NOTES
Present: Casey Abaraonye, Peri Abaraonye, Richard Duffill, Aidan Chisholm, Christian Wolmar, Henrietta Bewley, Beatrice Goater, Natalie Lindsey, Barney Stringer
Update from the council by Richard Duffill, LBHF Cycling Officer: Adult Cycle Training, Cycle Parking, E-scooters and E-bikes
Council had planned to book 6 Dr Bike sessions and cycle training for adults. Cancelled due to Covid19 restrictions
Aiden advised that Westminster council are looking at promoting cycle buddy scheme to help confidence of eg key workers cycling to work. LBHF would like to start this within the borough. HFCycling was looking at this before the rounds of restrictions came in and we will look to institute it when conditions allow.
Cycle parking. The borough successfully bid for funding for a further 200 more Sheffield stands. Most of these will be allocated around commercial hubs but if anyone has a request for a specific location please email richard.duffill@lbhf.gov.uk.
Beatrice Goater asked about parking for cargo bikes. LBHF looking at putting in anchor points in the ground, similar to motorbike. Looking at dedicated cargo bike parking unit. Regrettably Richard also informed us that a community charity delivering meals on e cargo bikes has been broken into. Council looking at storage container. If anyone has a request for a cargo bike parking unit please email us at hfcyclists@lcc.org.uk.
Looking at new cycle hub under the motorway in Hammersmith. This has been a long planned project. It is being built this spring.
Casey: Belgium and Holland have attended bike storage in shops in town or commercial centres. They allow people to park, shop, visit and use town centre facilities with ease and security.
Tfl announced that they have allocated money for bike parking. Richard suggested that this might be the pot of money they had just allocated, from which he had bid for funding for parking. We noted that ULEZ money can be used for sustainable transport.
King Street Safer Cycleway and Chiswick High Road
Hounslow temporary cycle lane mostly up and open.
King St will put in wands soon, including through Gyratory, to connect with Hounslow. Semi permanent. Will have adjustments to signals.
Henrietta asked about Goldhawk road and Uxbridge road temporary cycle lanes to join up with the Ealing semi permanent cycle lanes west from Acton. Richard Duffill said that the council was unable to remove enough car parking.
Natalie pointed out that there is no cycle provision at all in Fulham. Can we have a serious look at the Wandsworth Bridge Road? It needs proper protected lane. There is no alternative parallel route.
Casey also pointed out that New Kings Road has the highest number of cyclists in the borough and an abysmal safety record.
High Street Kensington – latest developments on the removed cycle lane
RBKC are reviewing the removal of cycle lane. They have been threatened with judicial review. https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/parking-transport-and-streets/getting-around/cycling-and-walking/kensington-high-street-cycle-scheme
Cycle Buddy Scheme – Organising our participation
This is an LCC initiative for people who are more confident and know routes to help new or returning cyclists. It is to help build road confidence and help plan and discover routes that might encourage independent riding. More details at https://www.lcc.org.uk/pages/cyclebuddies
H&F cyclists had started leading gentle, shorter rides for less confident cyclists. All activities are suspended at present but you may register your interest for when they become available again.
Dr Bike and similar by LBHF, HFCycling, Oma Bikes, including bike registration and marking
Bike marking is sometimes done by the police. RD said Lyric theatre has bike marking kits. We strongly recommend that you register your bike as it not only enables cursory checks to see if a bike is marked as stolen but it allows the police to reunite a recovered bike with it’s owner. As proprietors of Oma Bikes, Casey and Peri register every bike they sell and have had success stories where clients’ stolen bikes have been returned to them by police following checking the register.
Please look for the frame number – often under the pedals. Go to bikeregister.com and create an account to register your bike. You can use their free service or upgrade to their permanent marking kit which we recommend you put in a prominently visible location. If you have a bike that doesn’t have a frame number you can use permanent marker to put your post code and door number or other identifier on the frame.
Old Oak Park development – discussions with the planning authority
This covers the area Around Old Oak common and is a HS2 development. It is to provide housing and regeneration and Ealing, Brent and H&F LCC representatives met with senior figures from the Oak Park Development Corporation, the local planning authority. RD said that LBHF had also had meetings with the same authority and said that neither TfL nor H&F were satisfied. He said that none of Old Oak Common designs were accepted. Both LCC and RD concluded that they didn’t meet design standards; no strategic routes, not joined up, no idea where it was going etc. No planning for transport strategy to dedicated services. We had recommended that OPDC go back and start again.
Fulham Low Traffic Neighbourhoods update
Sands End east, west, residents associations etc met in December with further meetings scheduled to continue in the future. Residents from the west are urging the council to implement an LTN on their side while residents from the east are working out the bugs and kinks with the council team. There remains opposition from various residents on both sides and the Wandsworth Bridge Road Association has taken up the position that Wandsworth Road should be made one way northbound with southbound traffic routed through Imperial and Townmead Roads.
Beatrice Goater pushed for one vehicle northbound lane Wandsworth Bridge road, cycle lane and bus lane, and one Southbound vehicle lane Imperial & Townmead Road, with a cycle lane and bus lane. Junction of Townmead road and Wandsworth Bridge Road has a limit of 400 cars an hour, so would reduce traffic capacity.
Doesn’t want yellow boxes on Wandsworth Bridge Road as they make the road more dangerous to cyclists.
Wandsworth Bridge Road is the local high street with shops and restaurants etc.
The council at its last meeting with the residents showed what the impacts of current traffic flows are and how they would introduce both more traffic volume and greater stacking if this gyratory was implemented.
Casey pointed out that between reduced demand from an LTN on the west side and permanent streetscape interventions and redesign you could both reduce traffic and massively improve the feel and utility of the road.
Natalie Lindsey: campaign to get all the roads in the borough 20mph. Most are. The main roads used by cyclists – new kings road, Fulham road etc are 30mph.
CARGO BIKES AND E – SCOOTER TRIALS
H&F working on tender for e scooter trial. Council evaluating the tender submissions. 12 month trial. Choice between 2 or 3 suppliers across London. So users can ride the scooter across boroughs.
Will speed limit and are looking at technological applications that could vary the speed according to the area. This would allow for slower speeds in busier footfall areas and full restriction in pedestrianised squares and walks.
Hope to have first 100 scooters in April. Will increase numbers according to demand.
Those that already have them are finding most scooters are being hired 7 to 8 times a day.
Meanwhile LBHF are in discussions with Police to crack down on private scooters (!)
Henrietta Bewley: Given that accidents are overwhelmingly caused by vehicles, shouldn’t we be limiting the speed of vehicles rather than e scooters?
Barney Stringer: all new cars will have speed limiters from 2025.
Cargo bike share/ hire: LBHF are looking at purchasing a dozen cargo bikes to rent. Some of the questions that arise include: Where do we store them? Need storage with electric charging points and if dockless, streetspace and clutter mnagement.
Hounslow already have a scheme up and running.
Beatrice Goater: Cargo bike. She uses one to take her children around. They got rid of their car. Their children are 6 and 8 and big enough to cycle themselves, but the roads are too dangerous without cycle lanes.
The “Othering” of activists – Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter and popular push back
Looking at how activists are now being tagged, labelled and dismissed we discussed the need to be aware of this form of silencing and to open the discussion on the de-representation of parties, bodies, groups using this approach. It is one of the tragic legacies of the last few years of mis- and dis-information. Please read this blog by Karen Liebreich as it applies to cyclists. It is being used against various groups seeking anything from parity, ecological responsibility or social equality.
Rides status and outreach
Group rides are not allowed with Covid19. In the previous weeks it was allowed to go out in a pair – rules might have changed by the time you read this. At this time LCC is not organising or permitting any activity and no insurance cover is currently provided for any rides or cycle buddy schemes. Dr Bike type activities are still permitted subject to registration. HFCycling is not organising any of these at the moment.
