Month: March 2024

Take Action: East Village Cycle Connections

A map of East Village in London. Anthems Way, Celebration Avenue, Liberty Bridge Road, Temple Mills Lane, and Penny Brookes Street all have blue lines indicating cycle tracks; junction improvements at Temple Mills/Celebration Ave, Celebration Ave/Liberty Bridge, Celebration Ave/Penny Brookes, and Penny Brookes/Montfichet Road.

Newham Council are consulting on a long-term plan for cycling in East Village (the ex Olympic athlete’s village on the “new” side of Stratford). The designs are a step-change for the Olympic Park, an area whose cycling infra has been outdated from the moment it was built. The proposals include safer cycle tracks, continuous pavements for most of the streets in the area, and fixes for dangerous junctions.

We support the scheme, but would like Newham to do a little more to make sure everyone can benefit from it—particularly children cycling to school at Chobham Academy.

The consultation is open until Sunday 17th March: we recommend you support the scheme, but ask Newham to:

  1. Deliver the scheme quickly, obtaining funding from the many housing and commercial developments in the area to do so.
  2. Find a way for kids to cycle safely to school on Liberty Bridge Road over the railway line, where the designs currently dump people cycling out into the carriageway due to a width restriction. We’d like to see a bus gate, or an extension of the school street on Cheering Lane. Doing nothing is not an option.
  3. Fix the Mirabelle Gardens-Elis Way-Cheering Lane rat run. Drivers leaving Westfield often use this as a shortcut to avoid the traffic lights on Celebration Avenue.

Remember: your own views and experiences will carry the most weight in consultations.

Say “yes please” to safer cycling in East Village!
Newham-Cyclists-March-2024-East-Village-Connections-response

Take Action: Say YES! to the Romford Road cycleway

Newham Council are consulting on their full plan for cycleways on Romford Road. This is a long-awaited extension of Cycleway 2 to the edge of Ilford.

Artsy visualisation of Romford Road with with-flow cycle tracks on either side of the road. A mother with a pram and a lady on her phone cross the street on a zebra crossing, while pedestrians and a kid with a kick scooter use the footway.

We are delighted to see the designs are super high-quality! Continuous cycle tracks. Fully protected Dutch-style junctions. More planting and trees. New sections of 24-hour bus lane. It looks similar to the Lea Bridge Road cycleway in Waltham Forest, but in some ways (e.g. at bus stops) it’s even better!

Romford Road is one of our most important main roads, and also one of the worst places in Newham to cycle at the moment. TfL’s Strategic Cycling Analysis shows there is huge demand for people to cycle here. Now’s your chance to tell Newham Council “yes please!” to high quality cycleways.

The consultation is open until Sunday 24th March. We recommend you support the scheme, and ask Newham to:

  1. Deliver cycle tracks on Romford Road in full and as quickly as possible, without compromising on protection, width, or junction design
  2. Co-ordinate with the Redbridge to allow the cycleway to continue to Ilford town centre
  3. Future-proof the scheme for low traffic neighbourhoods on the nearby side streets, and for cycle tracks on the main roads that cross it—everyone deserves to live on a street that’s safe for cycling

We’ve posted our own response below for your reference, but remember: your own views and experiences will carry the most weight in consultations.

SAY “YES!” TO SAFE CYCLING ON ROMFORD ROAD
Newham-Cyclists-Romford-Road-consultation-response