Hackney LCC meeting
Wednesday 1 June 2005

Venue:
Marcon Court Estate Community Hall, E8

Present:
Oliver Schick (co-ordinator), Richard Lewis (secretary), Brenda Puech (treasurer), Frank Merrigan, Therese Kilpatrick, Tim Evans , Marian Farrugia, Georgie Fyfe-Jamieson, David Farnham.

Apologies:
None received.

Topics discussed:
1. Bike Week
2. Other events
3. STA Bikes award
4. Bike recycling project
5. Dalston area action plan
6. Parking and enforcement plan
7. Hackney Council bicycle user group

1. Bike week

Our cyclists' breakfast will be held on 16th June in our usual spot on London Fields. Hackney Council will once again contribute financially, and members of the Streetscape department will be present. Action: Marian to order 300 croissants (£120) from Stoke Newington and Richard to collect them. Brenda will again offer kitchen facilities in her nearby house. Brenda and Richard will carry out last-minute shopping for fair-trade coffee and tea. Trevor has the gazebo and will bring it to the event. Richard to organise signs about a fortnight before the event. Many thanks to London Fields Cycles who will once again be helping to sponsor the event by providing Dr Bike staff.

The same afternoon there will be a repeat of last year's very popular cycling pitstop, from 4pm to 7.30pm. Hackney Council staff will be on hand to organise this and are hiring professional mechanics; we will supply our usual stall and some volunteers to assist the mechanics.

The same afternoon the council is organising a 'liveability conference' which will be taking place in the nearby Hothouse.

Stokefest is on the 12 June. Action: Richard to organise our stall location and set up using the trailer and stall materials. He will ask for crowd barriers to be provided so that a bike park can be established. Volunteers sought to help person the stall.

Our historic buildings of Hackney ride will be held on 19 June. Actions: Oliver to run this event and Richard and Marian to organise a picnic in Springfield Park at the top of the hill near the café. The ride will start at 1pm and the picnic at 3.30pm.

Because of our presence at Stokefest we decided we would be unable to provide volunteers to run a feeder ride to TfL's Bikefest event on Saturday 12 June.

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2. Other events

Laburnum Street Party is on Sunday 3 July. Action: Richard to set up stall from 12 noon. Dr Bike to be provided by Tim or CTUK. Richard to join with Roger Blake who will be promoting Hackney’s transport strategy and cycling action plan.

Finfest is on Sunday 17 July. We need to establish a stall and work with Haringey LCC and Islington Cyclists.Action Group. Therese, David and Paul Singer volunteered to help. Action: Richard to provide trailer-and-stall service as usual.

We congratulated STA Bikes for winning a National Cycling Project Award, which was collected by the project's chair and co-founder Sally Haywill at the recent CTC/CCN conference. Well done Sally and all those who have worked so hard over the last four years to make this home-grown Hackney project an example for the whole country. 

4. Bike recycling project

Councillor Christine Boyd has found a possible location for Therese's planned bike recycling project at Selman House in Hackney Wick. Costs to be investigated for the refurbishment of the old pram sheds there.

Pete has said that he is keen to have his old shop in Well Street used as a facility for bike repairs. There is a ground rent to pay and possible issues with security.

Therese is preparing a business plan and is meeting others to obtain tips and advice. She is collaborating with STA Bikes on training.

5. Dalston area action plan

Dalston: Plans have been established for the next five years for the East London Line. The Area Action Plan is part of the new Local Development Framework suite of planning documents. It provides a brief for developing the area around the new Dalston East London Line station. Consultation will take place throughout June. Stage 2 of the consultation will be stakeholder involvement in the brief development.

What considerations should be taken into account in our response? The following issues were suggested (not attributed):

Volume of motor traffic generation; density; suitability for pedestrians and cycles; urban realm; land uses proposed; on-site cycle parking; importance of place; creating good places; limiting the amount of car parking; car-free development; 95% of people walk or cycle to Dalston; developer may push for higher (motor vehicle) parking standards; location of cycle parking should be considered; section 106 (planning gain) monies should include community facilities; some contributions should be made for cycling.

Action: Richard and David to liaise. Others to contribute comments to Richard for inclusion in our draft response.

6. Parking and enforcement plan

Hackney's parking and enforcement plan, for which we provided a detailed response (227KB PDF) during its consultation period last year, will be the special focus of our next monthly meeting. Hackney Council's parking and enforcement manager will attend, and copies of the draft plan will be circulated first.

Issues so far include: Social awareness (among drivers?); catering for pedestrian and cycle desire lines; 15ft rule is not enforced (at junctions); parking blackspots; requests for what to do with parking surpluses; facilitating contraflows; when should the Council allow footway parking?; hours of operation.

7. Hackney Council bicycle user group

Frank is exploring the issues relating to the establishment of a bicycle user group (BUG) in the council. He hopes to provide an update for our next meeting.

Next meeting
Wednesday 6 July 2005, 8pm, Marcon Court Estate Community Hall, E8.

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