Wandsworth borough council, in London, has attracted a lot of attention in the last few days after its decision to impound over 100 hire bicycles from the oBike scheme. It published a news article on the council’s website entitled “Yellow bike plague being tackled on the streets of Wandsworth”. There’s been lots of commentary on … Continue reading Wandsworth: oBikes, obstructed pavements and following the money
An aide memoire of items I've noted from the boroughs where I work, rest and play. This page will be updated, if I remember, during Q2. January to March items are here. June 2017 The purdah period imposed by the General Election is over, so what passes for normal business resumes in the local … Continue reading At the Council, April to June 2017
While I was digging through council committee papers as a follow-up to posts about the Wandsworth Riverside, I kept finding references to some simple bits of cycling infrastructure proposed in September 2013: a set of contraflow cycle lanes in one-way streets, and “through-ways” in street junctions which are currently blocked. On my meanderings around Wandsworth, … Continue reading Wandsworth’s proposed cycling infrastructure that never gets delivered
[This post was updated on 1 August 2017 to include additional section with casualty statistics for 2015] I see there are lots of commentators on social media complaining that people riding bicycles on the pavement are a risk to pedestrians, with claims that dozens of pedestrians are being killed and injured each year. Equally, cycling … Continue reading Pedestrians, pavement cyclists and the ways people die in accidents
There’s been some controversy on social media in the last few days, following Councillor Melanie Hampton's claims that the riverside between Wandsworth Bridge and Battersea Heliport is a footpath, not a cycling lane, not a designated cycling area, designed only for pedestrians, and that cyclists are not officially banned . The residents of Plantation Wharf … Continue reading Wandsworth Riverside, Wandsworth Bridge to Battersea Heliport: part 1 – highways, obstructions and cycling
There’s a separate post discussing issues with public access to the riverside. This post digs into the planning details for the riverside developments and the agreements which together create a public highway. From Wandsworth Bridge, going South-West to North-East up to the heliport, there are five major developments: Battersea Reach Mendip & Sherwood Wharves Plantation … Continue reading Wandsworth Riverside, Wandsworth Bridge to Battersea Heliport: part 2 – planning agreements and public access
Bromley Council has approved a plan to spend £300k of the borough's Local Implementation Plan (LIP) fund and Transport for London Bus congestion reduction funding to improve journeys past an Aldi supermarket east of Croydon. Motorists driving to Aldi from west to east along the A213 Croydon Road, and across the junction of Elmers End … Continue reading Bromley Council improves bus journeys past Aldi, by making it easier for motorists to go shopping
An aide-memoire of items of I've noted from borough council's where I work, rest and play. March 2017 London Assembly Transport Committee on 2 March. TravelWatch needs a new chair. The new Walking & Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, to do a Q&A at 19 April meeting. City of London Hampstead Heath Consultative Committee on 13 … Continue reading At the Council, January to March 2017
On 29 March 2017, the Transport Select Committee of the House of Commons held its last meeting to get oral evidence on ‘urban congestion’. Giving evidence, and answering questions, was Andrew Jones MP, the Minister for Transport. The minister was accompanied by a civil servant: Anthony Ferguson, (Deputy Director, Traffic and Technology, Department for Transport). … Continue reading Transport Select Committee, 29 March 2017 “Urban Congestion”
I have a friend who works in one of Kingston’s primary schools. She shared a story about a nearby primary school, and its attempt to get Kingston Council (“the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames”) to build a shared-use foot and cycle path to the school. All good stories begin: once upon a time … … Continue reading Kids, a horror story about the primary school in Kingston that wanted a cycle path
