Wednesday 28 May 2014

Massive Vote for Cycling


Ninety percent of Ealing’s newly elected councillors support Space for Cycling - that’s 62 out of the 69 councillors elected last month. In the last days of the campaign, the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats signed up on mass. With their 100 percent support added to the total support of the Green Party, 155 candidates out of a total of 222 supported specific proposals to make cycling safer in their wards. Top of the list was Hanger Hill with all candidates calling for cycle lanes to be installed alongside the North Circular Road.  Next came Perivale with 82% support for a protected crossing point at the junction of Teignmouth Gardens and Bideford Avenue. Four schemes gained 73% support: Southfield candidates supported the proposal to make the area outside Turnham Green Station safer for cyclists and pedestrians. In Walpole candidates supported Advanced Stop boxes at the junction of Uxbridge Road and Northfield Avenue. In South Acton they called for a 20 mph limit on Mill Hill Road, and in Ealing Broadway they wanted to see two-way cycling allowed on Mountfield Road. In the coming months Ealing Cycling Campaign will liaise with LCC to push Ealing Council to turn this wave of support into real schemes on the ground.  There are many other proposals to improve cycling in Ealing, and it will be important to make sure that the schemes that bring the greatest benefit are developed first.
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Rent a Brompton Special Offer

If you’ve never tried a fold-up bicycle, now’s your chance thanks to a special offer from Brompton. Next to the taxi rank at Ealing Broadway station the Brompton Dock, holds 20 bicycles for rent. Normally they’d cost from £2.50 a day, but in the special promotion below you can get 2 days rental for just £1. 




To claim two days’ free rental, register online at www.bromptondock.co.uk by 30th June. Registration costs £1 with your special promotional code – Free2Ride. The 2 days free hire must be used within a week of registration.




Why Rent a Brompton?

I tried out the Brompton Dock for the first time this spring. I wanted another bicycle to take my niece and nephew cycling, so I registered online, booked a bike, and received a code to open the bike locker.  Once the door is open, you have 15 minutes to make sure the bike is OK – it was - and then it’s yours until you return it. I’m a Brompton owner already and a big fan of the freedom they give you. There are no restrictions on taking them on trains or tubes, so they make it easy to get to meetings in far flung places or explore remote parts of the country. On this day, however, we stayed close to home and headed to Richmond - my niece riding the rented bike. My only worry was the £500+ it would cost me if the Brompton was stolen and I had to replace it. The bike doesn’t come with a lock; indeed you are warned not to leave it locked outside, but to take it into buildings with you. Fortunately, the small fold makes this easy, and when we rented a rowing boat, the Brompton came too, folded in the bow.
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West Ealing Station


On April 23rd a meeting was held at the Drayton Court Hotel to update residents on Crossrail’s plans for the new station at West Ealing. Crossrail will move the entrance from its current location to the corner of Manor Road and Argyle Road. Both platforms will be step free, and plans already cater for a cafĂ© with tables outside!Plans already made that are of relevance to cyclists range from putting down red tarmac at the junction of The Avenue, Manor Road and Argyle Road, removing the Waitrose traffic island, putting bicycle markings on the road, upgrading Jacob’s Ladder (the footbridge to the west of West Ealing station) to become more cycle friendly by laying down a gutter to run alongside the steps, to most importantly installing covered cycle parking for up to 250 bikes using the double stacking method on the western side of the station.


I highlighted to the Crossrail representative the council’s magnificent ambition to turn Ealing into a mini-Holland and asked him to review the capacity to double it. The design consultant accepted the point, and will try to see if it’s now possible to come up with a design to include cycle parking on both sides of the entrance, which, if it goes through, will consist of enough storage to hold a total of 500 bikes.

Construction will start early next year and be completed in 2017. It is comforting to know that TfL has already assigned Ealing £1.5 million to make improvements afterwards, or to put right poor design features!  - Ben Owen

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Ealing Pop-up Velodrome

Photo from Street Velodrome
street velodrome - a unique pop-up cycle track will be coming to Haven Green in June. The aim of this new event is to encourage people to take up sport. During two days of competition, cyclists will race against the clock to see who is the fastest. The event may also be televised. Look out for our stall there on the second day.

When: Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd June. 
Where: Haven Green opposite Ealing Broadway station 




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