News

Spring 2002

On-street parking going in now!

Construction of cycle parking worth £100,000 for 400 cycles at about 35 sites has started and should be complete by the end of March. The secure cycle parking at stations is being discussed by rail companies; so is altering the environment in front of Fenchurch St Station and a reduction in traffic - we need to lobby to get more cycle exceptions to the confusing one-way system in the area.

Shoe Lane closure

An experimental closure of the Fleet Street end of Shoe Lane should start in the summer of 2002, which will hopefully become permanent by the end of the year. This is being done in conjunction with Goldman Sachs and their massive redevelopment of the former Daily Telegraph building.

There would also be some changes to St Bride St. Initially some proposed that cyclists would not be allowed through but fortunately common sense has prevailed.

The closure will not only stop the danger of traffic obstructing the pavement crossing and then desperately pushing out on to Fleet Street. It will also enable our vision of a new route to be realised, a route going from Blackfriars via Tudor Street, Shoe Lane and Hatton Gardens (which is to become a Clear Zone) then linking in to the Seven Stations Circular by going under Rosebery Avenue.

We need to lobby to have parking removed in Salisbury Court on the other side of Fleet Street so that a cycle contraflow can be introduced. Also to ensure the cycle route is clearly marked on the raised pedestrian table going across the end of Shoe Lane.

Finally to place a new island on the east side of the junction (there is already one on the west side). Should this junction have traffic signals or will cyclists be able to cross Fleet Street satisfactorily without? I think we should see if signals are needed rather than demanding them straight off.

Queen / King Street landscaping / closure

Proposals are progressing to close to motorised traffic and landscape much of the streets leading down from Guildhall to Southwark bridge

- part of the Seven Stations Circular (Route 0). The initial proposal did not include cycle lanes in the detrafficked parts and was sent back to the consultants. Officers (& myself) believe that some delineation is needed due to the number/density (in both senses perhaps?!) of pedestrians.

However the consultants apparently have been told they only need to make the lanes 0.8m wide: I expressed great concerns about this. This project should be started later this year.

Bishopsgate cycle route

This 'cycle route' actually consists of a series of bus priority measures which should be complete by March, with experimental traffic orders coming into force in April. Last week a van driver was convicted of careless driving in the City of London Magistrates' Court for colliding with a cyclist as he turned left.

The cyclist was not badly injured though there was £20 damage to his bike. We will be objecting to bus lanes which are less than 4.2m wide (the minimum necessary for a bus to overtake a cycle), the proposal to allow taxis to use all the bus lanes and the fact that there are gaps in the bus lanes where there is a side road.

We would like a cycle lane to be painted across the junction, i.e. linking the two sections of bus lanes, to remind drivers of the presence of cycles and also to remind bus drivers that they are using bus AND cycle lanes.

Embankment cycle track

Westminster & City cyclists are pushing for a two-way cycle track to be constructed on Embankment between the pavement and carriageway running from Westminster to Blackfriars.

Carriageway improvements are already planned as part of the £120m programme to reduce the adverse effects of Congestion Charging Zone (CCZ). There is also going to be a full study of pedestrian movements down the river to the Tower to improve the riverside walkway.

Our proposal to allow cycles along it was met by concern about some of the narrow sections: I accepted that in some sections cyclists would have to dismount for at least the short-term.

Loading & Waiting battle

In response to our objections to traffic orders continuing to allow vehicles to park in key LCN cycle lanes up to 8.30am and from 6pm, I was told that the new regulations were really just a consolidation. Ian agreed there were problems here and that research into a new parking plan had been put out to tender: it should report back by June. We will need to lobby over the report.

London Wall

The London Wall cycle crossing has been cancelled: the westward move of Fore St Ave makes the present plan impractical. As a short term measure one piece of the barrier west of the traffic signals will be removed to help cycles.

Longer term plans to make the one-way section of LW just east of Moorgate two-way again are being drawn up. These would simplify the junction, allow for full pedestrian crossings and improve things for all transport.

Corporation Officers

I've had long chats with Ian Symmonds (chief local transport engineer) and Victor Callisher (Street scene officer) about our and their plans for 2002 hence the large amount of information. One of their officers, Richard Harvey attended the borough cycling group meeting made up of cycling reps from the 33 London authorities and discussing the 'reconceptualisation' of the London Cycle Network.

Apparently it was depressing as everyone had different views on what this new concept was. There is some consensus that some cycling measures haven't worked and that higher quality was needed in future.

ILIP

When I pointed out that the Corporation's transport plan (ILIP) claimed the implementation of the LCN in the City was almost complete, Ian agreed this was wrong and that a step change in cycling facilities was needed. He believed though we have waited a long time, it's worth waiting a bit more until the new concept has been worked out.

Transport for London have just announced that the final Local Implementation Plan will not need to be published this year, just a Borough Spending Plan for the next five years. We should still lobby for a changed policy to cycling.

On hold - contracting out needed?

Signing of the LCN is on hold as the route numbers are being changed - I suggested leaving the route number boxes blank then putting a sticker on them. Providing a green surface on the cycle lanes has been delayed due to lack of staff to monitor implementation. Many lanes are so inadequate that they are not worth painting.

The Holborn Circus - Barbican - Spitalfields route is also on hold. Again while it has been approved politically, there are no staff to do the detailed design or implement it. There have been problems in the past with contracting out work and the resulting standards of work.

It was agreed there is a log jam and that perhaps this option should be reconsidered: most other boroughs contract out their work. I will write to the Town Clerk to complain about the Corporation's inefficiency: much of the work is supposed to be complete by April 2002.

OTHER NEWS

Priorities for 2002 I am suggesting that our priorities for this year are focused on the Seven Stations Circular Cycle 'Quality Corridor'

(Southwark Bridge - Bunhill Road & Branch to Liverpool Street) and the eastern congestion zone boundary (Tower Bridge up to Shoreditch triangle).

Of course this covers most of the City: the advantage of piggybacking our proposals on these schemes is that they are both Transport for London priorities for 2002/3 so funding indeed implementation is much more likely.

This proposal and the news below from the Corporation should provide plenty to talk about for our forthcoming meeting. We also need to prioritise the plans in this e-mail. LCC on CCZ

Representatives from LCC borough groups fall within the CCZ have been meeting to try to speak with a united voice in demanding a significant proportion of this massive sum (grants equivalent to 10 years of the normal highways budget are being made to boroughs).

The other key area is Tower Hill and Bridge on which we will be working with Southwark Cyclists and Tower Hamlets Wheelers in particular. St Paul's Permeability Project (St.PPP) New idea not yet mentioned to Corporation. Need to allow cycle access on north side of St P across the Churchyard and next to the new Paternoster Square development.

The new idea is to create a new route on the south side, bearing north from St P Churchyard on the south side, skirting around the coach parking, going through the garden (which would need rearranging) and then linking to Watling Street, which would need a cycle contraflow on the east end. This would be a cycle bypass to Mansion House gyratory and its traffic signals.