Category: Readouts

A goodly crew of 15 gathered in Durning Hall, Forest Gate on 28 January for our first meeting of 2019 and the first for a couple of months. There were a number of interesting developments.

• We discussed the briefing given by Murray Woodburn on Newham’s Local Implementation Plan (LIP) which is the bid for money from TfL for infrastructure projects. The bid has not yet gone to TfL to the change in the responsible Newham Cabinet Member, who had yet to approve it, and we were not shown any specific details. However from what Murray was able to show us from the general principles governing the bid were strong on sustainable transport. This year TfL are scrutinising LIP bids closely to ensure they contribute to the Mayor of London’s Vision and LCC itself is also looking at them closely. If the bid meets the principles it should pass these tests and, more importantly, progress sustainable transport in Newham.
• Queeen Elizabeth Olympic Park: Following our letter on the inadequacies of the cycling provision in the Park (see earlier post), we have sent objections to LLDC in respect of the cycling provision included in the Stratford Waterfront proposal. Jonathan will represent us at the next meeting of LLDC’s Sustainable & Active Travel Group. Olawale is pursing a possible link with the Bobby Moore Academy which is also interested in pushing sustainable transport.
• Olawale updated us on an audit rides of the Ilford – Barking-Barking Riverside and CS3 – Barking routes. He also reported that the “Ilford Gardens” scheme to improve Ilford Hill and the Romford Rd /North Circular junction was lilkely to start this year.
• We decided to pursue an invitation from Stratford Original, the local Business Improvement District Group, to mark the completion of the Stratford gyratory works (when it happens). We are also pursuing various issues connected with these works.
• We will contribute to the relaunch of hte Redbridge LCC group.
• Our ride season has kicked off (see previous post). we tweaked our calendar.

Arnold

A packed agenda stimulated some lively discussion.

• Mike updated on the Greenwich and Woolwich footunnels, .  We will pursue with Newham Council the updating of the bye-laws – which include pilot schemes permitting cycling, but may need adjustment to accommodate non-standard cycles.
• Steve led discussion on rides.  The last ride of the year with the AAA children’s cycle club will take place on 3 November with (possibly) a  ride to the Fireworks later that evening, and a short Newham Ride with a heritage theme on 11 November.

  Steve is working on next year’s ride calendar.  The starting point will be this year’s rides, which have been successful in particular in attracting participants from outside Newham.    We are looking for a broad range of ride leaders and can arrange training through LCC.  If you have a ride you would be able to lead get in touch.

• We celebrated our campaigning award on Stratford Town Centre  (note, no longer a gyratory), particularly for Olawale who was not at the the LCC AGM to receive it.
  The scheme has rightly been recognised for its quality.  Some construction issues were highlighted and a further audit ride is planned.  In the longer term we need to remain alert on 20mph, conflicts with pedestrians, and rat running in the margins of the scheme.
• We are planning a audit ride for Quietway 22 (the Greenway), and discussed out continuing concerns with Quietway 6, across the north of the Borough which still under development  .
• We highlighted points to raise with Newham Council’s Sustainable Transport Officer (which will be posted separately following a meeting with him.)

• Finally :
  (a) Bike for Boleyn are holding a Quiz Night on 23 November at East ham Working Mens Club, 7.30pm.
  (b) Waltham Forest have expressed a desire to associate with our initiative on the QE Olympic Park – there being a meeting of the LLDC Sustainable Transport Group following July’s audit ride shortly.

Arnold

A substantial gathering of 13  eventually gathered to occupy a corner of the the Golden Fleece. Discussion was, as usual, lively and interesting.

• We started with a presentation by Michael Barratt, TfL’s Development Impact Assessment Manager, who has enormous expertise on alleviating the adverse impact of development works on walkers and cyclists.   He was seeking our assistance to apply a “3 Tier Assessment Works Assessment” process, the first tier involving cycling and walking,  the area of the proposed works with the contractor and determining the challenges (particularly for those with disabilities and adapted bikes) and the space available to meet them.  Tier 2 is to design alleviating measures.  Fort his purpose TfL’s Temporary Traffic Management Handbook (currently in draft) is very helpful. Tier 3 is feedback during works.

From the Newham perspective the major current works are at Stratford which is proceeding reasonably well.  Michael has assisted us recently in improving this and the more problematic  works at Bow Flyover on CS2.

The meeting was receptive to pursuing this for future significant works and we will pick up with our Newham Council contacts how to do this effectively.  Most roads in Newham are the borough’s responsibility (as opposed to TfL).

In the meantime any comments on the Stratford works can be sent to our contact e-mail for collation and submission to the responsible Newham Officer.

• Newham are consulting on a “liveable neighbourhood” scheme likely to form the borough’s bid for TfL funding – in the Freemason’s Rd area.  There is currently a high level consultation to which we will reply but as usual individual responses would be helpful.
• Richard will be taking forward, with an interested group, the idea of offering councillors bespoke rides with a walking /cycling perspective.
•  A proposed letter concerning the QE Olympic Park will be taken forward with LCC HQ and other interested boroughs being invited to participate.
• Newham Cyclists and Newham Living Streets will take forward a letter concerning the cost of parking permits, a draft of which was discussed.
• A busy October in prospect with an Fix your Ride stall on  13th, an Essex lanes Ride on 14th, Bike from Boleyn on 20th, and an AAA bike fixing stall on 27th.  Volunteers for stalls  always welcome and if you are interested and have not already volunteered please get in touch via the contact e-mail.

Arnold

Despite the absence of some regulars 20 of us assembled in the Garden of the View Tube Cafe to participate in a lively meeting.

1. Bill had sent in a note of the financial position which was a balance of £879.20 thanks in part to donations from the  Fix My Ride stall since April of £241.43 (£119.21 from the forest Gate Festival).  Some of that will be needed to replenish stocks.  Our payment for providing the RideLondon feeder ride from Stratford is to come.
2. We discussed the fact that Newham was one of the few London Boroughs to provide free parking for a fist car for households in its in its parking zones.  We decided to put together a first draft of a letter to the Mayor, the responsible Cabinet Member and interested Councillors, setting out our view in the context of promoting  sustainable transport;  and to approach other interested bodies  (e.g. Living Streets, Newham CCG) with a view to putting the case jointly.
3. Arnold outlined the results of the catch up meeting of 13 July with the Sustainable Transport Officer of Newham Council.  This chart provides a summary of the position:
   Newham Cyclists Issues of Interest July 2018
   and this document (the LIP) sets out planned spending in 2018-19 on various cycle projects intended to be implemented by Newham Council.
   LIP PROGRAMME 2018-19 V
   Please let me know if you have any comments or questions on either of these documents.
4. We intend to be represented on an audit ride of the  CS3 extension to Barking being conducted by Newham Council.
5. We debriefed on the RideLondon feeder from Stratford.   It did have very positive feedback from the participants (74 going and approximately 30 returning).  In particular we will examine alternatives to CS2  from Mile End to Aldgate.
6. The next Bike from Boleyn ride is sceduled for 20 October.  If you would like to help put this in your diaries.  There are plans to link it with a street party/festival at the site of the World cup Statue.
7. We decided to organise another sequence of bike fixing and rides for the children’s cycle club at Ambition, Aspire, Achieve for September/early October.  The feedback on the rides so fr this year has been very positive and those helping have found it very satisfying.
8. We brainstormed how Brampton Primary might find some bikes for its bike club and where there might be some old bikes for reconstruction by Pro Bike Service.
9. There have been some events on the Greenway organised by Sustrans and Newham Council.he section north of Stratford high St is due to open (at long last) next year. It includes (a) a 4m path (as per the rest of the sections between Wick Lane and Canning Road) with the legacy fencing/concrete blocks that the council is negotiating with LLDC to remove so we can install lighting and CCTV (b)  alarge bridge area next to the rail line (c) the possible reopening of the closed City Mill River Path on the north side of the Greenway which would that offeran additional high quality future connection, being more direct to UCL/Stadium Island etc and (d) a ramp, constructed by Crossrail, to Marshgate Lane.Since the meeting I have asked about the overhead lighting in the section of the  Greenway north of the View Tube.  Apparently they have never worked but there is permission for the power connection which should take place this month.
10. Our Canterbury to Ramsgate ride takes place on Sunday 5 August.
11. There was a long discussion, based on Jonathan’s Report (below) on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.  It was clearly disappointing how little regard LLDC had for cycling facilities, how little understanding of what was acceptable and how much it was promoting rat running.  Noe of this is particularly surprising given its poor track record.  A ray of light is that the Newham Councillors now on the LLDC Planning Committee had an understanding of cycle issues.  We decided to draft another letter  expressing our concerns and seek to act in partnership with neighbouring borough groups.  We would also examine the possibility of putting the QEOP forward as a Low Traffic Neighbourhood in an attempt to halt the current adverse trend.

Arnold

This was held on 21 May to avoid a bank holiday.  In the evening sunshine we took a quick ride around the rat runs of Manor Park,  between the Romford Road and East Av/Plashet Grove, either side of High Street North, leaving time for discussion in the garden of the Golden Fleece afterwards.

On Manor Park, Adam suggested how through traffic could be stopped by point road closures leaving groups of streets accessible (each group shown as the same colour on this map):

We decided to-

• discuss the problem and possible solutions with Newham Council’s Sustainable Transport Officer and Newham Living Streets;
• invite ideas for possible solutions.  If you have ideas or would like to participate in developing ideas please get in touch, by 10 June, to newham@lcc.org.uk and ratrunningssshm@gmail.com);
•  continue to raise awareness of local residents, schools etc;
• inform the new local councillors.

We discussed how to run our Freecycle feeder ride on 28 July.  We are looking at a new route.  Marshals are needed.  If you can help and have not already indicated please let me know on newham.lcc.org.uk  again by 10 June.

We were not impressed with the plans for Q6 Temple Mill Lane/Leyton Rd jucntion and will be renewing our objections.  It is imperative that the quietways reach an decent quality.  otherwise they will waste public money on infrastructure that will not attract cyclists.

We decided to run a programme of Councillor Rides to reinforce with our new Council the potential of and benefits from cycling in Newham.

Out third cycle of bike maintenance and ride with Ambition, Aspire, Achieve goes ahead over teh next two Saturdays.

Arnold

A lively Annual Meeting, with refreshment, was held at the East Ham Working Mens Club on 30 April 2018.  A turnout of 24 members and guests heard an interesting presentation by Dr Rachel Aldred, an LCC Trustee, on cycle safety.  She has undertaken a study which examined the various factors contributing to cycle safety such s the nature of the roads, the amount of traffic, the presence of bus lanes, speed limits and the number of cyclists.  One of her findings was that safety improved with a 20mph speed limit irrespective whether it was enforced or not.

This finding was complemented by Jeremy Leach from Living Streets London and 20’s Plenty who provided an optimistic view of recent developments including forthcoming speed limiters for buses.

Gerard Bailey, Chairman of Bike from Boleyn, thanked us for our contribution to the successful ride of thee previous day.

In addition to the matters raised in the report (see earlier post):

• Newham Cyclists and Living Streets Newham jointly   met with the (now) Mayor of Newham, at her invitation;  she  subsequently pledged to submit a bid to TfL for a Low Traffic Neighbourhood.
• Some residents in Manor Park are now wanting to take action against rat-running .  We will seek to assist.

On the business side the following Officers were elected for 2018-19:

• Joint co-ordinators, Kerena Fussell and Arnold Ridout
• Treasurer, Bill Bremner
• Infrastructure Rep, Olawale Ajibola
• Ride co-ordinator, Steve Smith.

The Accounts for 2017-18, the Budget for 2018-19 and the Annual  Report (see earlier post) were all approved.

Arnold

A turnout of over 20 , including 2 Council Officers and two prospective Councillors participated in an interesting meeting:

• Murray Woodburn, currently Head of Highways and Traffic  at Newham Council and Richard Wadey, Sustainable Transport Officer, presented Newham Council’s new Cycle Strategy (see earlier post) and answered a wide range of questions on it.  This discussion will inform further analysis planned for the annual report to be presented to the annual meeting on 30 April.
•  This discussion also informed our further discussion on Living Streets where the emerging priorities (which, for this exercise combine practicality and political attraction) are for areas without through traffic in (a) the north of the Borough, (b) the Freemasons Rd/Custom house area, and (c) Green St area, plus enhancing corridors  (a) the Romford Rd, (b) Barking Rd, (c) Leyton Rd, and (d) A117.
• The Council’s next LIP bid (for funding for transport projects) is due to be submitted to TfL in September  and there will only be a short time for this to be consulted upon.
• A follow up audit ride of Stratford Gyratory will be organised.
• We approved payment of £238.10 for the rebuild by Bill of our “Fix Your Ride” trailer.
• We had a preliminary discussion of what next years’ budget may look like.
• Francois Donnard presented the cycling offer  that Decathalon at Beckton was making involving supply of bikes and spares as well as training.  This looked a promising avenue to explore further.
• Newham council have announced that their partnership for dockless bikes (a pilot of approximately 6 months schemes in West Ham and Royal Docks) will be with Mobike. This is not the LCC preferred supplier.

Arnold

 

 

A good turnout of 16 mustered at the Velodrome on a bitterly cold evening.

We we rewarded with a really interesting presentation and discussion with Michael Barratt,  TfL’s development impact assessment lead, who leads a team using innovative (and co-operative) methods to mitigate the impact from London’s major construction projects, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.  He has already provided very helpful assistance to us on the Stratford Gyratory Project.

Given the plethora of development in Newham the approach he described should be very beneficial.  This includes liaising with (a) constructors direct and through any “Consider Constructor” type scheme, (b) the Council, and (c) using TfL’s reporting tool,and the draft TfL Traffic Management Handbook.

We agreed run a feeder from Stratford to the Free Cycle on 28 July 2018.  If you are able to help marshal this important event please put the date into your diary.

Steve outlined the ride programme to date and forthcoming events.  Our 2 country lane drides have attracted participants from all over London  Our local leisure rides start this Sunday, weather permitting.

Our partnership with AAA got off to a successful start with a bike checking session followed the next week by a Greenway ride.

We decided to put in a collective response the LB Redbridge’s consultation on its “Ilford Garden Junction” which includes in the plan a two way cycle track on the north side of the Romford Rd linking the existing track to the Tunnel Ave and the Roding Way,  under the North Circular Rd; andthe creation of a “pocket park” .  Please also respond to this very straightforward consultation as individuals supporting the scheme and, in section 3 on cycling adding the comment that the cycle provisions to be included phase 1 – the only phase to be funded so far.

Olawale updated the meeting on current infrastructure issues:

•  the removal of a point closure at Glenparke Rd/Palmerston Rd; this was regarded a a retrograde step that will encourage rat running  in an area ripe for creating a “village” without through traffic.
• A link between CS3 and Barking along Jenkins Lane, which is generally beneficial but has some issues of concern which have been transmitted to the Council’s Sustainable Transport Officer.
• a huge development in the offing at Stephenson St which ought to  improve connectivity e.g. between West Ham Station and the Leaway and under the District Line.  However the initial transport plan needs careful consideration as to the benefits to cycling that should derive from this scheme.

The Channelsea Ramp on the Greenway has been opened and now provides an excellent off road link from the Greenway to Stratford Town Centre. There have however been a number of attacks targeting cyclists o the Greenway.  It is helpful to record personal experiences with the Greenway Users Group.

There was a general discussion on the implications of the recent Councillor selection process by local labour party wards.

Arnold

17 of us squeezed in our last minute venue – Forest Gate Arts, with an  agenda that was equally  packed and interesting.

Dockless Bike Hire: Fraser from Ofo bikes spoke to us about the company, their bikes and the dockless system, their plans, and their  discussions with Newham Council with a view to introducing them into the borough.  We were even able to try one out!  

The company is a partner of LCC and ultimately plans 150,000 bikes in London, starting in Islington and Hackney and focusing on surrounding boroughs.  Newham is therefore a natural point of expansion.

Sad news:  The bike shop Pave Velo has closed in the QE Olympic Park.

Ambition, Aspire, Achieve: we plan to go forward with this partnership by providing bike fixing stalls at the children’s cycle club on 17 February, 28 April and 26 May with short Greenway based rides on the weks following – 24 February, 5 May and 2 June. These are all Saturdays between 10am and 1pm.  If you are able to help (and haven’t already volunteered) please let me know.

Forest Gate to Wanstead Link: This is a new subject.  Given how appalling Centre Rd is, it is difficult to cycle directly to Wanstead from Forest Gate.  We decided to do some preliminary investigation, by a ride of the route; and also to see if there is a group in Redbridge who would be interested in pursuing this with us.

Bike from Boleyn:  Next ride is April 14.  Although this is some way off marshals are needed.  So if you can help put this date in your diary and let me know.

Stratford Gyratory:  an audit of the works was undertaken with Newham Council’s project manager, the Met Police Safety Unit and Michael Barratt, TfL’s Development Impact Assessment Lead, who promotes innovative methods to mitigate the impact of major construction projects.  His subsequent report highlights the various “hotspots” and recommends what can be done to mitigate.  The main action point for us is to lobby the constructors who are taking up disproportionate space in Great Eastern Street (which is separate  to Gyratory project).  We agreed to invite Michael to our next meeting. The audit could usefully be repeated in a few months.

Liveable Neighbourhoods: This is the focus of LCC election campaign.  It involves identifying at least one good project for local groups to push for in the next round of applications for TfL funding.  Newham Council has so far not made any applications.  In preliminary discussions  a number of potential schemes were identified which could be part of a future campaign.  This will need to be picked up as it becomes clearer who the local candidates are likely to be.  Olawale is attending a workshop on the broader campaign for Liveable Neighbourhoods.

Ultra-Low Emission Zone:  We agreed to respond to the current TfL consultation, pushing for more stringent measures – quicker.

Annual meeting:  This will take place on 30 April.

Arnold

 

 

 

 

 

We tried a new venue, the Atherton Leisure Centre.  Once the disappointment of coffee not being available from the cafe was overcome it was deemed a success by our turnout of 11.

• The main concern was the poor to outright dangerous temporary provisions for cyclists on CS2  at the Stratford Gyratory,  Letts Rd, and Strand East works.

We decided to invite TfL, local Councillors and Newham officials on a ride to experience the difficulties for themselves.

• We will respond to consultations concerning planned works at Dames Rd, Tollgate Rd and Pier Rd.  All illustrate the lack of a coherent approach to cycling in the borough; and the TfL plans for Pier Rd are simply poor quality, with token and ineffectual cycle provision.
• We had a preliminary discussion on LCC proposed campaign around the local elections on living streets and areas without through traffic.  Both are significant issues in Newham.
• We discussed and progressed our ride programme for 2018.
• We welcomed two cycle workshops in and around the borough, at Leytonstone Road and in the Community Garden at the eastern corner of Honor Lea Avenue.
• The bike maintenance training for women is fully subscribed and will go ahead this autumn.
• Our next meeting will be primarily social.  watch this space for details