Hackney LCC meeting
Wednesday 4 May 2005
Venue:
Marcon
Court Estate Community Hall, E8
Present:
Brian Catchpole, Tim Evans, Susannah
Fernandez, Simon Hughes, Vicky
Lack, Melissa Martin, Trevor Parsons (chair), Brenda Puech.
Towards
end of meeting: Richard Lewis and Oliver Schick
Apologies:
None
received.
Topics
discussed:
1. Whiston
Road/Goldsmith Row junction
2. London Bus Priority
'footway grab'
3.
Pembury Road/Cricketfield Road/Downs Park Road junction
4. Cycle Strategy
Development
5.
Old Street cycle lane proposal
6. Bike Week
2005
7. Well St Common festival 21 May
8. Car Free Day 2005
9. Budgets and LCN+
10. Planning briefs
11. Cycle training update
1.
Whiston Road/Goldsmith Row junction
It was noted that
this scheme is currently in abeyance because the engineer responsible
for it has left the council. Although we sympathise with the local
residents' anxiety to see a solution for this junction, we do see the
current delay as a positive development which may create an opportunity
to re-examine the available solutions. The only option which was
consulted on was a signalised scheme. We believe that other options are
preferable and should be given more careful consideration.
- Action:
Brenda to write on our behalf to local councillors
and senior council officers re-emphasising our
opposition to the signalised scheme and pointing out the failings in
the way in which that scheme was developed and consulted on
Back
to the top
2. London
Bus Priority 'footway grab'
There was a discussion on how
much further we could get involved in opposing the taking-over of
footway space in Lower Clapton Road for loading bays in the current
London Bus Priority scheme. We have already stated our opposition to
the policy in our official response. It was felt that footway space reduction
is primarily an issue for pedestrians, and it was suggested that members who felt
strongly about it could develop a combined response together with other
interested parties such as Living Streets and Disability
Hackney.
- Action: Brenda
and Melissa
Back
to the top
3. Pembury
Road/Cricketfield Road/Downs Park Road junction
Tim
reported that the council is installing traffic lights and a road block
at this junction without maintaining permeability for cycle traffic
into and out of the eastern section of Downs Park Road. A dropped kerb
has been
installed to permit access by emergency vehicles, but its location
requires cyclists to make an awkward and potentially
hazardous manouvre, and the engineers explicitly did not intend this to
serve cycle traffic. Oliver asked to see plans at design stage but
these were unfortunately not forthcoming, an omission which surprised
us as the lead engineer in question has been very co-operative and
communicative in other schemes. Once the problems became obvious as the
scheme was being implemented, Tim tried without success to set up
meetings with the engineers, and the scheme has unfortunately been
finished without any changes.
- Action: We will
monitor the operation of the new scheme and press for changes as soon
as possible.
Back
to the top
4. Cycle
strategy development
It was reported
that the council is preparing a cycling strategy. The draft was written
by a consultancy called TPI, but will require a considerable amount of
extra work. The consultation period on this will run from June to
August. Satu Vaisanen will be organising the consultation.
- Action: Trevor to
liaise with Satu on organising a consultation workshop
Back
to the top
5. Old
Street cycle lane proposal
For
background, see discussion in February's meeting.
Trevor reported that the cycle lane proposal seems unlikely to go
ahead, as a result of our intervention. This is a satisfactory outcome
for the moment, but we do hope that our suggestions for kerbline
adjustment at the junction with Pitfield Street will be progressed.
Back
to the top
6. Bike
Week 2005
We finalised our
events for Bike Week including Bike the Bounds on 11th June, the London
Fields cyclists' breakfast and the afternoon pitstop on 16th June - see diary for details. Yet
to be confirmed was an event on 18 June. This may be either
a Hackney historic buildings ride or another Tree Musketeers ride.
- Action: Marian to provide details to Rebecca Lack, editor
of London Cyclist magazine
Hackney Council is keen on doing a promotional event
during Bike Week, in addition to its support for the cyclists'
breakfast and the pitstop. This would be in the form of a photo
opportunity to promote incentives for council employees to cycle.
Oliver and Trevor are liasing on this.
It was reported that Frank Merrigan, LCC member and Hackney librarian,
plans to do a display for Bike Week in early May.
- Action: all to provide any appropriate
publicity material they may have
Trevor hopes
to have a second edition of Desire
Line magazine ready in time for Bike Week
Back to the top
7. Well
St Common festival on 21 May
Katie Hanson
is co-ordinating our stall at this community event, but more volunteers
are required.
- Action: Katie, Melissa, and Richard to run
the stall
Back
to the top
8. Car
Free Day 2005
Trevor hopes
that we will again be able to promote the Shoreditch Carnival
& Car Free Day on Sunday September 18th 2005, but this does
depend on the availability of sufficient funding (a mixture of public
funding and private sponsorship as previously) and equally of people
willing to put in the huge amounts of time necessary to organise the
event. Trevor would personally like to spend more time focussing on the
travel awareness elements.
Since last year, the event has
been operated through a non-profit company called Shoreditch
Carnival. Trevor will be meeting HVA and HCVS for advice on the
development of the organisation and to obtain accountancy advice.
Back
to the top
9.
Budgets and LCN+
It was reported
that Hackney Streetscene has around £700,000 to spend on
cycling-related projects in 2005-06. This funding is of course tightly
tied to the projects for which it was awarded, and includes money for a
cycle training programme (which STA Bikes
will be bidding to deliver - see below), a
proportion of the highway maintenance prioritised for cycling, and a
substantial amount for the improvement of the borough's London Cycle
Network Plus (LCN+) routes.
Around 18 junctions and links are currently covered by the LCN+
multi-year funding programme. Olu Soyoye, Hackney's cycling projects
officer, has asked us to help him prioritise which areas to work on
first, and wants us to present him our ideas for schemes.
We have suggested the following junctions/links to start with:
- Junction of Pitfield Street, Hoxton Street,
Whitmore Road and Hyde Road near the Britannia Leisure Centre:
we think the current roundabout is a barrier and an eyesore, and should
be replaced by a more human-scale junction
- Broadway Market / London Fields junction:
we would like to see this junction remodelled to reflect the importance
of north-south cycle traffic, reduce the conflict between pedestrians
and cyclists, and improve the entrance to the park
- Powerscroft Road junction with Lower
Clapton Road: probably signalisation, cycle crossing, making
Powerscroft Road two-way
- Lamb Lane entrance to London Fields:
awkward gradient needs adjustment - an easy fix.
Olu will be
giving us large-scale maps on which to create sketches of options we
would like to be explored in the design of schemes.
- Action: Trevor to
initiate discussion on our mailing list regarding prioritisation of
LCN+ programme. Richard to lead on development of scheme prototypes.
Back to the
top
10.
Planning briefs
The
council is consulting on a major planning development in Dalston - a
transport interchange and mixed development linked with the East London
Line extension. The older lags recalled the evidence we gave to the
public enquiry back in 1998 regarding planned development in
Dalston Lane, and suggested that this would be useful background.
- Action: Vicky to take the
lead on this consultation
Back
to the top
11.
Cycle training update
As
reported above, around £190,000 has been allocated to the borough
for cycle training, following a successful bid to TfL which was drafted by Sally Haywill
of STA Bikes.
Council officers are currently preparing to
put this cycle training programme out to former tender. Local
authorities have strict guidelines, called Standing Orders, which
govern the way in which they let large contracts. The size of the
programme in question may apparently require that it is advertised
throughout the European Union! However, practically speaking we know
that very few organisations would be able to deliver such a programme,
and we are hopeful that its delivery will be awarded
to STA Bikes, which would manage the programme and subcontract
parts of the bid to other groups including the London School of Cycling
and Cycle Training UK.
It was noted that the old cycle proficiency-type training has now
been superseded by the National
Standard, a comprehensive
three-level syllabus which aims to produce
riders who are competent, confident
and able to ride in real-world conditions.
Back to the
top
Next meeting
Wednesday 1 June 2005, 8pm, Marcon
Court Estate Community Hall, E8.
Back
to the meetings
index
|
