The London Borough of Redbridge (LBR) has been successful in securing funding from TFL for two new cycle infrastructure schemes. One is a quiet route from Gants Hill to the Redbridge roundabout. The consultation can be found here: Gants Hill to Redbridge.
The other scheme is to install lightly protected cycle routes along Cambridge Park between Wanstead High Street and the Green Man roundabout. The consultation can be found here: Cambridge Park.
RCC will work on detailed responses in the week beginning 19th November. As soon as each response is done we will post it on our website so each of you can pick up on any of the points we make in your individual responses.
In general with schemes like these the issues tend to be around junctions and what happens at the beginnings and ends of the routes. So if you need to respond before we put up our responses these are worth looking at.
The closing date for responses is the 3rd December.
This looks like a good opportunity to get cycling infrastructure thought about at the early stage of a development plan instead at the end when it’s all too late.
So, the first question is: what is a design code?
Design Codes were introduced in 2021. The Government website
‘A design code is a set of design requirements for the physical development of a site or area. It is made up of rules that are clear, specific and unambiguous, and it should normally include extensive graphical illustrations. The code should build upon a design vision, such as a masterplan or other design and development framework for a site or area’.
The South Woodford Design code is one of the first in the country to be developed. South Woodford Society is leading the work, supported by architectural practices Native North Architects, AzuKo and JKA.
One of the priorities to emerge from the first round of consultation is that: ‘South Woodford needs more active greenspace, improved public space, pedestrian and cycle friendly streets, and key amenities’.
We agree. Azuko have now told us that they are particularly interested in our thoughts on where in the area the dangerous streets and junctions are and where improvements can be made to make things easier for cyclists. We can do this on the interactive map here:
A couple of us have tried it and it’s pretty easy.
There is no problem with more than one person identifying a junction/improvement, in fact the more the better (Charlie Brown’s roundabout step forward and take a bow).
If interactive maps and markers is not your thing you can email Azuko at info@azuko.org
The deadline for contributions is 30th November 2023.
The London Borough of Redbridge (LBR) is consulting on 7 new school street schemes, including 2 which did not progress following earlier consultations. One of these is a redesigned scheme.
The schools are:
Barley Lane Primary School
Christchurch Primary School
Cleveland Road Primary School
Farnham Green Primary School Extension
Gilbert Colvin Primary School
Newbury Park Primary School
Uphall Primary School
LBR see these schemes as critical to making the roads around schools safer and encouraging walking and cycling. We agree. The proposals and surveys are here.
The closing dates for all the consultations is 3rd December 2023.
Please respond – at the end of the days its first past the post so every response counts.
LBR is also holding a series of ‘pop-up sessions’ where you can meet with Officers and ask any questions about the proposed School Streets. Here are the details:
What is a school street?
On their website the School Streets charity describes it as follows:
‘A School Street is a road outside a school with a temporary restriction on motorised traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times. The restriction applies to school traffic and through traffic. The result is a safer, healthier and pleasant environment for everyone.
School Street schemes offer a proactive solution for school communities to tackle air pollution, poor health and road danger reduction. A School Street scheme will encourage a healthier lifestyle and active travel to school for families and lead to a better environment for everyone.’
LBR make a good case for school streets. The only thing we would add is that a school street makes it easier for parents and carers can meet each other at the school gate, those whose children are in the same class or year can become friends and acquaintances and this helps to create community. If everyone is squashed onto a narrow pavement and if the street is clogged with cars this is difficult.
We at RCC will provide a standard response supporting each of the schemes but we just do not have the capacity to respond to each one in detail individually. So, we might have missed that a proposed camera is in the wrong place. So if you live near one the schools, have local knowledge and have the time, please respond individually.
Our responses
In answer to Q8: Do you have any concerns over road safety, congestion, parking, or air quality in the area around the school during school pick up and drop off times? we replied Yes.
In answer to Q9: Please tell us more about your concerns, we have replied:
‘The congestion and parking problems around schools caused by what is a minority of parents who picking up and dropping off their children by car, creates an unnecessarily uncomfortable and unpleasant environment for everyone and in particular dissuades those who want to cycle from doing so.’
In answer to Q17 What improvements can you suggest to the proposals made? We have replied:
‘School Street schemes are by their nature restricted in their scope. To really encourage parents and carers to choose to take their children to school by bike the Authority needs to create a series of radial quiet routes that lead to the school from points on the boundary of its catchment area.
London Cycling Campaign has completed the most comprehensive analysis ever of London’s most dangerous junctions.
Data for all 32 London boroughs reveals the shocking truth that, not only are many of London’s junctions still lethal for cyclists but that the most dangerous are actually on designated cycle routes.
The most dangerous place for cyclists in London, we can now reveal, is the junction of Ansell Rd, Price Close, Lessingham Ave, Upper Tooting Rd and Derinton Rd in Tooting.
And the most dangerous junction in the London Borough of Redbridge, as many cyclists have long suspected, is Charlie Brown’s Roundabout.
Explore LCC’s interactive map of London’s most dangerous junctions here.
At the Wanstead Festival a member of the public came up to me and asked if I knew anyone he could talk to about getting a cycle hanger in his street (I was wearing my RCC Ride Marshall’s vest, so less random than it might otherwise appear). I told him I was his man.
As it happens the subject had come up the previous week at the recent meeting of the Redbridge Cycle Forum. Council officers told us the best way to apply is via the Cyclehoop rentals website. Here’s the link
Redbridge Cycling Campaign 