Lord Butler opens St Thomas' Hospital cycle park

The Bicycle User Groups (BUG) in many organisations feel that that are battling with the people leading the organisation.


Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital Bicycle User Group are an exception as they now have a Patron, Lord Butler, who has enormous influence, for he is the Chair of the Board of King's Health Partners. His Board members include the Chairs and Chief Executives of King's College Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas', and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts.


No paper Patron, Lord Butler has a track record of achieving cycling improvements - he secured a Barclays Bikes docking station near Parliament despite stiff opposition .

Today, at the request of the BUG, Lord Butler (above, with Alison Dines, BUG coordinator) cut the ribbon to formally open the new St Thomas's staff cycle park, in the presence of Sir Hugh Taylor, Chair of Guy's and St Thomas'. 

Staff are delighted to now have somewhere secure to leave their bike adjacent to the elegant Evelina Children's Hospital that was opened in 2005.:

 Looking in, above, looking out, below

This is a fine addition to the previously extremely limited secure cycle parking at G&ST and marks the way to the dynamic cycling future that, as I covered previously, the hospitals need to embrace.

Perhaps the next step could be for Lord Butler to arrange for his board members to visit Groningen's comparable University Medical Centre, one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands. On this page are details, and a small image, of one of their parking facilities, accommodating 725 cycles. And on this page are details of the one accommodating 1500 cycles.


Bring on the evolution!

Lambeth's Olympic route set to fail

Lack of funding is threatening the Jubilee Greenway, a 60km walking and cycling route connecting all nine of London’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games venues with many of the capital’s finest attractions, parks and historic landmarks.

At its launch, Boris Johnson said, "Few capitals of the world can boast such a superb asset for walkers and cyclists".

But the Chief Executive of Walk England, Jim Walker, has replied to my concerns about the route in Lambeth saying,
"We have marked a cyclable path for information on the map/text on our site but don't actively promote the cycling potential of the path because - as you say, on advice from several competent cyclists sadly there are limitations to the quality of the current experience in several places.

Sadly we don't have funding for improving the cycling offer either so we have some challenges."

Within Lambeth the cycling 'Greenway' (which is currently unsigned, unlike the walking part) is mainly on busy A roads that many families fear cycling on. It comes behind the Southbank Centre to York Road, swinging onto Westminster Bridge roundabout, then takes Lambeth Palace Road, before approaching the roundabout (above) onto Lambeth Bridge.

An obvious, and cheap, solution (with decent views) would be to combine the cycling and walking routes along the wide Thames Path except that, contentiously and contrary to Transport for London's opinion, local politicians recently arranged for 'No Cycling' signs to be installed on the Jubilee Greenway section (below on Saturday 16 Jan at 1pm) despite it having been a shared space for years and there being no Traffic Management Order banning cycling. Campaigners from Lambeth Cyclists and the local Living Streets groups would prefer to see signage emphasising pedestrian priority and considerate cycling, with enforcement activity focussed on reckless cyclists.

An alternative scenic option, sensible for the future development along the South Bank, would be to develop Guy's and St Thomas' service road (below) as a cycle path, running parallel to the Thames Path, linking Lambeth Bridge to Belvedere Road:

Fortunately our MP, Kate Hoey, is the Mayor of London's Commissioner for Sport, and should have the clout to get the necessary funding for the cycling part of the Greenway to be up to the standard of the walking part ready for the Olympics and as a legacy beyond.

She shouldn't face an uphill task. After all,
"The Jubilee Greenway is being supported by a partnership including senior representatives from central government, The Mayor’s office, Royal Parks, The Olympic Delivery Authority, Transport for London, British Waterways, Thames Water and all the relevant local authorities."

You may wish to write to Kate Hoey with your views on the best solution(s) at hoeyk@parliament.uk .

Bravo Guy's and St Thomas'

Well done to Alexandra Hammond, the Sustainability Manager at Guy's and St Thomas', for managing to get the metal grills, that I reported on Tuesday, moved.

Obstructing the cycle parking at Guy's

Patient and visitor cycle parking is absurdly limited at Guy's Hospital. Last Saturday the metal grills had their bases resting against the stand. This makes using seven of the few spaces particularly difficult. Not one could argue too much of an issue if they're just there for a day or two in extremis on a weekend early in January.

However, I took the photo below almost two months ago at 8am on the 12th November, with the seven obstructed spaces not being used.

Lest anyone is tempted to comment on the other available spaces, below are the racks by 9.30am on November 12th when all the other spaces are full and cyclists have managed to battle their bikes into the obstructed spaces.

Let's hope the grills have gone by the end of the week, given that Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, like the rest of the NHS, should be leading on making active travel the preferable option.

Calling on Lord Butler of Brockwell

Within a short cycling distance of Kennington we are privileged to have a world leading research led university (King’s College London) and three successful NHS Foundation Trusts (Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley).

They're clubbing together as King’s Health Partners, one of the UK’s five Academic Health Sciences Centres, delivering health care to patients and undertaking health-related science and research, plus a well developed role in teaching and education.

King’s Health Partners will bring real and lasting benefits to the communities of south London. Local people will continue to benefit from access to world-leading healthcare experts and clinical services which are underpinned by the latest research knowledge. There will also be benefits for the local area in regeneration, education, jobs and economic growth.


Their handful of 'Values and Guiding Principles' includes:
Transform the nature of healthcare: by moving from treatment towards population screening and disease prevention.

I hope they're really going to 'kick ass' locally on the disease prevention front.

Usefully their immediate aims include:
We will be in the top 10 globally, both clinically and academically, in the fields of:

- Mental health and neurosciences
- Cardiovascular disease
- Transplantation, immunity and inflammation linked to disease.

and

We will build our capacity to address diseases that have a particularly large impact on our local community, but also are important on a global scale, in the areas of:
- Childhood diseases
- Diabetes and obesity
- Cancer

There are loads of reliable, peer reviewed studies that prove that physical activity, such as walking and cycling, plays a MAJOR part in reducing cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity as well as being good for mental health.

There are also loads of reports that make it perfectly clear that most people really don't enjoy cycling in motor traffic.

So, the question is, will these major local institutions (25,000 employees and 21,000 students) meaningfully weigh in to make their patch exquisitely pleasant for people to walk and ride bikes in, or will they skirt around the edges and focus on patching up those damaged through a failure to tackle the causes?

Let me be clear here that I'm not just talking about commuter males riding bikes. I want to see children riding to school, health visitors cycling to patients' homes and grandparents riding to do their neighbourhood activities.

Will King's Health Partners commit to reducing the number of motor deliveries to and from their institutions by 10% a year?
Will they force TfL and the boroughs to create wonderful cycle routes between their buldings?
Will they campaign for a 20mph limit rather than 30 and will they require their drivers and suppliers to commit to 20mph in the meantime?
Will they ridicule the police's opposition on account of inability to enforce such a limit ('yeah, well apparently you can enforce a cycling ban on the South Bank...)?
Will they hit TfL over the head about the unpleasantness of the bridges over the Thames?
Will they expect their staff to walk or cycle rather than sit in a motor vehicle on work journeys?
Will they provide cycle training to all their staff?
Will they dramatically increase secure cycle parking in prominent positions on their sites?

We know from the pressure that St Thomas' applied to have cycling banned on the Albert Embankment that these instutions have clout. So what are the chances they will use it to support rather than hinder cycling?

There's at least a glimmer of hope; the Chair of King's Health Partners is Lord Butler of Brockwell and he's a cyclist, recently lobbying for a Boris Bike station in the House of Lords.

Let's hope he can prevail over those who stand in the way of taking space away from the motor vehicle and giving it to pedestrians and cyclists.

Kate Hoey's "Excellent Cycling Route"

At 9.48am today the Thames Path by St Thomas' Hospital wasn't busy (above). Plenty of room to pootle along on a bike except that our local policitians, such as MP Kate Hoey, and organisations such as the hospital, have clubbed together in advance of the publication of the South Bank and Waterloo Cycling Strategy to ban cycling here.

At 10.17 the Thames Path wasn't busy either (below)

Not being allowed to cycle along here any more, I was obliged to take the route our MP, Kate Hoey, recommends  "There is of course an excellent cycling route on the main road along past Lambeth Palace and the hospital."

Thus it was that at 10.22 I was sat stationary, breathing in diesel particulates, in the bumper-to-exhaust motor traffic, stuck behind the bus that was stuck behind other traffic in the advisory cycle lane. Excellent? Pah.

Saturday afternoon on the South Bank

Outside the former Aquarium and the Eye, clearly too congested at this time to cycle, so people with bikes will get off and push them. Pass under Westminster Bridge so you're opposite Parliament and the situation at the same time on a Saturday afternoon is entirely different

Plenty of room for people to pootle on their Boris Bikes - a perfect Londoner and tourist use of the Thames Path that local politicians and employers aim to ban. (Catch up on Thames Path blog posts here)

The powers don't talk of providing an alternative traffic-free cycle route along the Thames with views of Parliament, yet this road in St Thomas' Hospital grounds is clearly perfect for that role. You can follow it around to the entrance of St Thomas' and then straight across the Toucan to Belvedere Road.

The joy about pootling along the Thames on a bike is that a few quiet minutes later you're halfway to Battersea, able to look back where you came from.

Finally, an iconic view of Westminster Bridge and Parliament, with the obligatory two ice cream vans trading while parked on the red route, bus lane and cycle lane. (Catch up on the Ice Cream war here)

The St Thomas' solution to the Thames Path

How about using the existing Toucan from Belvedere Road over Westminster Bridge Road to lead to a new ramp running from the top of the stairs (shown below) where I took this picture to the elevated road (above) that runs along the wall beside the existing Thames Path.

And the beauty of it is that the road belongs to St Thomas' Hospital who are particularly concerned about the safety of Thames Path users and a member of the NHS which is desperate to have people adopt a healthier, more active lifestyle to cut down on their costs.

I can't imagine why they haven't done it before.

A gloomy outlook

A Kennington cyclist recently told me how much she dreaded going into the dark chasm below the Waterloo and former Eurostar lines on Westminster Bridge Road.

Like her I hate this sudden change from light to stygian gloom and the panicky feeling that one day a driver coming out of the light on the multi-lane chicane will run straight into the back of you.

To maintain the suspense Transport for London have arranged things so you normally have to spend a dark minute nervously waiting for the traffic lights in the tunnel to change while taking deep breaths of taxi exhaust.

As you set off you realise you need to move out to the 'fast' lane if you're not going to spend more long minutes of your life breathing diesel particulates while stuck behind a bus at one of London's foulest bus stops.


Transport for London and the rail companies (the overlying cause of the gloom) should be ashamed of themselves for creating such an unpleasant environment for cyclists and pedestrians and not resolving it.

Bizarrely The South Bank Employers Group didn't mention this horror in their draft Cycling Strategy, despite (or maybe because) Netwonk Rail being a member.

This is the kind of dire infrastructure that puts people off active travel and results in hospital admissions for heart disease and obesity surgery. Given that the tunnel is adjacent to St Thomas' Hospital I hope that the Guys and St Thomas' Trust (another member of SBEG) are actively campaigning for improvements. Then again, the lack of reference to this in the thick draft strategy they helped write suggests they're not. Naybe they're scared active travel will put their fat cat consultants out of work and out of their Mercedes? Most likely though, as the largest employer nearby with a particular duty of care to the residents, they just don't consider it any of their business.

St Thomas' to Guy's Hospital by Bike

With around 11,000 staff across the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust there's quite a lot of shuffling back and forth. You'd think, given that Active Travel has been around for a few years, that they'd have a lovely cycle route worked out between the two hospitals.

Apparently not.

Here are my thoughts, aiming to avoid major roads and the current construction work on the southbank. I welcome alternative suggestions.

Here's the largely off-road route, in the main following National Cycle Network 4. It's the most mellow and safe route for St Thomas' and Guy's Hospital Trust employees, though at times somewhat congested with pedestrians. From a risk-assessment perspective I think this is the one the Trust should recommend for those who are understandably nervous about cycling in traffic while at work. Options include walking the bike from the entrance to St Thomas' to the start of the on-pavement cycle path by Westminster Bridge unroundabout rather than cycling on Lambeth Palace Road. You also cycle along the north-side shared-use pavement under Blackfriar's Bridge rather than the road, going either way. The route requires you to walk along one-way Bedale Street when going towards Guy's. In both directions you have to walk your bike across Borough High Street between Bedale Street and St Thomas' Street. Given the construction work happening on The Shard, cautious cyclists may prefer to walk the bike on the pavement along St Thomas' Street.


Here's the St Thomas' to Guy's Hospital on-road route. It includes an illegal right turn out of St Thomas's but otherwise is I believe legal and on relatively quiet roads.


Here's the Guy's to Thomas' Hospital on-road route. It's quite faffy when you get close to St Thomas' but I think it's legal!

The Trust could usefully use its clout to improve Active Travel conditions in the area for its employees, patients and visitors.