Blog

After a false start our annual meeting was held last Tuesday at the Wanstead Tap.  There was an excellent turnout including three local councillors who have been supportive of cycling initiatives (John Gray, Terence Paul and Rachel Tripp).  We were assisted by some excellent cheese and beer.

As for the formalities :

1. We approved the minutes from last year .
2. We agreed a new constitution to update our organisation in line with LCC requirements.
3. We agreed the annual report and accounts for 2015/16 .
4. We agreed a budget for 2016/17.
5. Kerena Fussell and Arnold Ridout were elected as joint co-ordinators, Bill Bremner as Treasurer, Olawale Ajibola was elected Local Schemes Lead and Steve Smith as Ride Co-ordinator.

We decided to produce for sale a group T -shirt.

Less formally, we had wide ranging discussions on the following topics

• Stratford Gyratory – proposal now reasonable in principle but details of the junctions will need further work.
• Other infrastructure developments – key funding available from TfL, Newham LIP allocation, and from developments such as Crossrail for some potentially significant improvements.  More information is available from the current list of issues.
• LCC Sign for Cycling campaign – last push before the election.
• Our contribution to the Forest Gate Cycle network Evening 26 May.

We ended with a discussion as to our future focus.  As a result we will consider how the group can focus on schools, as some money is available for promoting cycling in schools and our efforts could pay dividends in terms of increased cycling by both children and their parents.

We had a very productive discussion with Richard Wadey, sustainable Transport Officer for Newham Council, based around a PASTA presentatation (an EU funded project promoting physical activity through sustainable transport approaches) in which a number of towns and cities are participating.  For London this is Newham, Tower hamlets and Waltham Forest.  He also provided a general update of cycling in Newham showing an increase in the modal share of cycling .

Richard shared the information on the Cycle Level Of Service studies of routes in Newham,and projects, particularly Quietway 6, the Greenway, Stratford gyratory  and the Leaway.  These will form part of the Cycle Strategy of the Borough and inform future decision making, hopefully by integrating cycle considerations into all transport schemes.  He showed a Cycle Strategy map showing the potential in the Borough for a dense network of routes with a high level of service (i.e. over 80%).

He also introduced the possibility of secure on street parking hangers and the tool library at Stratford Mobile Garden.

As part of Newham “New Deal” was a new deal for roads involving investing over £100m over the next ten years.  There was potential to ensure cycling was adequately integrated into this vision.

Slides and on-line maps available from me.

Also we:

• noted the acquisition of a cargo trailer that can be made available to anyone who would like to borrow it;
• discussed the LCC Sign for cycling Campaign;
• confirmed our Annual meeting for 11 April at Eat 16 cafe, at which light refreshments will be served; and
• decided that the first in the summer series of evening rides will take place on 23 May and will visit Walthamstow Village improvements.

Arnold

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