Following a pleasant and instructive ride around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park we held a brisk meeting and discussed the following.
- Fix Your Ride has been busy at Woodgrange Market and will be held as part of the Forest Gate Festival on July 8th. This will be busy so volunteers as fixers or simply to discuss cycling in Newham with festival goers welcome.
- The Freecycle feeder rides from and back to Stratford was well attended and successful. Our feedback has been given to LCC HQ.
- The Brewery Ride due on 1 July has been postponed to 16 September.
- We are planning to support a Kidicle Mass ride, likely to be 22 or 23 July.
- 16 July a number of us are planning to participate in the London to Southend Ride.
- On 12 August Bexley Cyclist are organising a Family Cycle Fun day in Greenwich Park and welcome visitors. We will consider if a feeder ride is feasible.
- The refreshment and modernisation of our website is underway and work will continue in liaison with LCC.
- A local charity, the Renewal Programme, based at High Street North Manor Park, has bought a couple of electric cargo bikes in order to collect food for its foodbank. It is seeking volunteers for this project. This is the role description.
As usual a lot going on in respect of infrastructure
- We have submitted objections to the formal planning application for Crown Wharf.
- We have written to the Council urging progress on LTN’s 5 and 6 (Woodgrange and Capel) given that funding for this features in the Council’s capital spending list.
- We have been pursuing with the Council instances where road works have involved unnecessary blockage of cycling and walking. There is a need to keep up pressure on the Council and its contractors.
- Our FOIA request has revealed that the appalling bus priority scheme for Prince Regent Lane was undertaken without reference to the Cycling Level of Service tool in LTN 1/20, contrary to TfL’s and Newham’s own best-practice standards. The excuse given was that the preliminary design for the scheme was undertaken prior to 2018/2019, but this does not hold water: if the scheme does not meet modern standards, it should not have been funded and built in 2023 as a “Healthy Streets” scheme and should’ve been redesigned. We are considering with LCC HQ how to bring pressure to prevent TfL causing detriment to cycling through motor traffic capacity schemes masquerading as “bus priority.”
- TfL has been adding route signage to the Newham portion of Cycleway 16. We have objected to this route in the past due to junctions that range from substandard and confusing to outright dangerous, including the infamous Temple Mills Lane bus bridge. We are pleased to hear that Newham Council understands these deficiencies and is proceeding with design work to look at longer-term fixes, but our view remains that this route should not be marketed as a Cycleway in its current state and risks damaging the brand. TfL’s own Cycleway route assessment for C16 (which we have obtained via FOIA) appears to be little more than a tick-box exercise that outright ignores many of the key issues on the route.
As always, do get in touch if you would like further information on any of the matters mentioned here.