Author: Arnold Ridout

A meeting packed with discussion set in the congenial surroundings of Eat 16. Apologies for the long post.

On rides:

• Steve related the success of theBike from Boleyn ride which attracted over 50 riders including 7 Councillors and Stephen Timms MP. It has been reported in the Newham Recorder and will be in the Newham Mag to be issued on 4 November.
• A bigger Bike from Boleyn ride is planned for April 22 (the Everton game). Put this weekend in the diary (in case the match is shifted to Sunday!).
• Some other side benefits include; contact with the West Ham Supporters Club which isable to accommodate meetings; fundraising/social events are planned; we can adapt a Newham ride in February to bring in with West Ham heritage sites, with a view to attracting these participants.

We will discuss our 2017 ride programme at the next meeting which will have a more social focus. Inm the meantime our Brewery ride will take place on Saturday 5 November, meet at the View Tube at midday.

In respect of the Greenway (which was brought to Councillors attention as a cycle resource by the Bike from Boleyn Ride) there was good news: Planning applications are in for the 24 hour lighting and CCTV; work should start ona new Abbey Rd ramp and signalised crossing to the Channelsea path shortly; Newham Council has prioritised the other new ramps in this order (1) West Ham Memorial Park (2) Newham General Hospital (3) Lonsdale Ave/Stokes Rd (4) First Ave (5) Gallion’s Reach (6) Khartoum Rd (7) Corporation St. The funding is likely to reach to (3) and might even stretch to (5).

Furthermore TfL are going to look at the rubbish phasing of thelights at the A13 crossing (at long last).

However, the closure north of Stratford High St is likely to continue to at least spring 2018, but with any luck the pavement outside the former Porsche garage should be widened again soon to assist teh alternative shared path route.

Peter outlined the excellent progress he and Thom we making on building our new website. It should be possible to switch over shortly. It will be more mobile friendly and simple that the current site. The features suggested at the meeting, based on the current experience (and seemingly possible) were:

• better links., e.g. between the calendar and rides and with Facebook and Twitter;
• a facility to cut down posts with a “read more” button;
• a facility to archive, e.g. our responses to consultations;
• greater ability to download routes.

More long term we thought a “how to get there facility” would be useful, as would an weekly/fortnightly e-mail (with a view to replacing the current Yahoo Group) and an easy way for those interested to respond to consultations – see below.

We appreciated the need to cater for casual interest as well as the hard core supporter, and to seize the opportunity for educating Councillors.

On infrastructure:

• The Forest Gate response had been lodged by Olawale and followed up with an e-mail to all local Councillors.
• He had also lodged a response to the Westfield Ave crossing and elicited a helpful response from the responsible Council traffic officer.
• The two Quietway consultations for crossing Leytonstone Rd at Buxton Rd which needed to be submitted this week were discussed at length and the meeting concluded that we should (a) remind the Council of thebetter option of using Chobham Rd(b) stick to TfL and LCC standards by calling for a signalised crossing – even if that were to be sensored or push button in order to avoid needless disruption at time of few cyclist crossing, and (c) indicate that we could accept Buxton Rd being two way.
• The meeting confirmed there was no objection in principle to a zebra link from the floating bus stops on Stratford High St to the pavement but considered that further information should be sought as to their width and their lighting.
• Straford gyratory consultations are taking place on datesand at venues found in this link, and are important. As we have been very closely involved in the development of theplan it is good. Olawale explained that it would be helpful if as many as possible went to the consultations to give vocal support in principle, in the light of thecurrent organised opposition taking place, especially in central London, to cycle schemes. Information on where opposition was likely to arise would be useful. The outstanding points that can be made are (a) phasing of lights should not discriminate against cyclist as on CS2 (b) there should be coherence with other schemes especially Maryland and “the Leyton ladder” route to Leyton (c) steps should be taken to stop rat running in surrounding areas, and (d) the footpath between Station Rd and the DLR should be shared. If there are individual questions on this scheme please get in touch.

As a matter of general principle it was suggested that in consultation we repeat our established view on schemes and press for illustrative drawingswhen these are not supplied as part of the consultation.

And there was even a short time for some AOBs:

• Olawale will share the slides from the recent PASTA event.
• Individuals encouraged to support cycling consultations even if out of Borough, such as Tavistock Place. A positive approach was needed to counteract organised opposition.
• Ken suggested providing a core briefing on cycle issues to Councillors and reported that Lyn Brown MP had been persuaded that the use of buses to transport bikes through the proposed Silvertown Tunnel was a poor idea.
• We should emphasise the role of cycling in improving air quality.
• TfL moving to the Stratford International Quarter provided an opportunity.

Arnold

The meeting focused on infrastructure as Richard, Newham Council’s Sustainable Transport Officer kindly provided an update.  The key  features are:

• Richard explained how “LIP” funding provided to local authorities by TfL for relatively minor transport improvements work.  We are currently in the final year of a three year phase which has seen a number of improvements, not least based on the 2014 “Ward audit” Newham cyclists undertook with Richard.  Richard explained how a series of contraflows, drop kerbs and point closures  were being brought forward in a coherent way to promote  permeability in urban Newham.  Soft measures such as cycle training and work with schools  had been more successful than might have been anticipated.  The current funding may be rolled out for a further year before the next three year cycle.
• Newham Councillors have rejected a plan for Forest Gate which (in response to strong calls from consultation) included some segregated cycle lane.   Whilst we were critical of the details of the plan this is a disappointing affirmation of how far behind Newham Councillors are in promoting cycling. Improvements    are funded by Crossrail so will go ahead, but their nature is not now known.  We will continue to keep an eye and press for improvements that benefit cyclists.
• The Maryland Crossrail improvement plans have yet to be put out for consultation.  It is important that these are coherent with the Stratford Gyratory .
•  Improvements to the Greenway are progressing, including lighting and some extra ramps (e.g. to Memorial Park and Newham Hospital ).  One new ramp has passed the design stage which will promote useful connectivity with the Channelsea Path (although a vital toucan crossing of Rick Roberts Way is not yet funded).
• Redbridge Council are pressing hard for a Roding Crossing to Ilford north of the Romford Rd.  This would increase the importance of utilising the current pathway between the City of London Cemetery and the railway line which is currently unusable for cycling.
• A cycle lane is being put into Jenkins Lane as part of CS3 improvements.
• Implementing the Silvertown Way planned improvements are partly funded and therefore likely to start (with the active support of the local councillors).  This is important as cycle facilities need to be put in place before the Silvertown Tunnel attracts more traffic into this part of Newham.
• The scrapyard blocking the completion of the Leaway between Cody Dock and Canning Town is reported to have found an alternative site.  The timing of any move is not known.
• On street cycle parking shelters are now being installed and well used.  Request from groups of neighbours would be welcome.

We will have a stall at the Forest Gate Festival on 16 July, but more volunteers to do a shift would be welcome.  We will also try to promote cycling at a St Paul’s (East Ham) Street Party on 13 August.  if you can help and have not already volunteered for either of these events please contact me.

The Essex Lanes ride of the previous day was proclaimed a great success.

Next meeting 25 July – probably linked to an evening ride.

After a false start our annual meeting was held last Tuesday at the Wanstead Tap.  There was an excellent turnout including three local councillors who have been supportive of cycling initiatives (John Gray, Terence Paul and Rachel Tripp).  We were assisted by some excellent cheese and beer.

As for the formalities :

1. We approved the minutes from last year .
2. We agreed a new constitution to update our organisation in line with LCC requirements.
3. We agreed the annual report and accounts for 2015/16 .
4. We agreed a budget for 2016/17.
5. Kerena Fussell and Arnold Ridout were elected as joint co-ordinators, Bill Bremner as Treasurer, Olawale Ajibola was elected Local Schemes Lead and Steve Smith as Ride Co-ordinator.

We decided to produce for sale a group T -shirt.

Less formally, we had wide ranging discussions on the following topics

• Stratford Gyratory – proposal now reasonable in principle but details of the junctions will need further work.
• Other infrastructure developments – key funding available from TfL, Newham LIP allocation, and from developments such as Crossrail for some potentially significant improvements.  More information is available from the current list of issues.
• LCC Sign for Cycling campaign – last push before the election.
• Our contribution to the Forest Gate Cycle network Evening 26 May.

We ended with a discussion as to our future focus.  As a result we will consider how the group can focus on schools, as some money is available for promoting cycling in schools and our efforts could pay dividends in terms of increased cycling by both children and their parents.

We had a very productive discussion with Richard Wadey, sustainable Transport Officer for Newham Council, based around a PASTA presentatation (an EU funded project promoting physical activity through sustainable transport approaches) in which a number of towns and cities are participating.  For London this is Newham, Tower hamlets and Waltham Forest.  He also provided a general update of cycling in Newham showing an increase in the modal share of cycling .

Richard shared the information on the Cycle Level Of Service studies of routes in Newham,and projects, particularly Quietway 6, the Greenway, Stratford gyratory  and the Leaway.  These will form part of the Cycle Strategy of the Borough and inform future decision making, hopefully by integrating cycle considerations into all transport schemes.  He showed a Cycle Strategy map showing the potential in the Borough for a dense network of routes with a high level of service (i.e. over 80%).

He also introduced the possibility of secure on street parking hangers and the tool library at Stratford Mobile Garden.

As part of Newham “New Deal” was a new deal for roads involving investing over £100m over the next ten years.  There was potential to ensure cycling was adequately integrated into this vision.

Slides and on-line maps available from me.

Also we:

• noted the acquisition of a cargo trailer that can be made available to anyone who would like to borrow it;
• discussed the LCC Sign for cycling Campaign;
• confirmed our Annual meeting for 11 April at Eat 16 cafe, at which light refreshments will be served; and
• decided that the first in the summer series of evening rides will take place on 23 May and will visit Walthamstow Village improvements.

Arnold