No room for cyclists - get off and push

Summer at the Oval and cricket means the closure of a section of London Cycle Network route 3 adjacent to it. Normally this road is two-way and fully parked up on both sides. On match days parking is banned and this popular cycle safe route becomes a one-way street.  It seems to me that there should be no objection to this important cycle route being "No Entry Except Cyclists". Here's what Lambeth Council wrote when I asked them about this ban last June:

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the late response to your question regarding the arrangements around the Oval cricket road closures and one-way workings. This is something we will look at next year, as it is now too late to amend the Temporary Traffic Order.

I have spoken to the Lambeth Cycling Officer, and in his opinion it would be simpler to tell cyclists to dismount for the short section of Kennington Oval for which the one way working is in operation.

The diversion would be too long otherwise as it would entail using Clayton Street, Kennington Road, Kennington Park Road, Harleyford Street and then into Kennington Oval (the Red Route section) to rejoin LCN 3.

I appreciate that this is inconvenient, and as a cyclist myself I would find this irritating, and we will promise to look at this next year, although we will have to consult with the Police as a major part of the reason for the restrictions are safety related and allow the Police to monitor all traffic, including cyclists.

I hope this goes some way to answering your question, if you have any further issues, please do not hesitate to contact me,

Kind regards,

Tony Fellowes
Project Engineer
Transport & Highways
Housing, Regeneration and Environment Dept.
London Borough of Lambeth

I've emailed the Council to ask them why the police turned down their request for cycling to be allowed this year.

I'm willing to bet that most cyclists ignore the signs and the police ignore the transgressors. And somebody will be whinging about cyclists going the wrong way down one-way streets.

Bike the Borough last Sunday

It was a gloriously sunny day to cycle through Lambeth enjoying Archbishops Park, Clapham Common, Tooting Common, Brockwell Park, Myatts Field Park, Kennington Park and the South Bank.

While more than the first year, numbers participating in Bike the Borough aren't yet huge - the maximum in our group was about 20 at any time, so I'd reckon maybe two or three hundred people did all or part of the route.

It's a delight to discover parts of Lambeth you've never seen before. I found two blue plaques I hadn't seen before and as I headed for home from Archbishops Park I passed a railway arch lock up  and noticed this submersible used in the filming of BBC's The Deep (2010):

A London motorist 'gets it'

As I whizzed along with the buses towards Lambeth Bridge this morning I passed this car with an appropriate number plate sitting in the one-person-per-vehicle jam.

Eulogies for Brian Haw

This afternoon, taking some pupils through Leake Street, we stumbled upon this ephemeral tribute to Brian Haw, the peace campaigner who spent the past decade in Parliament Square, t'other side of Westminster Bridge.

The 'War on the Motorists' blogspot believes he also merits out thanks for making Parliament Square a place again. Take a moment to read their post .

Enjoy the Jubilee Greenway

I couldn't resist taking a quick snap of the Jubilee Greenway in Lambeth this afternoon, and by coincidence this very evening Crap Cycling and Walking in Waltham Forest posted, in a downbeat kind of way, about the Jubilee Greenway, the feature of an upbeat Evening Standard article today.

This is the official Jubilee Greenway cycle route from Tate Modern to Westminster Bridge (note it includes the Blackfriars Bridge approach which TfL want to make 30mph):

Just after the Tate Modern cyclists follow a different route to the end of this section as the path alongside the river is closed to cyclists. Turn left onto Hopton Street after the Tate Modern and then right onto Southwark Street. Turn right onto Blackfriars Road , heading North towards Blackfriars Bridge, but turn left into Upper Ground just before you cross the bridge.
Pass the National Theatre on the right and head under Waterloo Bridge continuing along Belvedere Road. With the London Eye directly to the right, turn left onto Chicheley Street. At the end, turn right onto York Road. To reach the official end point of this section, follow the road around and turn right towards Westminster Bridge where this section ends. Alternatively, to continue onto section 9, continue ahead onto Lambeth Palace Road towards Lambeth Bridge.

This is my photo of the York Road part today. What a delightful Greenway.

Locals, Demand road charging for Vauxhall

The London Assembly Transport Committee has published a report, The Future of Road Congestion in London. The Conservatives dissented from the majority view on Road User Charging, saying (appendix 2),
There is no occasion when a large London-wide road user charging scheme should be introduced. Any introduction of a road user charging system should be limited to small, local schemes which have the support of local people.

A hands-up survey at the recent Lambeth Community Forum concerning the Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Battersea Opportunity Area showed massive support for making Vauxhall a more pleasant place for people to live. Local residents want the volume of motor traffic to be reduced and the Vauxhall Gyratory and its sprawl of motorway-style lanes tamed.

Instead they want Vauxhall to be a place where it is enjoyable to stroll and ride, with outdoor cafes in fresh air and streets returned to two-way working. Transport for London consider this achievable by cutting a third of the existing traffic.

So, a wonderful opportunity exists for the Conservative Mayor of London to have a local vote on a small, local scheme: to charge motorists choosing to use the Vauxhall Gyratory a sum sufficient to deter a third of them, with the income contributing to the replacement of the gyratory with a more liveable streetscape.

It'll meet the 'localism' agenda of the government, endorsed by the Conservative Assembly Members within London, while meeting the desire to remove the gyratory expressed by Lambeth Council, local Assembly Members and the locals.

Win-Win! Who arranges the vote?

Archbishop's Park cycling events - Sunday 26th June

Archbishop's Park, by Lambeth Palace, is one of the four hubs for this year's 'Bike the Borough' event put on by Lambeth Council.

The main aspect, as you'd expect from the title, is a great route to ride to see much of the borough, including parts and parks that you may never have been to before. There are led rides from each of the hubs on the hour from 10am.

In addition there are a range of activities in each hub. At Archbishop's Park the following is on offer:


Rollapaluza Static Bike Racing12-4pm
Battle it out against your friend on a pair of vintage rollers connected to a huge dial over a simulated 500m distance at speeds in excess of 50mph!
Let's sketch Sustainability 11-3pm
An interactive sketching workshop with Pam Williams; open to everyone

Fur Fang Fairy face painter; all day

Dr Bike 10am-1pm - free bike checks

Met Police Cycle Taskforce - Free Security Marking 10am-1pm

Secret Lambeth Walk to Clapham Common leaving at 12pm; meet at information point