Hackney LCC meeting
3rd August 2000
Venue: Pub on the Park, London E8
Present:
Patrick Field (Chair), Brenda Puech (Secretary),Tim Evans, Steve, Melissa, Paul, Roger Blake (Hackney Council), Frank, Marianne, Ben Webster, Patrick, Oliver Schick, Claire Tansley (Treasurer)
Apologies:
Claire Tansley
Crispin Truman
Topics discussed (people for action items in bold):
1. European Car-free day 22nd September
2. Dump the Pump for Good
3. Cycle Active
4. Meeting with GLA member Meg Hillier
5. ITP (Interim Transport Plan) for Shoreditch Gyratory
6. Spokes Festival in Leicester
7. Junctions Campaign
8. AOB
1. European Car-free day 22nd September
Ben Webster reported on the four boroughs that are taking part (so far) and will be closing off streets on the day. Merton, Camden, Lambeth and Southwark are closing off Monmouth St, the Cut and a street in Brixton.
Ben (through Douglas Carnall) had written to Hackney Council, Party leaders, the police and other interested bodies, proposing that part of Mare St upto Pembury Tavern be closed off. He had also spoken to retailers along Mare Street to canvass support. Results were promising with 14 retailers in favour and 5 against.
Ken Livingstone has supported car-free day and urged Boroughs to take part.
Roger Blake reported that Hackney Council Traffic and Transport Team was severely under-resourced and it was very likely that they would not even reply to the letter. At present the Council has no capacity to organise a road closure. He advised looking to next year and organising activities without council involvement.
He also advised trying to build wider public consciousness and acceptance of car-free days in principle amongst different stakeholders, possibly starting with car-free Sundays.
It was agreed that Green Councillor Chit Chong would be contacted to raise the issue in the full Council meeting in September. (Brenda) This would be done by a deputation from the LCC introduced by Cllr Chong. (Brenda has since contacted Chit, who is enthusiastic about the idea and suggests the question come from the deputation, which would have clout because of Hackney LCC’s large membership- 500)
For this coming car-free day, 22nd September, Hackney LCC will lead a Critical Mass ride, meeting at the Town Hall at 11:00 am, to visit the car-free sites in London. Patrick will bring the mobile sound system, and Chinese Elvis will provide musical entertainment. The mass will leave Hackney at 12:00, Monmouth St at 1:45, the Cut at 2:30 and Brixton at 4:00 pm.
Patrick and Ben would produce a publicity leaflet to be given out at CM 25th August and at the Dump the Pump for Good CM on the 1st Sep.
Hackney Gazette would be given a Press Release for the event. (Allister Hagger is the journalist interested in cycling issues) (Ben)
Hackney Council Plans for Hackney Cultural Corner (Town Hall and Ocean Music Venue)
Roger Blake reported that the plans included a commitment to widen the pavement in front of the Ocean Music venue, but there were no plans to pedestrianise Mare St.
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2. Dump the Pump for Good
The feeder ride for the Dump the Pump for Good ride went very well, considering the little preparation that went into it. About 50 cyclists from Hackney escorted by 4 police motorcyclists wound their way from Pub on the Park to meet the other Masses on Trafalgar Square by 8:30 am. We could not resist doing an extra round around Old Street Roundabout and ended up doing several rounds around Trafalgar Sq, as our numbers had swelled to a few hundred.
The event got publicity on GLR, the Today programme and You and Yours. It was felt that the Dump the Pump event was a big failure, but got disproportionate publicity and unfortunately could influence government policy on future petrol tax rises.
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3. Cycle Active
Patrick reported that Cycle Active has stopped training for August, and will start again in September. They have provided 100 hours of training for 30 people, referred by 3 health practices in Hackney. (The project is funded by the Health Education Authority and London Health Action Zone)
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4. Meeting with Meg Hillier
A joint meeting is being organised (for November) with Islington LCC and Islington London Assembly member Meg Hillyar to discuss issues relating to both boroughs. Ben will co-ordinate the meeting the Islington LCC.
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5. ITP (interim transport plan) for Shoreditch gyratory
September Roger Blake reported that he had just put in an ITP to the GLA for the Shoreditch gyratory, proposing contraflow bus/cycle lanes along Old St and Shoreditch High St and contra flow cycle lane along Curtain Rd. The budget for the scheme was 2.6 million! They expected a decision in the last week before Christmas.
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6. Spokes Festival in Leicester
Patrick Field reported on the event that he had attended for two days. The Fest was held at the Race Course; activities were provisional and low-key, but a lot of resources had been put into the event, as it seems Leicester wants to promote itself as an Environmental and Festival City.
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7. Junctions Campaign
Oliver reported back on the junction he is urging us to choose to be our focus for the LCC Junctions Campaign - Shacklewell Lane and St. Mark’s rise and wanted to know the accident statistics for the junction. Roger said statistics for the junction would be meaningless in isolation, unless compared with other similar junctions.
Roger reported that the Council no longer had Road Safety Engineers to deal with dangerous junctions. However, Oliver would organise a working group to carry out further analysis of the junction and make proposals for its re-engineering.
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8. Any other business
Tim would bring a map of Hackney to the next meeting, so that attendees could see which roads and junctions were being talked about.
Tim reported that he had taken 12 children from Hackney Marshes on a bike ride across the new ‘Friends Bridge’ over the River Lea, which was much enjoyed.
The meeting ended at 10:00 pm.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, 6th September, Pub on the Park, 8:00 pm
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