metDecember10

NOTES OF HFCYCLISTS MEETING

Tuesday 7 December, 715 for 7.30pm
at the home of Ayse Kardes
50d Longridge rd, SW5 9SH

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
We welcomed Jose who is a journalist from Persia / Iran. He used to work for the BBC World Service but now has his own business. He offered to help us in many ways. Jose asked Chris whether there could be cycle stands put in Castleton rd, W14. Chris gave his email address to where such requests could be directed. chris.bainbridge@lbhf.gov.uk

LCC's DOUBLE OUR VOICE CAMPAIGN
LCC would like to double its present paid up membership to give it a larger voice. If you are not a paid up member of the LCC please consider becoming a member and supporting LCC's campaigning efforts. There are many benefits to you. And if you are already a member think of whom you may be able to introduce to the LCC. See http://www.lcc.org.uk/

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 has been working on a design the website. John showed a couple of screen prints of his work. It has the advantage that it uses a menu system to organise the material. The relevant page is shown in a relatively small scrolling frame on the page. This is suitable for much of the material, but not for larger photos or plans.

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
John went to an anti-this meeting on the previous night. It was interesting and well orchestrated, with Trevor Nunn and Joely Richardson amongst the speakers. A gentleman from the audience added to the sense of theatre, who turned out to be Cllr Harry Phibbs. He was about the only person there in favour of the scheme.
There was much discussion along the line of lack of planning gain for affordable housing [the planning gain is Town Hall offices replacing the to-be demolished Town Hall extension, the excellent views along two stretches of the river from the 15 floor apartment buildings, and conversely the views of the buildings from a large section of the river. A large part of Furnivall Gardens will be given over to ramps leading to the footbridge. A cinema to be replaced by a supermarket. Some did not like the way the Council was pushing this through.

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
There are over 200 responses so far and the survey is still collecting responses.
The results so far as at 9 December 2010 can be seen on our website at
www.hfcyclists.org.uk/bridge.htm

These results include
a] one pdf file of all tick box replies
b] 3 pdf files of open ended questions. Note the personal data people have included is not available here.

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
Chris gave a guide to the timetable for the construction of this bus priority scheme. The money for the scheme should be secure. The timetable may be secret.
March 2011 - design finished.
April to June 2011 - Stats, ie electrical services etc moved.
July -to December 2011 build.

CYCLING SUPER HIGHWAY 9 is coming somewhere near you
See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/consult.htm

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.
LBHF has no particular preference for the A4 or King Street/Hammersmith Road but does support cycle tracks alongside the A4 between Hammersmith gyratory and the Hogarth roundabout to relieve pressure on the riverside, whether they are part of the Superhighway or not. The Council understands that TfL are developing proposals for tracks alongside the A4.

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
April 2011 CHIP
May 2011 to May 2012 design
Jan 2013 start build

CHRIS BAINBRIDGE ON THE LIP
Chris is Head of Transport Planning at LBHF. Chris helped us by explaining what is happening to the draft LIP [ Local Implementation Plan]. This is a document which the Council is legally required to produce to show how it intends to implement the Mayor of London's Transport Strategy in the borough. The Mayor's transport strategy was adopted in May this year.

The Draft LIP is available online, as agenda item 6, pp22 to 122
http://democracy.lbhf.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=1545&T=10
It is likely to be accepted by the LBHF Cabinet on 14 December, when it will be issued for consultation until the spring

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.
In some deep archive lies a 1953 Upper Mall act, and an associated very faded plan. The Act would disallow people cycling along the Malls unless they lived there or were on route to a premises on the Upper Mall, ie the Old Ship. This Act would appear to apply to only the half of the mall that was closest to the properties, and the part nearest the river would be a matter of trespass against the landowner. The penalty is a fine of 40 shillings. Tell this in a nice manner to the man that next stops you.

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?
Our Next Ride: Annual ride to White Cross in Richmond for lunch.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Time: Leaving at 10.30am [note leaving time, not meeting and hanging around time]
Meet on the platform overlooking the Thames at the end of Queen Caroline st, almost under Hammersmith Bridge
Ride to White Cross in Richmond for our traditional Xmas Lunch. Probably travelling along the towpath, which might be muddy in places. Mudguards and overtrousers help. When we get to the White Cross pub in Richmond we will meet up with riders from a number of other boroughs in S W London. Please bring lights and hi-vis wear for journey back as it may be dark. Please let John now if you expect to be coming.
Contact: John Griffiths
Telephone: 020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748
Email: john@truefeelings.com
Some people may come by other means and join us at noon at the White Cross, upstairs.
EXPENSES
John had expenses of £59.90 for refreshments for this evening and £24 for the survey website.

DATE / PLACE OF NEXT MEETING
We decided not to have a meeting in January. So the next meeting will be on Tuesday 1 February, at a place to be decided nearer the time. Meanwhile people who wish to be involved in various projects will be in touch with each other.

AOB
The evening finished in a party mood. We all thanked Chris for coming along and his very helpful input.

John Griffiths [chair / co-ordinator]
020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748
john@truefeelings.com
OUR WEBSITE www.hfcyclists.org.uk