metFeb04
MEETING of hfcyclists
WEDNESDAY 11 February 2004, 7.30pm in the info centre
Present: John Griffiths, Alan Rowden, Wolfgang, Betina Goldman [briefly], Louanne Tranchell, Chris Tranchell.
Apologies: Mark Alderton, James Joughin, Mo Morgan, Rick Boardman, Alex Forrest, Simon Franklin, Chris Bainbridge, Cllr Charlie Boyle,
CENTRAL LCC ISSUES
Alan asked about a central LCC meeting John had gone to recently. This was of a group of about 6 co-ordinators who were looking into the constitutions of local groups, and the relation between head office and borough groups. At the moment this is not fully regulated.
There are issues of whether borough groups should have a standard constitution. Should borough funds be included in LCC's financial reports? [Some groups have grant funding of £30k, but such funds are normally earmarked or restricted for special projects]. Might borough groups incur liabilities onerous in some way to LCC?
There are comparisons with the way other umbrella organisations operate, like FoE, ramblers etc.
We discussed the distinction between hfcyclists and the LCC.
If anyone wants to be more involved with the operation of this group, please contact John as below.
If you want to be more involved in LCC central issues, like problems with bikes on trains, or volunteering for things, please see www.lcc.org.uk or magazine. Alan pointed out that if you are cycling to Brighton they are not letting you take your bike back on the train.
HAMMERSMITH BROADWAY
John is not happy about the way the consultant's plans and traffic modelling for cycling improvements at the Broadway are progressing.
Through being invited as a representative of LCC to NW sector meetings for the LCN+ [London Cycling Network Plus], John knows a little of what is going on. These are planning meetings for cycling officers from the boroughs of NW London. Simon Franklin is our cycling officer and also chairs the meetings.
At a meeting on 12 November 2003 the consultants Buchanan showed their plans for cycle routes around the Broadway. I had the opportunity for a quick glance at them.
It appeared that the cycle routes included sections where cyclists would use the narrow pedestrian reserve in the middle of Hammersmith Bridge rd for example. Another section which cyclists would use was the peninsular used for pedestrian crossings at the entrance to King street. These places are sometimes quite crowded with pedestrians.
The plans [several different options] included surface level crossings at the Apollo and crossing Fulham Palace rd, but not as in our suggestion, and in a form that looked like it would considerably restrict traffic flow.
I commented on their possible unsuitability. They said they were only draft ideas.
However since then the consultant has not been in touch with me, and I my suspicion is that these options have gone through unaltered. The results were delivered to Simon early this year. Simon has not found it possible to share this with us yet for reasons of complexity of the results. He is on leave now for 2 or 3 weeks, but I hope to hear from him on his return.
It would have been better for someone to have discussed it with us. And to do traffic modelling on schemes that are practical for implementation if the modelling shows they are feasible, and which do not interfere too much with their precious cars.
Our scheme for Surface Level Crossings actually makes sense of the route put down the underpass, but I do not think that that was considered. It would also have been good to consider the effect of a 20mph speed limit.
At a further meeting of the NW sector on 4 February 2004 I expressed my concern about the way this £50k is being spent. Katie Collins and Bob Castelijn of high authority were there, whose remits perhaps involve overseeing the work of consultants. Simon did point out that I was always critical of his projects. However spending money doing expensive traffic modelling on plans that you could never implement seems to me like a waste of money.
MONEY SPENT IN THE NAME OF CYCLING
The Council spent £140k on the Priority Strategic Route that goes down the pedestrian subway under the Fulham Palace rd. It is believed that several hundred thousands of public money have been spent on OYbike, with little to show for it. Should we submit a written question to the full Council meeting asking for clarification of the amount of funds that have gone to OYbike?
It is time something was done to promote cycling, and the safety of cyclists. The Council's attitude seems to be to be seen to spend money that is from cycling funds - sod the poor cyclist.
CROSSINGS AT SW CORNER, SBG
John has written to Chris Bainbridge suggesting that the pedestrian areas of the islands be made officially shared use. They are de facto being used as shared use. In fact it has been reported that Jeremy Paxman was seen cycling in a pedestrian area of the islands.
Chris has replied saying no thank you, let us see how they operate for a year.
However there is a similar island outside Aldgate East station that has shared use. Minimal engineering changes would have to be made in our case, ie just a notice saying pedestrian priority. John will write a further pleading letter.
[strange that they are wanting to put cyclists down the busy narrow fenced-in pedestrian reserve in the centre of Hammersmith Bridge rd, and not to allow them to use the wide empty spaces available at SBG]
THE TRAM
The situation continues to be that LBHF supports the tram in principle, but is waiting to see what the plans actually are.
TfL are proposing to use the first arch under the railway in Shepherds Bush Market as a bypass for pedestrians. This will allow them to overcome problems associated with the bridge.
The preferred option of TfL is to close the north side of SBG, and have 2 way working on the west and south side of the Green.
TfL's traffic modelling for the project is only for the morning peak, 7am to 10am, and the plateau from 10am to 4pm. It considers that the evening peak is just a broadened out reflection of the morning peak and need not be considered.
However in this case the two situations are very different. Already the streets are fairly congested in the evening peak. If road space at SBG is taken out, the possibility of permanent gridlock looms closer. As the tram does not travel past SBG it is unlikely to greatly reduce the demand for traffic flows in the area of SBG. Traffic is expected to be generated by the WhiteCity / Chelsfield complex.
TfL may start looking at this. It is believed RBKC are beginning to become concerned.
The choice of the tram over other modes was made using the figures for the cost disbenefits that accrue from time wasted waiting in traffic queues. The costs of the disbenefits of waiting in jams stretching back to Hyde Park corner along the Fulham Palace rd to Putney Bridge were not considered. Should they have been?
Louanne said that the tram in Croydon was a pleasure, and was highly in favour of public transport. However if some modern non-polluting bus was more suitable she would be in favour of that.
At the moment the plans are to exclude normal bikes from the tram at all times. It would be good if they could be carried in off-peak times.
WEST LONDON GREEN FESTIVAL
hfcyclists have just been given official permission to use Furnival Gardens on Saturday 19 June 2004. A fee of £30 is required. We agreed to pay that.
Last year we had funding of £1,200 from TfL. That is not available this year.
It would be good to have money in the region of £3.5K to £5.5 to organise the Festival properly.
John had a meeting with Chris Bainbridge, Stephen McAndrews and Alex Forest on 4th February to see if LBHF would put money into it. In recent years the Council has had a fund for travel awareness and has spent money on projects like "Don't choke London". They where in favour of the Festival and thought that it would be effective for promoting some Council aspirations. They would be helpful.
Concerning funding they were a bit more reticent. They suggested they might be able to put £2K into it. Things depend on hearing from TfL how they may spend their money, and on agreement from higher-ups. In an ideal world they would be able to fund it completely.
They suggested that Local Agenda 21 should put money into it, but Louanne said that they had less funds available compared to last year.
John has contacted Ocado seeing if they will sponsor it, and will apply for some grants, if there are any that will respond rapidly.
Louanne suggested using Ed Bevan at the Chronicle to write a profile to promote the festival. Also mentioned Carl Gabriel and his masks.
There is a group being put together to organise it and promote the festival. At the moment this is a bit vague, but possibly includes John Griffiths, David Lomas [Ealing cyclists], Louanne, Betina, James Joughin, Rebecca [hfFoE], Alex Forrest. If interested please contact john.
Alan asked what hfcyclists as a group would be doing on the day. John said it depended on how much enthusiasm there was. Last year we co-operated with Wandsworth cyclists who had a body fat measuring machine, comparing the results of cyclists and non-cyclists.
EXPENSES
John G had expenses of £13.30 for tonight's refreshments, one bottle of wine being carried over for next time.
NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 9 March 2004 at 7.30pm at the info centre. PUT IN DIARY NOW please.
John Griffiths [co-ordinator]
020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748
john@truefeelings.com
our website www.hfcyclists.org.uk