This is a response on behalf of hfcyclists as a group. Members and other interested parties have been made welcome to respond similarly and with their own concerns.
Our headline comments are:
- Provision for cycling in this scheme is not compatible with the Mayor’s Cycling Vision, your own aims for casualty reduction or a twenty-year design life. On the design life in particular we believe that the lack of coherent cycle planning in this design means if built as planned it would not last twenty years without significant and costly alterations.
- Two metre wide cycle lanes are welcome but not if they are discontinuous and disappear at junctions and bus-stops where they are most needed.
- Protected lanes should be provided given the levels of traffic on these roads and you need to make use of bus stop bypasses as seen on the Superhighway 2 extension and trialled at the Transport Research Laboratory for TfL.
- Off-street parking and loading bays may help remove these uses from the carriageway but placing them on the inside of a cycle lane creates conflict. Design should be developed that places cycle lanes inside of the bays instead.
- Two-way cycling on one-way streets is welcome but entry and exit alignments not good enough quality for Lime Grove or Pennard Road and Richford Street in particular is ignored and left no-entry despite regular use. As we stated a year ago, we want to see two-way cycling on many more streets in the borough, and support further examination of suggestions that may come in during this consultation.
- There also remain levels of pavement cycling by both children accessing local schools and adults that show provision on these major roads is not subjectively safe. Like with two-way cycling we see providing safe space on streets as an intervention that helps reduce this behaviour.
- The junction of Goldhawk Road and Hammersmith Grove has several failings chief of which is the removal of a cycle lane heading Westbound whilst widening both Westbound lanes.
- There is potential in this area to trial cyclist phases and low-level lights.
- Where innovations necessary are yet to be approved please arrange this within your existing phased delivery plan.
- Should it be necessary we would support a further consultation if it helps enable improvements to be delivered. Perhaps a forum such as that held annually by the City of London to help engage those who cycle in their area could help your plans come closer to the expectations of cyclists in your borough. More open and regular discussions ahead of consultations would be of benefit to us all.
- Additionally we note that should Ealing Council’s mini-holland bid prove successful their proposed use of Uxbridge Road for a commuter route would combine with your scheme perhaps as part of wider plans for WestTrans cycle corridors
- As it is unclear where cycle parking is to be provided we would suggest the following priorities
- Goldhawk Road Station and associated bus garage
- Shepherds Bush Market itself
- Shepherds Bush Station
- Residents on affected streets, especially Lime Grove and the fashion college
- Cyclehoop facilities could be used on posts throughout the scheme
- Bush Theatre
Continue reading response to Shepherds Bush Town Centre West consultation
