New Cycle Maps

 

Ealing Cycling Campaign has produced new cycle maps of Ealing. We are often asked for cycling maps at our stalls, but since TfL stopped printing the Local Cycle Guides in 2018 there have been no freely available paper maps of cycle routes in London. Paper maps still have some advantages over maps on phones and sat nav devices. They allow you to see a large area in detail which makes it easier to plot a route; they help people familiarise themselves with an area; and they don't drain the battery on a phone. 

We have produced two maps. The first, an A3 version of central Ealing, the second a double-sided A4 map of Southall. Both maps are based on data from OpenStreetMap. The maps will be available on our stalls at events over the summer and from other outlets. You can download your own pdf copy of the Southall Cycling map to print at home.

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West Ealing Plans Fail to Deliver

 

Ealing Council's plan for the West Ealing Liveable Neighbourhood fails to deliver any significant improvements for cycling.

• It fails to provide a west-east cycle route along one of TfL's highest priority cycling corridors.
• It provides no signalled crossings of the Broadway for cyclists heading north-south.
• It removes cycle access from two roads: Leeland Road (no access from the south) and Walsingham Road (no access from the Broadway)
  

TfL's Strategic Cycling Analysis has designated the Uxbridge Road as one of London's top priority cycle corridors, and it's a primary active travel route on Ealing's new Local Plan. It should meet TfL's Cycle Route Quality Criteria. This calls for segregated cycle lanes on routes with more than 500 vehicles per hour at peak times. The Broadway carries around 1,800 vehicles per hour at peak, but this scheme doesn't even provide light segregation with wands. The Lido junction should also have a separate phase for cyclists, but according to the consultants this would slow buses down too much. It looks like bus times have been prioritised over cyclists' safety.

The scheme could offer an alternative east-west parallel route to the south, along Leeland Terrace. The planned contraflow cycle lane goes some way to providing this, but there is no safe way for cyclists heading east along the Broadway to access Leeland Terrace.  To turn right on such a busy road, there should be a signalled crossing. 

Ealing's New Local Plan also has a primary active travel route running north-south along Drayton Green Road and Northfield Avenue. It will also need a signalled crossing of the Uxbridge Road for cyclists. 

We urge everyone to respond to the consultation and ask for a safer east-west cycle route through West Ealing. Please support the proposed contraflow cycle lanes on Leeland Terrace and Singapore Road and ask for signalled cycle crossings over the Broadway.

The consultation closes on 31 March 2024. You can see details and respond here: https://livewestealing.org

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Feeder Ride to LCC Women's Freedom Ride - March 3

 

Meet outside Ealing Town Hall on Sunday March 3 from 9.45am for a prompt 10am departure.

Our March Leisurely Ride will lead us into Central London to join the London Cycling Campaign Women’s Freedom Ride. This ride is open to everyone of all genders! It is an opportunity to show the diversity of people who benefit from the improved cycling infrastructure in Central London, and to show your support for campaigns for its continual expansion and improvement. Ealing Cycling Campaign is pleased to organise this ride alongside our local Breeze group and we are also inviting members of our local Joyriders and Cycle Sisters groups which encourage women into cycling.

The ride is suitable for less experienced/ less confident cyclists, and families with children. Please note that you will need to book a place for each person who is riding their own bike, but not for children in trailers or bike seats. If you are bringing a non- traditional bike (tandem, cargo bike, tricycle, trailer, etc), please let us know by emailing rides@ealingcycling.org.uk so that we can check the accessibility of our route.

We will ride from Ealing to Lincolns Inn Fields (20km/13 miles), where we join the LCC event, which is a short led ride around Central London. We will then reassemble in the early afternoon for anyone who wants a led ride back to Ealing. You are free to make your own way in your own time, by bike or public transport.

*Please note*: You need to book your place on both the LCC event on this link https://lcc.org.uk/events/lcc-womens-freedom-ride-2/ and on the Ealing Cycling Campaign Feeder Ride page.

Places on the Ealing Feeder Ride are limited to 25. If you book a place and then your plans change, please let us know by emailing rides@ealingcycling.org.uk so that your place can be offered to someone else.

Any queries, please contact rides@ealingcycling.org.uk

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Cycle Report - The Good Stuff

 

The council's Cycle Network Plan: Ambitions for Cycling 2023-2033, which went before Ealing's cabinet on Wednesday 6 December, contains many excellent proposals. Here are some of them:

Potholes

The council currently investigates potholes more than 40mm in depth, but plans to investigate and potentially fix potholes 20mm deep. It anticipates  this will provide safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists and quicker and more cost-effective repairs.

Street Cleaning

All cycle lanes will be included in the street cleansing schedule for regular cleaning. The council will buy smaller mechanical cleaners able to clean segregated cycle lanes, like that in the photo above.

Overhanging vegetation

Highway inspectors will report overhanging vegetation to the Parks and Tree departments for action. The council  will look into starting routine inspections of off-road cycle tracks so defects can be picked up and fixed

Dangerous Junctions

The council will conduct traffic surveys at Ealing's most dangerous junction for cyclists, the junction of Uxbridge Road with Leopold Road and Wolverton Gardens, to understand how traffic is using the junction and what measures could make it safer. It will work with TfL to identify areas for improvement at this junction and other difficult junctions.

Cargo Bikes

The council has signed up to the Borough Charter for cargo bikes. This will ensure they are catered for in cycle routes and cycling parking. Ealing already has a cargo bike hire scheme and is exploring other ways to  support residents as well as businesses to use cargo bikes.

Parking in Cycle Lanes

This is a big issue for cyclists. The council wants to make it easier for residents to report it, to enable quicker enforcement. It also wants to make more cycle lanes mandatory, to reduce the parking issue along routes including Uxbridge Road. It says, "we will confirm next steps once the process for tightening restrictions is fully understood".

Rat Running

High volumes of motor traffic on residential roads, where there is little space between parked vehicles, make them intimidating for cyclists, particularly children. The council is exploring bolder ways to reallocate space from cars and make streets safer. It says it will introduce pilot schemes to tackle rat running in 2024, in line with ‘Free- range Urban Neighbourhood’ (FUN) principles, co-designing with residents to find a solution that works.

The Cycle Network plan will go out for public consultation in the new year. The report is available on the council's website. Item 8 on the agenda. 

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Ealing's Future Cycle Network

On Wednesday 6th December, Ealing's cabinet considered a major report on cycling, the Cycle Network Plan: Ambitions for Cycling 2023-2033.  On the whole, it's good news. The council has taken on board most of Ealing Cycling Campaign's suggestions for routes, and the report contains some excellent proposals to make cycling safer and more pleasant in the future. More of those in the next blog. For now, we'll focus on our main issue of concern. 

Remote Routes

The council's plans to run strategic routes through parks and along the canal towpath. There are several problems with this idea.

Too narrow

For much of its length through Ealing, the canal towpath is less than 2 metres wide. While this works for a leisure route where there are few walkers and cyclists, it becomes a problem when numbers increase. The national guildelines on shared-use paths say they should be 3 meters wide for fewer than 300 cyclists per hour. Where numbers are greater than this, they should be 4 meters wide. Back in 1978, the council considered running a cycle trail alongside the canal towpath and concluded that it would require the acquisition of a further 15 ft (4.5 m), all along the canal. Unless the council can widen the canal to the present national standard, it is likely that making it a strategic route will create more conflict and discomfort for both those on bikes and those walking.

Too remote

Most of the canal is remote and unlit. Many people do not feel safe cycling along it, esspecially at night. For almost four months of the year the sun sets before 5.30pm, making the route unsuitable for people returning from work or after-school clubs and activities. 

Not in the Council's control

The canal towpath is run by the Canal and River Trust, so the council can't control its use. Until relatively recently a section near central London was closed at night.

For the above reasons, Ealing Cycling Campaign is asking the council not to make the towpath a strategic route, but to designate it a leisure route. We have also raised the issue of strategic routes running through parks. One route is planned to run through Walpole Park, which is closed at night. Where strategic routes through parks are proposed there must be a commitment that they will be well lit, open 24/7 and monitored for security. Ideally, they should follow national guidance and a suitable street-lit on-road alternative should be provided. 

The plans will go out for public consultation in the new year. The report is available on the council's website. Item 8 on the agenda. 

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Ealing's Most Dangerous Junctions Revealed

A new map reveals that the most dangerous junction for cyclists in Ealing is on the Uxbridge Road near Ealing Common. The new map, developed by London Cycling Campaign, shows that five cyclists have been seriously injured and nine slightly injured in the last five years at the Uxbridge Road junction with Wolverton Gardens and Leopold Road. The most common cause of injuries is drivers turning right, into the path of cyclists.

Despite Ealing councillors voting unanimously in 2017 to improve safety on the Uxbridge Road, little has changed. Six of the ten most dangerous junctions in the borough for cyclists lie on the route.  

Shockingly, the map shows that Uxbridge Road also has the worst junction in the whole of London for pedestrian safety. Two pedestrians have been killed in the last five years near the junction of Southall High Street and Avenue Road.

Southall High Street junction with Avenue Road

Ealing Cycling campaign calls on Ealing Council to carry out an urgent safety audit of these two stretches of the Uxbridge Road and take measures to make them safer. These junctions are important not only as part of the A4020 Uxbridge Road which is used by many east-west cyclists, but also as crossing points over the A4020 used by north-south cyclists who are trying to use quieter roads.  Both junctions are included in the proposed future Ealing Cycling Network which ECC are urging the council to improve.

For the first time, LCC's mapping covers all of London, and can be filtered to find the most dangerous junctions for pedestrians as well as those cycling – and by borough. The map uses the latest, recently released 'Stats19' emergency services response data for 2018-2022.

The LCC Dangerous Junctions map is now available at: https://lcc.org.uk/campaigns/dangerous-junctions/

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