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 Good news finally about the delayed Frampton
Park Estate cycle lockers. It seems the necessary agreements
and arrangements have been made, and lockers will be installed in time
for launch during Bike Week in June.
The road to
this success has been a bit rocky. Back at the end of 2006, residents
formed a bicycle user group (BUG), contacted TfL's Cycling Centre of
Excellence directly, and negotiated a stunning £50,000 in funding to
buy and install 75 Bikeaway lockers.
The BUG then
toured the estate with representatives of the tenants and residents
association and local police identifying appropriate locations for the
lockers, and Hackney LCC volunteers spent an afternoon distributing
leaflets to every flat in the estate letting everyone know about the
project and inviting them to register their interest in hiring a locker
to store their bike. We were rewarded with some excellent cake!
The
boldness and timing of the BUG's approach initially worked in its
favour, since they had short-cut the standard local authority bidding
process for transport-related funds and caught TfL at a perfect moment
towards the end of a financial year, when budgets are often underspent.
However,
the money could not be spent directly by the BUG, but rather had to be
administered via Streetscene and Hackney Homes. Not having been
involved in the bid, neither agency had preparations in place for the
various obligations they would have to fulfil, which included ensuring
that the procurement of goods and services was done according to 'best
value' and that the lockers would meet planning requirements.
When
it became clear about this time last year that there might be problems
in getting everything arranged in time, we asked the councillors in
Victoria ward, who were supportive of the lockers project, to intervene
as much as they could to speed the process, and I think they did do
their best. However, to the intense disappointment and frustration of
the BUG, Streetscene and Hackney Homes were not able to sort out the
intricacies by the end of the financial year, and the funding was lost.
Chastened
by the experience, and regularly chivvied by the ward councillors,
Streetscene has been working with Hackney Homes, the TRA and other
interested parties through the year on a renewed bid of Streetscene
shows the current status. A key sticking point in a meeting that I
attended was the question of who would allocate and manage the lockers
day to day. Hackney Cyclists even offered to take on the management
ourselves if no one else could do it. However, it seems this
has been resolved without us having to take on that responsibility.
The
number of lockers has been reduced from 75 to 56 due to plans for
infill housing development (another story!). Nevertheless it's a
tremendous result and will be the biggest rollout of retro-fitted secure residential
cycle parking in the borough yet -- with plenty more to come we hope.
Thanks
go to all concerned and especially to Streetscene's Alix Stredwick, who
has been tireless in her pursuit of a successful outcome.
Trevor Parsons, co-ordinator, London Cycling Campaign in Hackney, 13th February 2008 >> Read about
Hackney Cyclists' HomeBikePark project
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