Monday 12 February 2024

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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Thursday 7 December 2023

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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Tuesday 7 November 2023

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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Friday 3 November 2023

New Cycle Route takes shape








Work is progressing rapidly on the Kensington Road cycle route in Northolt. This is shaping up to be a high quality path, with a smooth riding surface and a width that meets the national guidelines. The new 1 km route will run from Church Road in the north to Ruislip Road in the south. When finished it will provide a safe route for commuters travelling to Northolt Station, pupils cycling to Greenford High school and families visiting Northala Fields. 





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Friday 5 May 2023

Ealing Stations - Where's the Parking?

Ealing is failing cyclists who travel by train and tube. Two years after the new Acton Main Line station opened, there are still no cycle racks in the large area set aside for them; Southall Station has had no cycle parking since it opened two years ago; the council removed the cycle parking at North Acton station five years ago and hasn't replaced it; and the council is now taking away stands from outside Ealing Broadway Station. 


Acton Main Line Station





When Network Rail applied for planning permission for Acton Main Line station, it set aside this large square for cycle parking. 

The planning application showed cycle stands for 106 bikes. 

In 2018 the council's consultation on the station improvements showed 116 spaces in the square.

But since the station opened in 2021, the square has remained empty. The problem appears to be, in part, due to Network Rail. Despite knowing that the area would be used for cycle parking it built the square in a way that hampers the installation of the stands. Poor siting of underground utilities and trespass protection measures have made it difficult to put the stands where they would normally go. Added to that, the station operator, MTR, wants to use about a third of the space for vendors – the area between the red lines below. 

The council was hoping to install parking for 100 bikes, but is amending its plans to fit in with these constraints and will now only install racks for 80 bikes in the square and try to find space for the rest elsewhere. It has already installed a rack of stands on the opposite side of Horn Lane. The council tells us that work on the cycle parking in the square is due to start this month. 

North Acton Station

In 2014 Transport for London gave Ealing £150,000 to install cycle parking for 50 bikes at North Acton Station. The council opened the facility in November that year with much publicity. Just over three years later, in March 2018, when work began on the new station square, it quietly removed the covered cycle parking and reused it in a primary school in Northfields. Five years later, despite plenty of space, there is still no cycle parking at the station. 


We approached councillor Deirdre Costigan about this. She said: "We are looking at options for stands on the square at North Acton. We do need to consider the level of need at each location as we are seeing some evidence that where stands are over provided they are being used as seating and attracting anti social behaviour. However I am confident that working with our community safety team we can ensure we have the optimal number of stands at North Acton station." 

Southall Station


There is better news at Southall Station. The council has developed a plan for cycle parking nearby (artist's impressions above and below). The new facility will be about 90 metres south of the station. It's not perfect – the London Cycling Design Standards say parking should be within the footprint of the station – but it will be useful, particularly for those approaching from the south. About half of the parking will require users to push their bikes up or down a wheeling ramp. 















Ealing Broadway Station





























The council plans to start removing the temporary stands from Haven Green this week. The stands on the grass were always going to be temporary as permanent structures are not allowed on common land. The removal will be done in stages. The council has installed some replacement stands outside the Metro Bank, and is assessing other sites. 
A count done by Ealing Cycling Campaign on 26 April this year shows that if all the temporary stands were removed, there would only be reserve capacity for 2 cycles.  (Total capacity 130, total usable 122, demand 120).  The Mayor's Cycle Parking Implementation Plan says that, at stations, cycle parking should be provided to exceed demand by at least 30 per cent, to accommodate growth.

Why Cycle Parking at Stations Matters

The average distance cycled to London Underground stations is almost three times greater than the average distance walked. This means that a station’s cycling catchment area is 6.5 times greater than its walking catchment. Failing to provide adequate cycle parking denies large numbers of people the opportunity to use the most efficient way to make their daily commute.

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Wednesday 3 May 2023

Northolt Active Travel Scheme - "Worse for Cyclists and Pedestrians"


The council's plans to make Church Road and Mandeville Road in Northolt an active travel route could make conditions worse for both cyclists and pedestrians. Instead of providing segregated cycle lanes, most of the route will be shared-use path which will increase conflict between pedestrians and cyclists. 

The scheme is part of the Visions for Northolt proposals funded by a £7.2m grant from the government's levelling up fund. One of the requirements of this funding is that active travel schemes meet DfT standards which state that, “Cycles must be treated as vehicles and not as pedestrians. On urban streets, cyclists must be physically separated from pedestrians and should not share space with pedestrians.”

In its grant application, the council recognised that mixing walking and cycling in the same space was a problem. It said that "Due to safety concerns cyclists use footways, impacting pedestrian safety.” The application also said how this scheme would address the issue: “Road space will be reallocated to create continuous, wider and segregated cycle routes.”  And that this would be achieved by: “Re-allocating road space to cycle and footways along both corridors, in accordance with minimum widths set out in DfT’s Cycling Infrastructure Design Note.” The proposed scheme fails to achieve this.

In places the scheme will make conditions worse for active travel: It will narrow the frontage road of a shopping parade near White Hart roundabout to about 3m between parked vehicles, which won't leave enough space for cyclists to keep safely clear of car doors and pass each other; it opens up two quiet cul-de-sacs to through traffic; it introduces a new right-turn for motor vehicles across a two-way cycle path; and it moves a bus stop from an area which is not shared use to an area with a narrow shared-use path. 

The existing narrow shared path on Church Road














The scheme does have some good sections: the closure of two junctions; the removal of a wall to make room for a cycle path; and new pedestrian and cycle crossings on Church Road. 

Ealing Highways already acknowledges some of the issues and says the design will be amended once all stakeholder comments have been received and reviewed.

Ealing’s draft New Local Plan designates this corridor as a Major Active Travel route, so we hope the reviewed scheme will provide the necessary segregated cycleways. 

The council is consulting on the scheme until  5pm on Monday 8th May 2023. You can respond to the consultation here.




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