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Vigil for Barry Shonibare

A zebra crossing on a road with two lanes and two cycle lanes with greenery on both sides. Flowers are attached to one of the Belisha beacons. A black car passes on the road.

We’re here tonight to mark what happened here four weeks ago. At around lunchtime on Monday 16th of June, Barry Shonibare was cycling here when he was involved in a collision with a car and was severely injured. Police were called at 12.22pm and the London Ambulance service attended the scene. Despite the best efforts of medical staff, Barry Shonibare sadly died in hospital on Saturday, 21 June. 

Our deepest condolences go to Barry’s friends and family, who are here tonight. 

Those of us who live here and travel through this stretch of Centre Road and Woodford Road on a regular basis know that it is dangerous. The relative safety of the wand-protected cycle lanes further up the road disappears. The road widens. As you can tell even now, speeding is endemic here.

We and our LCC colleagues in Redbridge have campaigned on this for some time. Surely now is the time to fund and build the measures that we know will prevent tragedies like this from happening again? We should not have to wait for someone else to be killed or injured before this danger is removed. As Barry’s family have stated, “no family or individuals should suffer this heartbreak again.”

We’ll now observe a minute’s silence to reflect, and to pay our respects to Barry Shonibare.

May he rest in peace. Thank you.

Statement on the fatality on Centre Road, 16 June 2025

Newham Cyclists is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Barry Shonibare while he was cycling on the A114 Centre Road/Woodford Road. Our thoughts are with Mr Shonibare’s loved ones as they navigate an appalling loss that no family should ever have to endure.

People are exposed to danger every day on Centre Road/Woodford Road—with no protected space for cycling on the Newham part of the road, wide lanes and a painted median that invite speeding, and poor driver compliance at the zebra crossing at Capel Road. We completely concur with Mr Shonibare’s family in their call for speed cameras on Centre Road, and also urge the Mayor of London, TfL, and Newham and Redbridge Councils, to fund and deliver safe cycling infrastructure to ensure no-one else is killed or hurt on this important corridor.

Vigil

Newham Cyclists will be holding a short, low-key vigil to pay our respects to Mr Shonibare. We will be holding a minute’s silence.

When: Monday 14 July 2025, 7pm

Where: Junction of Centre Road/Woodford Road and Capel Road

All are welcome.

Please feel free to bring flowers but be prepared to take them home with you. On account of the fire risk on Wanstead Flats, please don’t bring candles.


Our original statement follows:

Our thoughts are with his loved ones, along with all those who witnessed and were involved in responding to the crash.

The Police have reported that the car driver, a 26-year-old man, stopped at the scene and1 has been helping them with their enquiries, and that no arrests have yet been made. They are asking for anyone with information such as dashcam or mobile footage to contact them on 101 quoting reference 3399/16JUN.

We are bitterly upset to be sharing news of another person killed while cycling in our borough at a place known by many of us to be dangerous, with high motor vehicle speeds and no protected cycling infrastructure. This gentleman’s death comes just over 5 months after the death of a man in his 20s at an unprotected junction on Stratford High Street.


Police Statement

For transparency’s sake, here is the Police statement received by our campaigning partners at the London Cycling Campaign on 02/07/2025:

Police were called at 12:22hrs on Monday, 16 June to reports of a collision between a car and a cyclist in Newham.
Emergency services attended the scene at the junction of Centre Road and Capel Road where a cyclist had been severely injured.
Despite the best efforts of medical staff, the cyclist – a 71-year-old man – sadly died in hospital on Saturday, 21 June.
The family of the cyclist have been informed and are being supported by Family Liaison Officers.
The driver, a 26-year-old man, stopped at the scene and has been helping police with their enquiries.
No arrests have as yet been made.
Enquiries are ongoing.
Any witnesses or anyone with information, such as dash-cam or mobile phone footage, is asked to please call police on 101 quoting 3399/16JUN.

  1. Although the Police initially reported that the driver stopped at scene, a later version of their statement said: “The driver – a 26-year-old man – who failed to stop at the scene but returned on foot, has been helping police with their enquiries.” ↩︎

Bus Services (No. 2) Bill

We have submitted evidence to the Bill Committee dealing with the Bus Services Bill (no. 2) which is currently making its way through Parliament. This legislation is generally about bus services outside London. However, a small number of campaigners opposed to protected cycling infrastructure have sought to add amendments which would ban bus stop bypasses across England, including in London. We felt it was important to highlight our view to the Committee.


  1. Most people will not cycle if they are expected to share space with high volumes of motor traffic—particularly buses. The differential in mass and kinetic energy between a person cycling and a bus is many orders of magnitude larger than that between a cyclist and a pedestrian. People do not need training or safety gear to “man up” on the road—they need fully separated, protected cycle tracks, which are the only way most people will feel comfortable cycling to destinations on main roads.
  2. Bus stop bypasses, or “floating” bus stops, are a pragmatic solution to bus/bike conflicts. They reduce harm by eliminating dangerous crush movements between people cycling and buses pulling into the kerb at bus stops. They are established best practice in other European countries with dense, well-used bus networks, such as the Netherlands.
  3. Newham was the site of some of the first BSBs in London, on Stratford High Street, installed in 2012/13.Even though they don’t meet modern best-practice standards and the ergonomics could be improved, these bypasses have proven successful at eliminating bus/cycle conflicts.
  4. We can only find a report of one collision between a pedestrian and cyclist (pp. 14) at a BSB in Newham, at the Warton Road stop on Stratford High Street. This collision was categorised “slight,” i.e. not requiring hospital treatment. The BSBs are some of the safest parts of Stratford High Street for walking and cycling. By comparison, the stretches where the protected cycle track disappears (including unprotected cycle lanes and junctions, and a “traditional” unprotected bus stop in a lay-by) have a very poor safety record for both pedestrians and for cyclists.
  5. More BSBs have since been built in Newham, in Stratford Town Centre, the Royal Docks, Westfield Avenue, and Romford Road. These examples have better sightlines and ergonomics to make it easier for cyclists and bus users to navigate the space. We are glad that Newham is one of several councils leading the way in safer bus stop design in Britain.
  6. We acknowledge, and empathise with, Disabled bus users who find interactions with cycling intimidating—especially those with sensory impairments (including blind, low-vision, and d/Deaf people.) We understand why they may feel apprehensive at BSBs. Designers should ameliorate these issues by improving tactile guidance marking, colour contrast, level delineation, avoiding shared footways wherever possible, and removing obstacles and visual clutter to make it easy for cyclists to see (and give way to) bus users crossing to and from the island. This should go hand-in-hand with physical bus priority measures to deliver measurable, meaningful improvements to bus services, and education and behaviour change campaigns to improve compliance.
  7. On the other hand, “traditional” unprotected bus stop designs—the “status quo” where buses and cycles are expected to dodge each other—present inherent problems for inclusivity. For those who may prefer to cycle slowly, or who experience fear about a collision with motor traffic—including less experienced cyclists, Disabled cyclists using cycles as a mobility aid, children, older people, and families—BSBs are the only way they can cycle on a street also served by a bus route in a relaxed way. We highlight from charity Wheels for Wellbeing’s briefing on BSBs“Bus stop bypasses are presently an essential part of inclusive active travel networks that enable (pan-impairment) Disabled people to make journeys […] Banning bus stop bypasses would cause ongoing exclusion of Disabled people from active travel and bus use, and additional deaths/injuries in motor vehicle collisions.”
  8. We note and highlight Dr Harrie Langton-Spencer’s 2024 paper “Disabled people’s access needs in transport decarbonisation” in IPPR Progressive Review, which highlights the need for collective placemaking and understanding the diversity of Disabled voices in resolving seemingly incompatible access frictions. Dr Langton-Spencer specifically highlights bus stop bypasses as an example. She writes: “Instead of striving for an unobtainable ‘fully accessible’, which obscures access frictions […] is a better outcome not one in which […] nobody is excluded and everybody has the best experience possible?”
  9. A ban on “floating” bus stops would be a gross overreaction to a small risk, and be damaging to those who rely on cycling and buses.
    1. A ban would make building fully protected cycle tracks impossible.
    2. This would in turn make targets around sustainable transport, decarbonisation, and road danger reduction impossible.
    3. A ban would disproportionately exclude inexperienced cyclists, children, older people, and Disabled people using cycles as mobility aids from cycling, pushing them back into expensive car ownership or needing to be driven around by someone else. This changes the character of cycling from a mode of transport to an extreme sport.
    4. It would lead to an increase in bodged and disproven non-”solutions” such as shared pavements and 2-tier provision, which are less satisfactory—both for people cycling, and for Disabled pedestrians and bus users with sensory impairments.
    5. A ban would frame interactions with cycling as more risky and dangerous to bus users than interactions with motor vehicles. Casualty data from STATS19 shows this is simply untrue.
  10. We caution the Bill Committee of cherry-picked evidence used as a “gotcha” to support a claim that all “floating” bus stops are dangerous (for instance, video of a particularly busy stop in a tourist area where people unfamiliar with UK traffic rules regularly walk into the path of all kinds of traffic; or a photo of a legacy paint-on-the-pavement cycle lane that isn’t representative of modern standards.) One could do the same exercise with “traditional” unprotected bus stops, or for other street design features—such as advanced stop lines, or indeed many bus stations. The evidence on the efficacy and safety of BSBs must be taken as a whole, and compared to other options in the highways design toolkit—which have overwhelmingly failed to deliver positive outcomes for bus patronage and for the safety of people cycling.
  11. We urge the Bill Committee to reject amendments that would ban bus stop bypasses. Other European countries show that BSBs are a key component of comprehensive, well-used, and inclusive bus networks that are fit for the future. England should follow their lead, and focus on measures to make buses better—rather than a logically incoherent ban on BSBs that would only serve to make cycling worse.

                      Thames Water’s response to our letter (received 27/5/25)

                      Thank you for your email.

                      As I’m sure you understand I am unable to commit directly to any funding proposals without receiving internal governance sign-offs. I will raise yours (and the Councillors concerns from last week) within Thames Water. Where possible we have avoided full closures, exemplified by our ongoing works at Stratford High Street, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to balance access to the Greenway against planning safely the infrastructure improvements needed to upgrade the Victorian sewers. These are once in a generation projects – once complete the Greenway will re-open and provide a fantastic community benefit as it has done for many years previously.

                      With regard to the diversions themselves please advise if you feel there are any alternative routes to those presented last week? We have been working closely with LB Newham for some time and if there is a safer way to implement these closures we would welcome those ideas. To date Thames Water have funded improvements on the existing diversion route including traffic calming measures on Abbey Road, widening of the ramp at Manor Road and improvements in lighting around Manor Road bridge. 

                      As for the notice periods provided we are giving as much time as possible but we cannot slip our timescales as ultimately these are driven by the assets themselves; their condition and the work we need to do to repair and replace them.

                      Happy to meet to discuss any follow up questions,

                      Kind regards

                      GREENWAY CLOSURES – how you can help our campaign for safe diversion routes for walking and cycling

                      Many thanks to those who have already offered to speak to camera for our video, and also many thanks to those who have written about their experiences for our Newham “map of pain”.

                      In order to make the maximum impact, we need to tell the human story of the Greenway closures – the individuals who are and will be affected. We would like to involve as many people as possible, and to reflect the diversity of the pedestrian and cycling users of the Greenway. Are you/your family/your friends affected by this closure? Do you work in the healthcare sector? Do you work with community groups? Do you cycle for a living? Would you be willing to talk to camera for 20-30 seconds? Do you know anyone affected who you could ask to tell us their story? If so please contact us at newham@lcc.org.uk and we will be in touch – we hope to complete the video this month (June).

                      If you would prefer to write about your experience,  we are using a form to collect individual experiences of the impact of the Newham Greenway closures. These will be displayed on this website on a map of Newham – the “map of pain”! – linking individuals to Council wards. Please complete the form, keeping in mind that this information will be displayed on a publicly available webpage, so please choose your name and location such that your identity remains secure. Your email will only be used to send you a copy of your response; it will not be displayed.

                      Thanks,

                      Jonathan and Karen.

                      Newham Cyclists’ letter to Thames Water re. Greenway closures

                      At a meeting arranged by Newham Council on Wednesday 21st May, Thames Water finally confirmed significant further closures of the Newham Greenway, on the Northern Outfall Sewer. TW suggested this was a risk in a response to questions from Caroline Russell AM in March. However the closure timeline of 2-3 years has not previously been shared. Moreover the timing of this announcement means that Newham Council has less than 4 months to provide safe alternative routes for walking and cycling. Our understanding of the closures and their duration is as follows:

                      Phase 1, ongoing: Greenway closed from Channelsea Bridge to Manor Road Bridge

                      Phase 2, July 2025 – September 2025: Greenway closed from Stratford High Street to Manor Road Bridge 

                      Phase 3, September 2025 – December 2027: Greenway closed from Channelsea Bridge to Upper Road 

                      We are writing to express our concerns regarding the safety implications of these closures, and the proposed diversions, and to ask how Thames Water intends to support Newham Council with funding for safe diversion routes.

                      The Greenway (aka C22, one of TfL’s designated cycleways)  is the only safe route for cycling between the north and south of Newham, serving schools, colleges, and Newham Hospital. In 2024, Newham Council recorded 3,200 cyclists using the Greenway each day. 

                      For many, cycling is more affordable, convenient, and more reliable than public transport. Many people who live in Newham depend on walking and cycling for their day-to-day travel—particularly for non-discretionary journeys that they have to make, no matter what. People deserve to be able to make those journeys safely.

                      The current Phase 1 closure of the Greenway has already unacceptably compromised safety for people walking and cycling, who are diverted via Abbey Road, a narrow bridge, with fast and heavy traffic and narrow pavements. Many cyclists using this route have experienced dangerous incidents involving motor vehicles, including parents with children. 

                      Your proposals for Phase 2 will force cyclists to use the alternative Bridge Road diversion. This will more than double journey times for those using the cheapest forms of transport, and also involves passing through the 3rd and 4th most dangerous junctions in Newham when travelling southeast – including the junction with Carpenters Road, where a cyclist was hit and killed by a lorry in January 2025. 

                      The Phase 3 Greenway closure will additionally remove access to a safe crossing of the District Line for people walking and cycling. Your proposed alternative routes via Plaistow High Street and Manor Road have fast, heavy traffic and no cycling provision, and include navigating the 5th most dangerous junction in Newham for cycling.

                      The diversion routes proposed by Thames Water for Phase 3 are particularly unsafe. As discussed at the meeting, Newham Council will have to take action to mitigate the impact of the Greenway closures by providing safer alternatives. But with only 4 months’ notice, there is little time for Newham to apply for funding to deliver a safe alternative route, let alone to complete the work.

                      We have the following questions:

                      1. Will Thames Water delay Phase 3 of the Greenway closures in order to allow Newham Council time to construct safe diversions for walking and cycling?
                      2. Will Thames Water support Newham Council financially in constructing safe diversions for walking and cycling?

                      Newham Cyclists and LCC exist to break down barriers to cycling, and help people of all ages, all races, all genders, all abilities, and all backgrounds access this cheap and convenient form of transport. The principal barrier to cycling and walking is safety. We look forward to hearing how you will support measures to ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists travelling between the north and south of Newham.

                      Latest on Thames Water’s closure of the Newham Greenway: more than 4 times the original distance to be closed, until at least December 2027

                      It has come to our attention that Thames Water will be significantly extending their closure of the Greenway, extending their closures as far as Stratford High Street and Upper Road. They have given Newham Council less than 4 months to provide safe alternative routes for walking and cycling. This is completely unacceptable and Thames Water need to take responsibility for their poor planning. This is the information we have to date (below). We have been informed that Newham officers are in discussion with Thames Water to try to reduce the extent of the closures.

                      Phase 1, ongoing: Greenway closed from Channelsea Bridge to Manor Road Bridge

                      Phase 2, July 2025 – September 2025: Greenway closed from Stratford High Street to Manor Road Bridge 

                      Phase 3, September 2025 – December 2027: Greenway closed from Channelsea Bridge to Upper Road 

                      We will be writing to Thames Water about their hilarious suggested diversions (for Phase 3, via Plaistow High Street and Manor Road) and will ask how they intend to help (financially) Newham Council to provide safe diversion routes for walking and cycling.

                      What we need from you: in order to make the maximum impact, we need to tell the human story of these closures – the individuals who are and will be affected. We will be producing articles and videos and we would like to involve as many people as possible. Are you/your family/your friends affected by this closure? Do you work in the healthcare sector? Do you work with community groups? Would you be willing to talk to camera for 20-30s? Do you know anyone affected who you could ask to tell us their story? If so please contact us at newham@lcc.org.uk and we will be in touch.

                      Thanks, Jonathan and Karen.

                      Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25

                      Summary

                      2024-2025 was a busy year for cycling in our borough.

                      There were a number of very positive developments in terms of new, high-quality infrastructure being opened and being built. The first completed sections of the long-fought for Romford Road cycle track officially opened. So has the first section of the Westfield Avenue cycleway, turning one of the worst streets in the borough for cycling (a dreadful “stroad” type design left over from the Olympics) to one of the best. The Royal Docks Corridor scheme from Canning Town to Pontoon Dock and London City Airport is nearing completion, and is truly great. We have also seen a number of public realm improvements and permanent mode filter upgrades, and the roll-out of the borough-wide 20mph limit. Work has also just begun on phase 1a of Cycle Future Route 7 from Leyton to Stratford Town Centre, which will improve one of the worst parts of Cycleway 16 and deliver a much-needed cycling connection over the Great Eastern Railway.

                      The new West Ham Park LTN, despite some opposition, appears to have settled in and is working well. This scheme in particular is a game changer, as Newham are delivering it simultaneously with the Romford Road works. This is the first time the Council has treated both side roads and main roads at the same time, providing a joined-up network of safer streets.

                      We are pleased that the ambition shown by portfolio holders and officers at Newham Council is generally high. We have seen some positive consultations for future schemes, for instance for the crossing of Water Lane on the Stratford-Forest Gate backstreet Cycleway link.

                      Unfortunately, there were also negative developments, particularly the sudden long-term closure of the Greenway, TfL Cycleway 22, by Thames Water in September 2024. At time of writing the Greenway at West Ham has now been unusable for 7 months, which has had a serious impact on children, families, and NHS workers at Newham Hospital who relied on it for their travel. We have had more contact about the Greenway than any other campaigning issue in the history of Newham Cyclists. Newham Council’s diversion is not fit for purpose, after somewhat nebulous fears about traffic displacement from the Police led to them abandoning their original plan to close Abbey Road E15 to general traffic. It is also now clear the “temporary” closure of the Greenway will be longer than the originally planned 18 months. We have also been monitoring the long-term closure of the ExCeL waterfront path on NCN route 13, which raises similar concerns about the cycle network’s dependence on permissive paths that private landowners can close at will.

                      Considerable disruption has arisen from works for the construction and mitigation of the Silvertown Tunnel, an urban motorway project that TfL has mortgaged £2.2bn of future tolls on. The desultory “cycle shuttle” (bike bus) is not an adequate mitigation, and has already proven in its first weeks to be inadequate for the demand to cross the river by cycle east of Tower Bridge.

                      A continued lack of action on legacy unprotected junctions has also been evident. Tragically, Newham saw its first cycling fatality in 4½ years in mid-January 2025, at a known dangerous junction on TfL Cycleway 2 on Stratford High Street. The person killed was a man in his 20s. This section of Cycleway 2 features 4 of the 6 most dangerous junctions on our list, and at each, the physical separation for cycling disappears. We have pushed the Council and TfL to stop accepting the “Cycleway” designation as a fait accompli, and to get on with treating the dangerous junctions in line with best practice standards. We are pleased that both Newham Council and TfL recognise the need for rapid action, but they must work together to deliver a meaningful, permanent scheme, speedily, and without being watered down, mired in endless rounds of traffic modelling, or punted out to the next political cycle.

                      Continue reading “Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25”

                      Readout of March 2025 meeting

                      Readout of Newham Cyclists’ Monthly meeting, 31st March 2025

                      This meeting took place at the Cart and Horses, Maryland. 

                      Greenway  – JR shared Caroline Russell’s response from Thames Water, indicating that the Greenway could be closed for longer and additionally other areas could be closed. We discussed further actions and  raising the profile of those affected by the closure. Romford Road – Newham have received the LIP funding that they asked for which should cover some of the cycleway junctions.

                      Temple MIlls Bridge – CK has made some contacts with TfL buses. JR and KF will pass him a summary of events for use in his follow-up.

                      Ride Calendar – we have sufficient marshalls to cover upcoming events.

                      Fix Your Ride – it was agreed that we cannot cover the Green Fair, but we have sufficient people to cover the Forest Gate Festival if a quieter stall becomes available.

                      AAA (Ambition, Aspire, Achieve) AR will be organising an AAA ride for May 17th and would like 1 more person to support

                      Silvertown Tunnel – LCC are looking for people to work with their photographer w/c 7th April


                      Next meeting – AGM with guest speakers Frames of Mind – all Newham LCC to be invited – we discussed additional invitees.

                      Statement on the fatality at Stratford High Street/Carpenters Road on Monday 13th January

                      View from the central island of a two-stage pedestrian crossing with guardrail, looking towards a Holiday Inn Express on the pavement where people are talking, their bicycles standing nearby. In the foreground is a yellow sign from the Metropolitan Police reading "FATAL COLLISION. DAY: MONDAY, DATE: 13th JANUARY, TIME: 13.45-14.15hrs. Telephone 07884743474."

                      We’re here tonight to mark the sad events of last Monday. Details are still scarce to us, and no doubt will become clearer in the coming weeks and months as the Police and coroner make their inquiries.

                      So here are the facts: On Monday, 13 January, at around 2pm, a man in his 20s was cycling here, at the junction of Carpenters Road and High Street, when he was involved in a crash with a lorry. Despite the efforts of bystanders, and the attendance of the Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance Service, and London’s Air Ambulance, this gentleman was pronounced dead at the scene. Our deepest condolences go to his friends and family. Our thoughts are also with all those who witnessed, were involved in, and responded to, a very traumatic incident.

                      Right now, we have no further details about the person who died, nor the circumstances of the crash.

                      Fatal crashes involving lorries and people cycling are a distressingly regular occurrence. The last one in London that we know about was only 10 weeks earlier, on 2nd November last year, when a 27-year-old man was hit and killed in Putney while he was on his way to meet his friends for lunch.

                      Last week’s crash took place just a few feet away from here, at a junction that was, between 2019 and 2023, Newham’s fourth most dangerous for cycling. Despite being a known danger spot, Carpenters Road junction has been left largely untouched and unprotected for over a decade—just like its neighbours at Cooks Road and Warton Road. It should not take someone, or someones, losing their life for the responsible authorities to take action to remove danger from our streets—at a location that the thousands of us who navigate Stratford on a daily basis know all too well. Even one death is one too many.

                      Today we are here to acknowledge yet another violent and premature end to a person’s life on London’s roads—and to pay our respects to the unknown rider whose life ended here. And it is easy to forget when policymakers, journalists, and indeed campaigners like us, so readily reduce traffic fatalities to statistics, but let us remember: Every single death or serious injury in traffic is someone’s personal tragedy.

                      No matter who the young gentleman who died here was, no matter what he was doing, no matter where he was going: no-one deserves a sudden and violent death while simply going about their lives.

                      We’ll now observe a minute’s silence to reflect, and to pay our respects to the person who was killed.

                      May he rest in peace.

                      A traffic light/street lamp post with four tea lights arranged around the base, and five bunches of flowers attached to it at various heights. In the distance, another one of the "FATAL COLLISION" signs appealing for information is visible.