Boris refuses to back removal of E&C roundabout

The story's on the SE1 blog http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5407 .

Boris's commitment to maintaining a huge volume of motor traffic passing at speed through this part of Central London is a real obstacle to its development as a pleasant place to walk, cycle or linger.

New Bike Shop on Kennington Road

Brian and Richard, above, opened Balfe's Bikes next to the South London Pacific pub just south of Kennington Cross yesterday. It's so new the name board hasn't yet arrived - it's the shop with the red fascia below. I'm giving them an enthusiastic welcome as the owners are also involved in BC Bikes in East Dulwich which donated old shop fittings to the Pedal Power Kennington community project. They're Cytech qualified mechanics so you can be assured they know what they're doing when you take your bike in for a service. Drop in quickly and you might get one of a limited edition of badges which give a longterm 15% discount at the shop.

As you can see there's no cycle parking along this parade, despite a wide pavement and thousands of cyclists passing each day. The road is managed by Transport for London and you've got to wonder why they haven't sorted decent cycle parking out anywhere along here. I suppose that people stopping to shop wouldn't help TfL's obsession with meeting Boris's key objective - Smoothing Traffic Flow through preventing the stop-start journeys that bikes are so useful for.

Free Range Kids - signs of the times

 I teach on-road cycling to children at a number of schools in Westminster and these new images from two different organisations strike a real chord with me in the parked-up, congested, noisy, polluted environment they live, work, play and travel in. Sustrans has hit the nail on the head with 'Free Range Kids' - please take the action they recommend. I'd also advocate joining the Climate Rush cycle flash mob from Soho Square on Wed 13 July at 6.30pm who use the image below.

Thankfully Westminster council is considering introducing Sunday parking fees and restrictions in Mayfair, Marylebone and Soho. Unbelieveably the churches, who one expects to be in favour of stewarding the Creation rather than destroying it, are objecting to this with at least one boasting that half its congregation drive to church!


The Rev Roderick Leece, rector of St George's in Hanover Square, has launched a petition against the plan and says he has thousands of supporters.

He said: "We need a campaign to stop this destructive move. Where Westminster leads, other councils will follow. If Sunday parking restrictions become the norm this could have an effect on many other inner-city churches and cathedrals.

"At least half of our average congregation drive to church on a Sunday. Having to find a parking bay and pay £4.40 per hour will deter a number of worshippers."

Doh! They could walk, cycle or use the excellent public transport service.
These petrol heads are meeting the Council tonight at the church at 7.45 - some dissenting voices would be good

Cyclists on Parade?

The Royal Parks Agency manage Horse Guards Road and I have had a prompt response to my email about the advertised closure:
From previous closures it normally seems that the pavement adjoining this very wide road remains open and that events rarely take up the full width of the road, allowing the potential for a temporary two-way cycle path adjoining one of the pavements.

Please can you let me know whether this is something that you attempt to instigate when closing this road, which I think you'll agree is a much better road for cyclists than Whitehall, and if not whether there is the chance to trial it during this closure?

The Assistant Park Manager at St James's Park wrote:
This is something which is currently being discussed with the organisers, i.e. keeping a two way cycle route open when Horse Guards Road is closed to general traffic for the build of this type of event. I am awaiting a proposal, and will get back to you when I have further information.

I'm delighted that this is being discussed and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though I'm a bit nervous that we're a couple of weeks away from the closure and a proposed option hasn't yet been presented to the Royal Parks, and even then it may only apply to the build and not the duration of the event itself.

I'd imagine that the more cyclists write in the greater the likelihood of a way being found.

Truly a magic hat

“We are delighted to be able to join forces with Michelin to give 7,000 children across Staffordshire cycle helmets, so that they can get out and about and enjoy themselves in safety.” says Staffordshire County Council's Cabinet member for highways and transport Mike Maryon.

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):