New North Road and East Road in Hackney, covering the route between Poole Street and City Road. The draft scheme combines new zebra crossings with improvements to existing crossings and raised informal crossing points.
The plans respond to residents’ concerns about vehicle speeds and a lack of safe places to cross. They also include new paving, tree planting, rain gardens and better lighting, bringing changes to the surrounding street environment alongside the proposed crossing improvements.
A public consultation is open until Sunday 6 December 2026. The proposals remain at the consultation stage, giving residents an opportunity to comment on the designs before the scheme’s final form is settled.
New places to cross
The designs include two new raised zebra crossings and eight side-road zebra crossings. The side-road crossings are described as the first of their kind in Hackney, making them a new feature for pedestrians using streets in the borough.
Zebra crossings provide marked places where drivers must give way to pedestrians on the crossing. Raised crossings bring the road surface up towards pavement level, combining a designated crossing place with a physical change to the carriageway. Informal crossing points are different: they provide a place to cross but do not carry the same pedestrian priority as a zebra crossing.
That distinction matters when considering the proposals. The total of 17 covers both new and upgraded pedestrian crossings, rather than a scheme made up entirely of new zebra crossings. Improvements to existing facilities and new raised informal crossing points are also included.
The proposed side-road zebras would provide marked crossing places at side roads along the route. For people walking beside a main road, crossing adjoining streets is part of the journey, as well as crossing the main carriageway itself. The designs address both types of movement.
The geographical scope is specific: New North Road and East Road between Poole Street and City Road. Residents considering the consultation can assess the proposals as a connected stretch of street, rather than as isolated changes to individual crossing points.
Paving, planting and lighting
The crossing proposals sit within a wider package of street improvements. New paving and better lighting are planned alongside tree planting and rain gardens, so the consultation concerns the pedestrian environment as well as where people can cross.
Rain gardens are planted areas designed to receive rainwater from surrounding hard surfaces. They introduce planting into the street while helping to manage surface water. Here, they form part of the same draft scheme as the trees, paving and lighting.
The stated concerns behind the plans are vehicle speeds and the availability of safe crossing places. Those are related but distinct issues: a person needs somewhere suitable to cross, while the speed of passing traffic also affects the experience of using a street.
Councillor Jacob Cable, cabinet member for climate, clean air, energy and transport, said walking is the most common mode of transport in the borough. That gives the proposals a broader significance than changes intended for a small group of street users. Crossing roads is a routine part of journeys made on foot.
Consultation and safety target
The scheme forms part of the borough’s aim to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries by 2041. The proposed changes give that long-term target a local focus on a defined route, with crossing provision and the street environment at the centre of the designs.
The target is an ambition, not an outcome already achieved. Similarly, publication of the draft designs does not mean that the crossings have been installed. The current step is consultation on the proposed improvements.
Residents have until Sunday 6 December 2026 to comment. The practical question now is how the proposed mix of new crossings, upgraded facilities and wider street improvements would serve people using New North Road and East Road. The final design and delivery arrangements remain to be established beyond this consultation stage.
