Imagine all the traffic moving in harmony…

Let’s imagine it’s 2032 and that Redbridge’s Sustainable Transport Strategy is a success.  What might a newspaper article reporting the success say? 

The Ilford Courier

1st April 2032

By Mikael Moreno

On yer bike, Redbridge’s Sustainable Transport Strategy has a tailwind behind it. 

Following a consultation Redbridge Council launched its Sustainable Transport Strategy (STS) in early 2025.  The premise was hard-headed: unless something was done, by 2041 if not sooner, Redbridge would grind to a halt.  Now, in 2032, the strategy is on course and Redbridge is still moving, so how and why has Redbridge made such good progress?

During the 2024 consultation many of those responding highlighted what they saw as the mismatch between what Redbridge said it wanted to achieve and what it planned to do.  

By 2028 Redbridge wasn’t seeing the hoped for switch to cycling and walking.  Neither traffic volumes nor traffic speeds were reducing, and residents were telling the Council that they still did not feel confident cycling around the Borough.  The Council also identified two new problems.  More and more SUVs could negotiate speed humps at speeds close to 30mph, rendering the humps ineffective, and navigation apps were routing drivers along unsuitable residential roads to avoid junctions and traffic lights on more major roads.  If anything, the traffic situation was getting worse rather than better.  

At the same time, hopes were fading that residents would choose to use buses rather than their cars, not least because the buses were stuck in traffic and the road network couldn’t accommodate more, new, bus lanes. And the rail and tube networks were running at full capacity and extending these networks was beyond anything the Council could do.

So, what to do?  Brompton Verdi, the Cabinet Member for Transport told me, ‘We realised that creating a shift to cycling was the only way to stop Redbridge coming to a halt and that we need to change our strategy if we were going to achieve this’  The council decided to put more emphasis on creating the conditions residents needed if they were to get on their bikes.  Verdi went on to tell me ‘We prioritized routes into our town centres, schools and the like, because this is where we felt we could have the biggest and quickest impact and because it built on our successful Schools Streets programme’.  And because Redbridge is a compact Borough, separate routes to two adjacent town centres could often be combined to form a route connecting the town centres.  ‘We knew that most of these routes could not be along segregated or protected cycle tracks and that cyclists would need to use the carriageway.  So, the carriageway needed to be made safe for them to do this’, Verdi said. The Council started to introduce road closures, either by putting in physical barriers through which bicycles but not motor vehicles could pass (modal filters) or by using. cameras.  Of course, by 2028 this was not rocket science, plenty of London boroughs had already done this quite successfully. 

Verdi told me that ‘we went about this in a planned and not an ad hoc way.  ‘We asked our Highways staff to install the closures necessary to allow residents to get into our town centres, stations, schools and leisure facilities along safe quiet cycling routes.  We told them that they were not to leave gaps in the routes because it was too difficult – which usually meant Highways thought car drivers would be put to too much inconvenience.  We reminded Highways staff that the council was committed to reallocating road space in favour of cyclists as a precursor of encouraging more cycling and that they had to find solutions.  We knew that very few of our Highways staff were cyclists and that this was a weakness.  To compensate we told Highways that they were to involve local cycling groups and bicycle riding residents at an early stage in the design work to make sure we got it right.   And 9 times out of 10 they did’.

‘What we did wasn’t always popular with everyone – especially in the beginning – but opposition often seemed to evaporate, and we felt we had a mandate to proceed – we had consulted widely on the strategy and the Council had a large majority.  If residents hadn’t liked what we are doing, they could have voted us out’. 

As the Council rolled out its cycling streets it saw journeys made by bicycle start to increase. ‘This gave us the confidence to continue and to be more ambitious – it was clear to us that there were plenty of residents who were happy to cycle if the conditions were right.  The Council also noticed that residents of the areas covered by quiet cycling streets started to report feeling safer’.

When the Council investigated it found that the presence of cyclists made the streets feel less empty and deserted.  It turned out that those engaged in street crime and antisocial behaviour were more bothered by being happened upon by a cyclist than being passed by a car driver.  So this helped the Council make progress towards another of its targets which was to making its streets safer for female residents.  

Success breeds success.  The success of the cycling streets meant the Council was able to bid successfully for more and bigger schemes. 

Let’s give the last word to Brompton Verdi. ‘We were right to change tack in 2028 and to focus on cycling.  And I think those who said we weren’t trying to do enough were right.  We’re now well on the way to meeting the aspirations we set out in our Draft Strategy and, in 2032, Redbridge is still moving. 

‘To boldly go …’.

The Council’s draft Sustainable Transport Strategy covers the years 2024 to 2041.  That’s a long time – 17 years in fact. 

A plan of a similar length ending today would have kicked off in 2007.  For those interested Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black was the year’s biggest selling CD, Alberto Contador won the Tour de France and Gordon Brown was the Prime Minister.  Feels like another country …

More to the point, cycle infrastructure – in London at least – had yet to be invented.  Hard to believe?  Well, here’s a timeline. 

2010    The first two cycle superhighways (CS3 and CS7) were opened.

2015    Walthamstow created its first Low Traffic Neighbourhood. 

2016    Cycle Superhighway 1 was opened.

2023    20 mph speed limits were introduced on 17 miles (28km) of red routes in Camden, Islington, Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets.

So, any strategy that extends over 17 years should be ambitious. 

We don’t think the Council’s strategy is ambitious enough.  As an example, we’ll focus on its proposed cycle network.  Here’s what the Council is proposing. 

You can see that the Council is not proposing to add very much to what we already have.  In fact, the Council seems to be planning to add just 50km to the existing network by 2041 – that’s an average of just 3km per year.  It’s not going to make a difference. 

Here’s what we think the map should look more like:

It’s only a network built along these lines – incorporating quiet streets, protected and segregated cycle tracks – that will allow residents to choose cycling as a means to go about their daily lives. 

So, when we respond to the consultation, we need to make this point loud and clear. 

Sustainable Transport Strategy

7 Up – statements we’re pleased to see

Before we get to the list this is what you can read on page 10:

We’re on the road to nowhere …

And now the statements …

1. This growth [in population from 310,100 (2021) to 365,000 (2041)] will not be possible without an integrated and sustainable transport network that allows everyone to travel from home to school, work and other key destinations across the borough and beyond, to keep Redbridge moving.  (p6). All else being equal, more people means more car journeys means Redbridge grinds to a halt.  Somethings gotta give, on yer bike – it takes up less road space. 

2. Public transport (e.g. bus, underground and rail) and active travel (walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting) networks are fragmented … and not well connected to green spaces or other key infrastructure in the borough such as transport links and places of work (p8). An honest assessment of where we are. Now’s the time for some joined up thinking.

3. Road user hierarchy for Redbridge

As night follows day, we can’t build more roads for more cars so to keep Redbridge moving we need more people to walk, cycle and take the bus. These are not virtual activities: space is required and there is only one place to find it. 

4. To keep Redbridge moving the option to choose and use sustainable travel options that involve walking, wheeling, cycling and use of public transport is needed (p15).  That’s sorting out dangerous junctions, putting cycle tracks along main roads, reducing traffic speeds and turning rat runs into quiet streets.  17 years is enough time. 

5. The transport network will enable people to access key destinations, community services and green spaces by sustainable travel options, (p17).  As above.

6. The figure provides an insight into how different neighbourhoods, centres and roads should be characterised to keep Redbridge moving and importantly rebalance street priority to ensure vulnerable user groups pedestrians and cyclists feel safe

By our reckoning that’s most of the Borough’s Road network suitable for cycling which means, Borough wide, sorting out dangerous junctions, putting cycle tracks along main roads, reducing traffic speeds and turning rat runs into quiet streets.  There’s a bit of a theme emerging here …

7. At least 2/3 of all journeys will be by public transport, walking, wheeling (i.e. using of (sic) wheelchairs and mobility scooters), cycling or scooting.  (p7).  Surely a typo?  If Redbridge does what it says it wants to do, by 2041 4/5ths is possible isn’t it?  

Sustainable Transport Strategy

Over the next month we will put up some posts on our website covering issues raised in the consultation that we think are worth responding to.  For example, we think the strategy should include creating networks of ‘cycle streets’ that residents can use to cycle in comfort to the Borough’s railway and underground stations, schools, town centres and parks.  The strategy covers 17 years (to 2041), so there’s plenty of time …

So, you might want to leave making your response until closer to the closing date (5th January 2025) and after you’ve read our posts.

In the meantime,

The map – use it now!

Sustainable Transport Strategy | Let’s Talk Redbridge

At the bottom of the page there is a button that takes you to a map. 

You can add pins to the map and make a comment or suggestion.  Clearly this is more relevant to the here and now than 2041 but anyway ….  

We can see some people have already put up some good suggestions.  For example, we like the suggestion to put in protected cycle tracks on the inclines on Herman Hill to prevent motor vehicles close passing cyclists as they slowly pedal up.  It’s a modest proposal but it would make a difference.

We’d encourage you all to use the map.  If we all do, we think the map could provide a comprehensive picture of what Redbridge can do over the next few years to make cycling the obvious choice for local journeys. 

Some of you with long memories may remember that a few years ago Redbridge encouraged us cyclists to do something similar.  At various meetings we heard various excuses as to why the data hadn’t been compiled and then it wasn’t going to be compiled. To all intents and purposes, the data is now lost.

So, this time we have decided to create our own shadow map so we can be sure the data is not lost – so you can post with confidence.  

The survey

The survey comprises 24 questions. 7 questions are for the purpose of equalities monitoring, 6 ask for information about your travel habits and 7 ask for your opinion on aspects of the strategy.  All these questions are closed and require you to choose an option from a list.  We think they are very much focussed on the here and now rather than where we might want to be in 2041

There are 4 open questions – questions 7,11,16 and 17 – that give you the opportunity to say what you think about the strategy.   7, 11 and 16 are very poorly worded but you can get the gist of what’s being asked.

Email

If you want to make a bespoke response – maybe you have some very specific ideas and want to include photos – then you can send an email to sts@redbridge.gov.uk.