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NOTES OF HFCYCLISTS MEETING Tuesday 7 December, 715 for
7.30pm These notes have been written by John Griffiths and approved or revised for accuracy by Chris Bainbridge. Some things not introduced at the meeting may have been added to give a clearer picture of matters. PRESENT: Ayse Kardes, John Griffiths, Jose Maliran, Gerry Berridge, David Marsh, Chris Bainbridge, Susie Gretz, Melanie Miller, Yvonne Simpson, Loretta Leehill. APOLOGIES: Ruth Mayorcas, Octavio Moreno, Roger de Freitas, Martha LaGess, Loretta Reehill, John Wright, Paul Saunderson, Marta Wojcik WELCOME TO ANY NEW PEOPLE LCC's DOUBLE OUR VOICE CAMPAIGN Gerry has undertaken to spearhead our drive on this matter and plans to meet Gerhard on Sunday to discuss the way forward. Jose says he will help. WEBSITE REDESIGN Octavia unable to come along tonight as ill, but John will meet him soon to discuss way forward. Jose says he is willing to give input, especially if we want to include translations into Farsi. It would be good to reach all people. KING STREET DEVELOPMENT Melanie Whitlock, Chair of the Hammersmith Society, has written to John stating that Nigel Playfair Avenue (to west of Town Hall, leading to subway which comes out in Furnival Gardens) will be raised in its entirety as a ramped pedestrian walkway leading to a pedestrian-only footbridge over the A4, descending via ramps into Furnival Gardens. Cycling is specified as not permitted, and the old subway will remain (accessed via Cromwell Avenue, next along to the west) as the default cycle route. Chris had understood that although cyclists would be encouraged to use the subway, which would remain, rather than the bridge, cyclists would not be prohibited from using the bridge. He would not personally favour a prohibition on cyclists using the bridge. Chris said that several years ago a surface level crossing of the A4 was seriously considered, but with today's view of the priority of keeping the traffic flowing, that would not be acceptable. The proposed ramp in Furnivall Gardens, which curls back on itself, takes out a large part of the gardens. In the past John had hoped for an earthwork barrier to lessen noise from the A4 in Furnivall Gardens. However this would not take much space from the gardens. See http://www.saveourskyline.co.uk if you want to find out more or comment either way on the planning proposal. Comments have to be in by 4 January 2011 RESULTS OF HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE
SURVEY These results include Chris pointed out that if the Council was doing a survey they would not ask leading questions. However John does not think that the questions were at all leading, though the context in which they are put, ie associated with a campaign and showing photos of a bus in the narrow part of the bridge, may influence people. FULHAM PALACE ROAD SURFACE
LEVEL CROSSING near Apollo CYCLING SUPER HIGHWAY 9 is
coming somewhere near you This shows the proposed route of the blue painted route from Hounslow to Hammersmith via Chiswick High Road, and then there are two proposals via the A4 or the A315 Kensington High Street. The roadway of the A4 Talgarth rd is pretty horrendous to cycle along. Melanie thought that if there was a wide cycle lane it would be comfortable for cyclists, but as there is little room for a lorry to move out when overtaking you, I would not think it comfortable. However there are a few more cyclists now on that stretch of road than before. Chris said the original plan had been for the route to follow the A4 but LB Hounslow were very keen on the route using Chiswick and Brentford High road. Several options for taking the route across Hammersmith. One option may be to use Nigel Playfair Avenue to access the A4 pavement, use the surface level crossings to get to the Apollo, the new surface level crossing of Fulham Palace rd, back to the novotel, and along the pavement. The brick wall of the college would have to be moved back . But there are further problems along this stretch going to Tescos. Crossing Gliddon rd and North End rd with traffic always flowing on them, and getting past people waiting to cross the A4 to get to West Kensington stn. The A4 is a TfL road. RBK&C
is not too keen on spoiling its Kensington High street with blue paint.
David said when the traffic is congested it is very difficult to get through
Kensington High street. As you have to meander every which way to get
through perhaps a strip of blue paint no use, unless you paint the whole
road blue. Chris is going to a meeting with TfL and RBKC to clarify matters
the day after our meeting. If you want to pass any comments to LCC before 20 December on problems with this route please see the link above. These will be collated by Gerhard and fed into TfL. Later there will be consultations, CHIP, equivalent to a CRIM, CRISP, on the route through Hammersmith which we will be invited to join. These organised by some authority. The timetable is The Draft LIP is available
online, as agenda item 6, pp22 to 122 Chris mentioned some positive things for cyclists, and also mentioned the drivers training of cycle awareness for HGV drivers which has recently won a special LCC award and is strongly featured in the current "London Cyclist". The draft LIP is considered a consultative document, but so far little input from us would appear to have been recognised. Chris said that about 100 messages supporting walking and cycling had carried some weight. The consultative bit from now on is that TfL is going to say what they want, and we can say again what we want, if we want. This period will end in April 2011. The expenditure for the first year is already set in stone, so that would not appear very consultative. The next 2 years is a little more flexible. We wanted to know whether there was any chance of the things we had asked for happening. Ie 20mph on Hammersmith Bridge, 20mph generally for residential streets, and better policing of parking regulations on cycle lanes. These are not mentioned in the draft LIP. Chris pointed out that though these things had not been written in, they also had not been written out. On Hammersmith Bridge already about one third of the peak traffic is cycles. The bridge would not appear to deter many cyclists, says Chris. The answer is you do not know how many cyclists are not cycling on it by looking at the cyclists cycling on it, says Susie. In a survey by the consultants Halcrow they suggested traffic signals to direct alternate single one lane flows between the narrow parts of the bridge. The impediment to traffic flows ruled this out. However if such a suggestion was made in all seriousness someone somewhere ought to take on board that the bridge is a real problem for cyclists. Perhaps the best way forward is to look at the problems cyclists cause for pedestrians on the footway. This would come under a section of the LIP to do with improving conditions for walking and cycling. We should show that there are a large number of cyclists on the pavement. Chris has already said that a large number of cyclists on the footway is a sign of problems on the road. Perhaps a survey of pedestrians on the footway asking if they would like to see a 20mph limit on the roadway of the bridge, which may reduce cyclists numbers on the footway. Susie would be keen to help with this. We may also be able to do it on-line via one or more of the local papers. One possibility may be to look at the engineering side and compare the situation to Tower Bridge where a 20mph limit has been put on to prolong the life of the bridge. More than 15% of the vehicles going southbound on Hammersmith Bridge between 7am and 3pm are going at over 30mph. The bridge has needed to be closed several times for repairs. The impact forces on a bridge where the road surface is not very good increases significantly when vehicle speeds go from 20mph to 35mph. Do any engineers out there want to pursue this? The Council has specified which areas are to receive special calming measures. Wendell Park is next. Islington and Southwark are doing trials on general 20mph zone at the moment, so the results of these will be available in a year or so. Following the results of this perhaps the way forward is to show the cost / benefit case for a general zone over many separate zones with calming measures. But that is something the Council should be doing, not us. We have yet to hear from Paul Bambro of the MET police as to whether the police may take an interest in targeting speeding motorists. On improving the policing of parking regulations, the Council already depends on money from parking fines to finance many transport related matters. Perhaps they will do more. LEGALITY OF CYCLING BESIDE
THE RIVER on Upper and Lower Mall. John has noticed some large red signs with white lettering saying something like "authorised vehicles only" as you enter the malls from side streets. Not sure if they were there before. RIDES, ETC? DATE / PLACE OF NEXT MEETING
AOB John Griffiths [chair / co-ordinator]
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