A lot has been going on and and there is still more to come. The Council have been working hard and with some success. We have been in close contact and are assisting as much as possible.
Here is a summary update of the cycling developments:
- The joint low traffic neighbourhood with Waltham Forest, from Leyton Rd to Forest Gate north of the railway line, (see post of 6 August) has now secured external funding and physical barriers (modal filters) are in place. There has been a delay in procuring cameras for those modal filters that are not physical – hopefully not for too long.
- Planning is in hand for 2 further low traffic neighbourhoods for which external funding has also been secured – a small one in Stratford Village and a major one covering the rest of the area from Water Lane to Manor Park north of the Romford Road. These need to be implemented before the end of October if the external funding is not be be at risk.
- Plans are at an advanced stage for the first phase of making Romford Rd better for cycling, for which external funding has been secured. It is based on our suggestion of making bus lanes 24 hour, converting cycle lanes to mandatory 24 hours with segregation, and removing pinch points. Unfortunately our suggestion of a 20 mph limit has not been taken up. further work to deal with bus stops will be expensive adn is depended on further external funding.
- No application was made to improve the Barking Road.
- Existing Schools Streets are due to be restarted and more are envisaged. These would be self funded.
- Self funding hs been used to restart some soft support measures like cycle training.
The focus of the Council and ourselves is on implementation of these schemes, which if put in place will mark a step change in the borough. We shall be looking at other schemes, both large and small, when the heat has died down a bit on these.
Should you wish to know more please contact me. And in any event keep supporting cycle infrastructure improvements and keep making suggestions for improvements on the Council’s portal. This will help keep the current momentum going.
Arnold