Readout from 30 October 2023 Meeting

In relation to rides, the Bike from Boleyn ride has taken place since the last meeting and went well. There will be a local Newham Ride on 12 November.

There has been a maintenance session for the children’s cycle club of Ambition, Aspire, Achieve at the ARC. There is still work to be done at their Abbey Hub and the meeting indicated at willingness to seek to arrange this in November or December. If you are interested in either maintenance of helping with a Saturday children’s ride let me know.

There was a Fix Your Ride session at Woodgrange Market on 14 October 2023 and the last one of the year (i.e. 2023) is scheduled to take place on 11 November 2023.

On infrastructure:

  • A report on the last monthly meeting with the Romford Road Active Travel Team (RRATS) is available. The completion of the current phase #1 has now been put back to December 2023 with phase #2 (eastern end , Dersingham Ave to Ilford Hill) due to start in January 2024 next year. NC have been emphasising the need for good publicity for the scheme given the piecemeal approach to this project. The Council are planning a public event in November. The meeting expressed frustration at the delay in opening the sections of phase 1 that appear to be complete.
  • There is also available a report on the useful Newham Liveable Neighbourhoods (LN) team organised audit ride of 26 September of schemes around the Romford Rd, western end. There was a good turnout from the Newham Council new Liveable Neighbourhoods (LN) and Transport for Lonon (TfL) teams, including Michael Barratt – a longstanding friend of NC.

    The audit ride looked at the schemes in the recently created (from 2020) Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN’s) in the Stratford, Maryland and Forest Gate areas which have now been made permanent and examined a possible new LTN scheme bounded by Vicarage Lane, Romford Rd, Ham Park Rd and Upton Lane, the major motor traffic “cut through/rat runs” runs being Ham Park Rd, Margery Park Rd and Tavistock Rd.

    NC are seeking regularly LN events of this sort. The meeting recalled that a Newham Planning Committee had recommended that Wyatt Rd should be made two-way directional for all carriageway traffic and filtered to meet the concerns of residents with regard to “cut through/rat run” issues. This is within the area under examination.

    Comments were also made about some movement of installed planter observations in the existing LTN’s.
  • Still no more news on the Woodgrange and Capel areas and a related concerning lack of information.
  • There are major developments coming up for planning permission around the North Woolwich Rd which provide opportunities for the Council to leverage funding to support local Active Travel. Specific current “planning permission” related schemes schemes include the Beckton Masterplan and the Bromley by Bow Gasworks where NC have a particular concern about the fact that the major routes providing potential Active Travel connectivity are currently designated “private roads.”

London Cycling Campaign (LCC) HQ have provided membership by ward data. NC have increased membership to 171 but membership is still heavily biased to the north of the borough. The meeting noted that the opening of new university campuses in Newham provided an opportunity for outreach, as did spreading our activities to different areas of the borough. It was also worth seeking lessons from other LCC borough groups with a more successful outreach in terms of local membership and activism.

Other business:

Next meeting provisionally set for Monday 27 November by Zoom subject to other arrangements to be notified.