Category: Meetings

Another healthily attended and lively meeting at Coffee E7:

• Following the meeting with Councillors Gray and Paul before Christmas concerning the various issues surrounding Stratford High Street and gyratory we submitted a briefing note on which we are waiting a response.
• There was a very open catch up meeting meeting with the Newham Council Sustainable Transport officer.  Headlines are:

  Designs have been submitted to TfL for the junctions of the northern Quietway.  Our view was that these were disappointing , and we indicated that we could not support a Quietway which had substandard junctions.  Better progress on upgrading the Greenway.  A small pilot lighting project will shortly be put in place.  Limited improvements are in prospect around Westfield (Stratford Place) as changes are made for taxis and coaches.  There are good designs on the shelf for the wider area waiting for the opportunity to be implemented.

  An cycle assessment of the main roads (but not junctions) has been undertaken which will form part of a proposed cycle strategy from the Borough along with an audit of cycle parking.

  There are further delays in establishing the Leaway between Cody Dock and Canning town.

  All current issues have been recorded for monitoring and it was decided to publish this on this website (to follow).  By way of  general follow up we have been told that Newham’s cycling mode share has increased again,according to the London Travel Demand Survey (Travel in London report 8), up from approx. 1.3% to 2.3% in 2012/13-2014/15.

• A Greenway  users group is planned.
• We noted that the work undertaken so far on the northern Quietway was heavily engineered and that there was still an issue of parking in Cemetery Rd.
• We will be actively participating in stakeholder consultation on the plans for Stratford gyratory, a meeting taking place on 8 March.
• We discussed our ride programme and in particular the forthcoming, and much anticipated, Hoo Ride on 14 February.  To ensure smooth practical arrangements (not least securing the cheapest train ticket to Gravesend), it would be helpful if anyone intending to come on this ride gave advanced notice (newham@lcc.org)

  We will be coordinating rides with a new Community group in Stratford City and we may also be joining in with a CTC ride around Witham in April.

• We agreed to buy a further banner , some equipment for rides (tools/first aid) and some T shirts for ride leaders.
• The current exhibition at the Design Museum was warmly recommended and there are still tickets for the talk by Emily Chappel at the Wanstead Tap on 15 February.
• Richard Wadey will be talking at our next meeting on 29 February and then our AGM will be 11 April.
• Funds are available from the Council for high quality on street parking bays.  Please let us know of good sites.
• We decided to support, with a stall, an indoor car boot sale  on 20 February at the Field Community Centre, Station Rd.  If you are able to provide some time to man the store please let us know and we will be putting together a rota.

  Arnold

Again a well attended meeting with a full an interesting agenda.  Our first meting at the Black Lion in Plaistow:

• Following up last month’s meeting with Living Streets we heard that Living Streets were progressing setting up a Newham branch which some Newham Cyclists were likely to join.  This would maintain co-ordination.
• Following last month’s meeting on Forest Gate Crossrail related improvemetns, a collective Newham Cyclist response has been given to this consultation as well as well as other consultations  on Manor Park and the Silvertown Tunnel.  These to reinforce the individual responses.
• There was a very positive meeting with Councillors Terry Paul and John Gray over the Greenway closure.  Interestingly,The day before this meeting the signage had been improved by Thames Water.  Notable also was the number of people cycling in the area and the number that stopped to voice their opinions.

  

  There is hope for the end to the closure from West Ham station to Stratford by April next year, with some limited provisional access before then  The reopening  paves the way for the planned improvements for the Greenway as part of  TfL  second round of quietways – in this case 24hr opening and lighting, and  4 additional ramps for access.  The closure on the northern side is more uncertain despite the overrunning Crossrail related works coming to end.

• We are seeking a similar engagement with these two local Councillors to look at the multiple issues surrounding Stratford High Street and the Stratford Gyratory.  To the obvious ones can be added the frequent parking of construction traffic  blocking the shared use pavement.
• Some more works on the Victoria Park to Hainault Quietway have started in Forest Gate.  We noted that the introduction of a CPZ had led to more parking in Cemetery Rd to the detriment of the route as a Quietway.  We agreed that we could not endorse this Quietway unless the crucial junctions were suitably addressed.
• We decided to go ahead with some traffic counting pilots.
• We noted the recent poll in the Newham Recorder on cycling issue.  Steve Smith put forward an excellent case for cycling.
• We decided to seek a catch up meeting with Newham’s Sustainable Transport Officer in the New Year.
• We noted that further cycle parking has been casually removed without replacement by Newham Council – this time outside Wilkinson’s in Stratford.
• The Christmas lights ride on 7 December was discussed and the 2016 Ride Programme was launched.  (Details elsewhere)
• On street secure parking has been installed by Newham Council in various locations.  A welcome development.  All were urged to identify further suitable sites.

We benefited from Rosalind Readhead providing a talk and stimulating lively and interesting discussion.  Rosalind is an independent mayoral candidate promoting a policy of car free days and active travel, particularly in central London.

She cited a recent study on the health effects of private motor vehicles in London.  some of the figures were very telling. This is a selection:

•  67% of all car journeys could be completed by bicycle in 20 minutes.
• 75 sq kms of London is devoted to car parking.
• 9,500 deaths in London each year can be associated with air pollution.
• Road closures can cause 75% of traffic to “evaporate”.

Her message was that, at the global level,  climate change demanded action; whilst at the local level the adverse health effects of private motor vehicles threatened the existence of the NHS as a service provided free at the point of delivery.

Drawing on the example of Seville she advocated that local areas should be prepared with a detailed plan to promote cycling and other forms of active travel  which will be available when when the political opportunity arises.  This should include a proper cycling network, as opposed to the current “labyrinth” that is the central London grid.

On the business side (a) we discussed the approach to the forthcoming initial planning meeting on the Stratford gyratory,  (b) decided to take up an offer from Murray Woodburn from Newham Council to discuss in detail the cycling aspects of the Forest Gate Crossrail improvements, (c) decided to seek details of the junction planned at  Stratford High St/Sugarhouse Lane and (d) progressed our arrangements for a forthcoming open meeting with Living Streets – now 2 November at 7.30pm, venue to be confirmed.

Our meeting took place on 27 April at Coffee E7.  As usual lively

Headlines

• We discussed the wide ranging review meeting which took place with the Newham Council Sustainable Transport Officer on 24 April.  Further details are annexed below.
• We looked at the slack.com communication platform and decided to trial it for a couple of months with a view to replacing the Yahoo Group (if the trial turns out successful). (if you would like to participate in the trial and did not give your name at the meeting please indicate this via our e-mail address)
• We discussed future rides and were grateful to Steve for volunteering to be our ride co-ordinator.
• We decided to take the opportunity of publicising our group at (1) the Newham show, (2) the Forest Gate Festival and (3) the monthly Dr Bike sessions in Stratford.

Upcoming matters

• The next Newham Ride is 2 May (see calendar).
• The committee will be meeting Sustrans and the new Newham Council project officer in relation to the Quietways.
• We will be riding the route of the proposed “A 406 Quietway” with Sustrans and Newham Council.

 

Annex

Issues discussed with Richard Wadey (Newham Council Sustainable Transport Officer) 24 April 2015

•  LIP projects: most  ward audit schemes slated this year as “early winners”” have been implements or are shortly to be implemented  – mostly around Stratford and associated with the Greenway Diversion. 

• Next year priorities likely to be contraflows around Stratford/Plaistow N and A 406 route – see below). We drew attention to need for priority to be along proposed quietways i.e. Ismailia Rd FG.
•  Royal Docks: separately funded and opening up a route north of Albert Rd. We pressed for improvement to crossing of road to London City Airport. 

• Gallions Roundabout: separately funded. Our priority is widening path to Cyprus and ensuring traffic crossing on all legs. 
• A 406 QW: Sustrans have done initial scoping and land ownership looks helpful, as key plots owned by LBN, or TFL or (ultimately) AM Trust.  Northern section is most direct if it follows road rather than Little Ilford Park.
• QEOP: There is a proper plan for Penny Brookes St, Montfichet Rd and Westfield Ave.  These now need funding but this may come from neighbouring developments. 

• Quietways: Henniker Rd the preferrred route for northern QW.  LBN have appointed a project manager who we are arranging to meet with Sustrans in May.  We agreed with Richard that junctions s are key (Leyton Rd, Leytonstone Rd, Dames Rd, Woodgrange Rd, Forest Drive.) 

• Leaway: land for route south of Cody Dock likely to become available shortly.  Plans already developed for Canning Town subject to some minor issues. 
• Stratford Gyratory design sessions to take place this summer.
• Newham Cycle Strategy should be put in place 2015/6.   We supported the idea of a detailed strategy drawing , for example, on ward audit projects.

15 of us gathered at Coffee E7 for the annual meeting , fortified by a buffet.  We benefited from the presence of Richard Wadey -Sustainable Transport  Officer for Newham Council and Councillor David Christie, both of whom have gone out of their way to consult over the previous year.  We are grateful for their support.

On the formal side the annual accounts and report were adopted (see earlier post). Bill’s oral presentation of a budget for next year was similarly approved.

Elected onto the Committee were: Kerena Fussell and Arnold Ridout, as joint Chair; Bill Bremner as Treasurer and Olawale Ajibola as Cycling Schemes Lead.

Richard gave a talk on the application of TfL’s Cycling Levels of Service (CLOS) assessment.  Right click on the link below for a copy of his presentation.

Cycling in Newham – Cycling Levels of Service (CLoS)

It emerged that Newham has a  high level of walking and public transport use, but a relatively low (but significantly increasing) level of cycling.

CLOS is likely to be a useful tool.  It is instructive how low the score was for the proposed Upton Corridor scheme, to which we have lodged formal objections (see earlier post).

This opened up a series of open discussions ranging from the lift failures in the Woolwich Foot Tunnel to our website and communications to our proposed rides for the forthcoming year (the next being a Newham Ride on 4 April).

Some future guidance emerged:

• The CLOS can  be incorporated into our campaigning.
• We need to publicise our objections to schemes on our website.
• We need to contact our local Councillors and respond to consultations as individuals as numbers count.
• We need to increase our liaison with pedestrian groups.
• There is a gap in our communications in the absence of a platform for discussion.