Cycling in Hackney News
October 1999/November 1999
Contents
We’re coming to ex-cheque-ya, Gordon! - Iron Chancellor will quake as we deliver our cycling budget deficit
Our council is very pro-cycling, but funding the changes we need is another matter. Compare this year’s £80,000 cycling money with the £150K cost of realigning one single problem point in Shacklewell Lane.
The £360 million price tag for the M11 Link Road shows how far serious government cash still lags behind the rhetoric - all that to pour up to 20% extra motor traffic into eastern Hackney.
So we’re going to work out the ‘cycle budget deficit’, by compiling and costing an up-to-date list of what you think are problem points on the Hackney's street network.
We need your wish list! Is there a lack of bike parking in a particular street, a place that needs a dropped kerb putting in, a one-way system that stops you going where you want, or a junction layout that needs changing?
Send your wish list to Douglas Carnall at 7 Navarino Grove, London E8 or email douglas@carnall.demon.co.uk.
Then, on Saturday 6 Nov, join us at 11am outside The Pub on The Park, London Fields, for ‘The Gordon Brown Memorial Run’ - a gentle tour of the borough to review your wish list suggestions and tot up that budget deficit. We’ll be presenting it to mayoral and assembly candidates and asking them: “Who's willing to pay?”
Survey says buses and bikes are the business
Results of a survey co-ordinated by the London Cycling Campaign in Hackney and the Local Agenda 21 transport group show that spending by local shoppers is not related to their mode of travel, with people on foot, bike and public transport likely to be spending as much, if not more, than those in cars.
A total of 242 people passing through Hackney Town Hall Square were asked about what they thought made for an attractive town centre on Local Transport Day, March 1998. 36% owned a bike and 36% owned a car, but most people came to the shops by bus or on foot, 9% by car and 5% by bike.
72% expected to spend more than a fiver. Of the 78 people intending to spend over twenty quid, 6% came by car, and of the 10 big spenders aiming for over 100 pounds, none came by car.
There was big demand for better bus services to make the area more accessible. 61% wanted to see better facilities for cyclists. The fewest people questioned (27%) wanted to see more car parking in the area.
More attractive options for our scarce public spaces such as wide pavements and more trees and flowers came way up the list for our Saturday morning Hackney shoppers.
Those in charge of regenerating the area have shown a rather old-fashioned enthusiasm for building more car parks in Hackney town centre.
They should listen to the people who actually use the streets and shops. After all, they’re the ones who will really decide the future of our town centres.
Get the detailed survey results - download a PDF version here.
Cycles for Kosovans
A new Hackney project is supplying repaired bicycles to Kosovan asylum seekers in Britain.
Local cyclist Paul Standeven had the idea for the project because, under current asylum laws, asylum seekers get food vouchers but no money, so transport is a major problem.
The bikes are sourced mainly through personal donations, and also from a church which had been collecting them for Rwandans. The funding for the project is roughly equally from personal donations and a donation from a church (now running out!), although Paul has made an application for additional funding from the Comic Relief charity.
It seems there is a already good supply of bikes for the project, although many of them are shoppers and step-through machines. (A high proportion of Kosovans here are young men). What is needed, Paul says, is help to repair the bikes, and fund-raising.
One possibility that has been discussed with LCC in Hackney co-ordinator Douglas Carnall is to run cycle maintenance classes, using the “Cycles for Kosovans” machines as teaching examples. Paul has also been wondering about doing similar classes for Kosovans themselves.
If you’re interested in helping with this project, call Paul on 020-7690 7134 (home) or 020-7729 6183 (other home - Hackney City Farm!). Email: paul_standeven@yahoo.com.
Hackney does the hat-trick
Hackney can now boast at least three ‘super-randonneurs’ amongst its cycling community.
Charlie Lloyd, Douglas Carnall and Patrick Field, veteran members of the London Cycling Campaign in the borough, all succeeded in completing the 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris ride - one of the oldest fixtures in the book.
Their exploits were featured in the Hackney Gazette, and you can read all about Douglas’s comments on audax and life on his website.
Crispin for President!
Elections are coming up for posts on the London Cycling Campaign’s Management Committee, and our man Crispin Truman is seeking re-election.
Crispin has worked very hard in this demanding voluntary position so far and we think he’s well worth your vote, especially since he is the only Hackney candidate on the list!
Speak up for Stokey
Finally there is some visible progress on getting rid of the Stoke Newington one-way system.
A consultants’ report is due to be presented to the Stoke Newington neighbourhood committee in early November.
It would be great if people could turn up and show their support for this excellent measure. Unfortunately there is bound to be a certain amount of discontent stirred up by this complex scheme, so the more loudly and often the pro- voices can make themselves heard, the better.
New contract for parking enforcement
Hackney Council hopes that its lacklustre performance on motor parking enforcement will start to improve from the beginning of next year with the implementation of a new partnership between the council and private firm TFN.
As at present, though, the service will be largely financed - and its success assessed - by the number of parking tickets issued. The annual target agreed with TFN is around 120,000.
This ticket-centred system of incentives often leads to patchy enforcement, as attendants leave an area alone for a while to let parking build up, and then swoop to issue a large number of tickets quickly and with little effort.
What’s more, isolated areas, such as yellow lines protecting cycle gaps, are often ignored because the pickings are richer elsewhere.
We discussed the implications of the new contract at a recent cycle liaison meeting with the Council, and it was agreed that under the present system the really desirable aim - a real reduction in the amount of illegal parking - would be a disaster for TFN’s revenue flow! (It’s hardly very likely to happen, of course).
Under our influence, the Council has been trying to include non-cash-oriented targets into the contract, and they will soon be receiving a ‘method statement’ from TFN explaining how the company proposes to enforce such Cinderella problems as isolated yellow line infringement.
Enforcement will mainly continue to be confined to working daytimes, but there is also now some scope for evening and weekend work.
During these discussions, we also heard that double parking may soon become decriminalised, allowing local authorities to enforce civil proceedings against this growing problem.
We also enthused about the potential for securing a blanket ban on blocking cycle facilities, in the same way as there is a presumption against pavement parking throughout London. This would greatly simplify matters, meaning that local authorities could act against obstructive and nuisance parking without having to make individual traffic management orders for every single case.
Wick Link proposal warmly received
Council officers have reacted favourably to our proposal for a cycle contraflow to allow cycle traffic directly north-east onto the Eastway towards Hackney Wick (see Cycling in Hackney News June/July 1999).
Many details are still to be finally confirmed in the fallout from the M11 Link Road construction, so it was felt that there was some chance of encouraging the Highways Agency to co-operate on this pro-sustainable transport measure.
Indeed this is one thing that we can actually thank the M11 Link Road construction for, as through motor traffic has been lifted away from the Eastway, allowing the potential for traffic calming and other improvements.
