Newham Cyclists

Four of us (7 wheels in total) made our way to Greenwich Park using paths, back streets and the cable car. There Harry Clarke, Bexley’s Healthy Rides Coordinator, had arranged a cycle fun day. The picture shows Mike adding to the jollity in the track stand competition.

Arnold

We started with an evening ride from Forest Gate around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We saw the newly opened section of the Greenway before moving on to Crate for refreshment and a short discussion.

• Michale Barratt, TfL’s Development Impact Manager, told us he was having discussions with Newham Council’s Network Management team and we agreed to maintain contact (whilst being wary that this department had a done little in the past to promote cycling in Newham). This initiate should benefit pedestrians , site workers, the less able as well as those that cycle.
• The disappointing backtracking by Newham Council in respect of theBrowning Road bridge (see previous post). This issue gives greater urgency to our efforts to link with other like minded groups promoting a better environment and better neighbourhoods for Newham.
• We will give feedback to LCC that scheduling the Freecycle in August made it difficult for us to provide marshals for the feeder ride.
• We discussed forthcoming events on 22 September (Car Free Day) and 5 October (Bike from Boleyn).
• We will seek discussions with Newham Council over the defective scheme for the junction of Greengate St and Barking Road.
• We noted that staff at the Financial Conduct Authority found parking in Startford so cheap compared with Canary Wharf that commuting by car had increased.
• We discussed the possibilities of hiring and/or hiring out a cargo bike.

Our next meeting will be 30 September – details to be confirmed.

Arnold

Many of you will have seen on Social Media that LBN have backtracked on the Browning Road Bridge experimental scheme that was due to start last week, after a protest took place by drivers who use the area.

We have written to the Mayor and the Cabinet Member for Highways and Sustainable Transport to express our concerns.

Despite rain the children of the saturday cycle club run by hte charity Ambition, Aspire, Achieve, were keen togo out for a ride. They (and we) were rewarded by the rain stopping. We used the Greenway, including the newly opened section north of Stratford High Street, and the Olympic Park for an enjoyable (mostly off-road) ride.

We will be looking at running another round of fixing /ride on consecutive Saturdays in the autumn.

Arnold

This strategy has just been published. For some local flavour:

• a map on page 10 shows that Newham’s on-street parking mirrors outer London rather than inner London;
• a map on page 13 shows the routes in Newham with a top 5% potential for cycling (as first revealed in TfL’s Strategic Cycling Analysis of June 2017);
• a map on p 14 shows a strong demand for additional on-street parking in the Beckton area;
• a map on p 24 shows Forest Gate, Canning Town and East Ham as Town Centres with high demand for cycle parking;
• page 30 ff provides evidence that cycle parking (over car parking) benefits Town Centres;
• a map onn p 33 shows the location of cycle hangers over London. Newham has a relatively low provision for hte density of its population.

Arnold

14 July was the new summer date for our traditional 25 mile ,off road (mostly) saunter to Rainham Marshes and Upminister. The weather was no better than on our previous September/October rides – but we escaped any rain (but suffered one puncture)..

The route was as interesting as ever.

• We saw some frantic working on the northern section of the Greeway in preparation for its opeing the following day after being closed for more than a decade.
• There are signs of the massive development of Barking Riverside.
• We had a short stop in Rainhm Hall – the subject of an interesting blog by Diamond Geezer on 18 July.

The following Saturday we did some bike fixing at the AAA Fun Day. The all-ability bikes are particularly vulnerable to malfunction and present a challenge to repair. Nevertheless we ensured that a couple more would be available.

Other news:

• Our next AAA ride is this Saturday 27 July leaving 10.30 from the Arc – see rides.
• We have submitted strong support for the 5 pilot School Streets. These are all relatively easy to implement. We have suggested extending the scope in some cases and commented that they should be a stepping stone to proper Liveable Neighbourhood schemes.
• There is an important current consultation on the “Greater Carpenters Neighbourhood Plan” – an area important for cycling and walking connections to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The plans look – typically for the LLDC – deficient.
• There is a current consultation on closing the bridge at Browning Rd to through traffic to lessen rat running in Manor Park.
• We looked with TfL and Newham Council at the the Romford Rd corridor.
• The consultants for the developers of the MSG Square have contacted us after our objection to their seriously deficiant plans after our objection had been lodged. However they have not yet been able to indicate that they would contemplate changing them (and they are likely to be supported by the LLDC Planning team); nor have they shown any interest in a site visit to look again at the cycling angle.
• We understand and hope that Newham Council are looking again at their original (poor) proposals for the Greengate St/Barking Rd junction.
• Our next meeting is 29 July – an short evening ride followed by a chance for some informal discussion – see events.
• LCC are holding a social at at 6:00PM in Look Mum No Hands (49 Old St, London EC1V 9HX).  All are welcome.
• Steve has devised an exciting new route for our feeder to the Freecycle on 3 August. More marshals would be greatly approciated for this event which is both fun and important in promoting cycling.
• I will be leading a feeder ride to a cycle fun event in Greenwich Park on 17 August – see rides.

Arnold

A long and successful day at the Forest Gate Festival. A wide rota of us spend all day fixing and talking bikes. This in addition to Dr Bike who was operating next door. We recycled a number of bikes and bits of equipment that had been donated to us for this purpose and received just over £150 in donations.