metOct07

NOTES OF HFCYCLISTS MEETING
Tuesday 2nd October 2007 , 7.15pm for 7.30pm in the Info Centre

PRESENT
John Griffiths, Paul Holloway, Paul Alexander, Bjorn Volk, Louanne Tranchell, Stewart Morrison, Amanda Carter [part], Alan Rowden [part].

APOLOGIES
Susie Gretz, Roger de Freitas, Mo Morgan, Andy Ellard, Gerry Berridge, Bill Ogden, Chris Tranchell, Cllr Eugenie White.

NEW MEMBERS
We were pleased to see to new people at tonight's meeting, Paul Holloway and Stewart.

FREEWHEEL 23rd SEPTEMBER

John and Amanda, along with Douglas Chesters, Penny Stubbs, David Bays and Margaret looked after the LCC stand at Ravenscourt Park, and we met many new cyclists, about 50 of which joined our email group. Bjorn and Chris Bainbridge were on an adjacent stand borough stand, along with Les Steggles of the Met police who was issuing stickers for postcodes for bikes. We were all pleased with the day.

The feedback was generally very positive. Paul Holloway very impressed by the organisation of it. The central London part a pleasure and the only hold-ups were around Parliament Square where cyclists were entering the main route. Paul did not follow the official route from the Ravenscourt Park hub as he became separated from it after crossing Shepherds Bush rd.

Rod Newing was very pleased with the event and hopes it will happen next year, perhaps with loos on the route. Katrina Williams, who set off with two children, was appalled by the route through Notting Hill. It should be pointed out that it was Limelight, the event organisers, who chose this route, and the LCC tried to get it changed.

CRISP at SBG
On Monday 1 October there was a final review meeting for the CRISP along Uxbridge rd and including Shepherds Bush Green. [Cycle Route Implementation Stakeholder Plan - how priorities are set for spending money to improve LCN+ routes [London Cycle Network Plus].

I, John, attended and was generally pleased. However I was disappointed that more had not been done to solve the problems at the eastern end of the Common. A very good thing was that the roadways in this area are shown on the plans as LCN+ routes. The importance of this below.

WESTFIELDS CYCLING STRATEGY / SBG
Westfield are using the consultants Halcrow to develop a Cycling Strategy for the WhiteCity development. John, with the help of others, has responded to the first two drafts of this. The main problem is that although the strategy helps cyclists get into the complex via segregated tracks around the Holland Park roundabout, it does not adequately help cyclists using the road network. The strategy explains that as the roads in the area are not shown on cycle maps as recommended for cycling, then they are NOT RECOMMENDED for cycling and hence it may be implied that there is no need to cater for their needs. Yet there are many cyclists who use the W - E, E - W route as a main thoroughfare into London.

See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/SBGopen.htm and the links to these responses under the section SBG - August 07

John to contact Jono Bourdillon at TfL and Nick Barnard at Halcrow to explain that the carriageways around the eastern end of SBG are definitely shown as LCN+ routes on the latest CRISP, and to find out what is happening, as there has been no news for over a month.

John met Jenny Jones at the Freewheel event and Jenny agreed to help out in a press /media event. Jenny is a Green Party member of the GLA and advisor to Ken on road safety matters.

This is an amazing opportunity for London to take a step towards becoming a great cycling city.

Amanda would like to raise awareness of the problems with a mass event. Louanne told Amanda of the annual meeting in the evening of 25 October of the group West London Citizens and Amanda will go along to see if there is any support for our cause. see http://www.westlondoncitizens.org.uk/index.html.

John believes that the potential for gridlock is quite high, and cramming the carriageway with as many lanes as possible will make it impossible for emergency vehicles to get through. John thinks that the authorities might listen to this argument, and fewer, wider lanes would be helpful for cyclists.

The area already has problems, before Westfield comes along:
"The borough of Hammersmith and Fulham shows the highest annual vehicle delay per km of network with 7.6 million minutes followed by Kensington & Chelsea with 6.9 million minutes." [published April 2006]

See section 2.4 of
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/Technical-Note-3-Total-vehicle-delay-in-London.pdf
or http://tinyurl.com/2eefz2

Stewart raised the problem of the long detour for vehicles from Wood lane wishing to go to Shepherds Bush Rd. They have to go all the way around the Holland Park roundabout. Perhaps there is a way of making a direct southbound link on the West side of the green. There would be many benefits which might outweigh the problems it would introduce. There are moves all across London to dismantle large gyratories, and perhaps this would be a beginning for LBHF. Stewart may think about it.

LIAISON MEETING

We have arranged a liaison meeting with LBHF transport officers for next Monday, 8th October, at the info centre, 6.15 for 6.30pm. Chris Bainbridge, Simon Franklin and Bjorn Volk from lbhf are expected to come. This is our chance to put our questions and views to them, but mostly to hear what they say. If you have any topics / questions you would like them to address, please email them to me before hand, as below. All welcome.

KEEPING YOUR BIKE SAFE

There was general agreement that something more should be done about the problem of the theft of bikes, and bits thereof. Particularly the catching of those stealing bikes.

Some present thought the authorities were not treating the problem seriously enough, especially with the under-reporting of the crime. Alan and others wanted a call-line where you could report the theft of a wheel for example, as it would not get reported to the police. Bjorn pointed out that there would be no outcome, as with fly-tipping and graffiti call-lines. John considered that people already knew of the problem, and it was a matter for the problem to be treated effectively.

We have a section on protecting your bike, and the results of a survey we carried out of our members on cycle theft / damage and the under-reporting thereof at
http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/theft.htm

Stewart reported that car theft declined when better locks were utilised, and suggested the same might happen with bikes.

Recently john was sent the following by Cllr Greg Smith, Cabinet Member for Crime & Anti-social Behaviour

[11 Sept 2007 ]
John -

The Community Safety Unit of H&F Council has been have been carrying out activity on an ad hoc basis. This includes:
" Cycle marking at events such as Green Fairs etc (mainly carried out by Les Steggles)
" Deployment of pedal cycle A Boards on hotspot areas
" Signage for bike stands demonstrating proper locking techniques
" Purchase of tracking equipment to support police sting operations where necessary.

Regards,

Greg Smith

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Councillor Greg Smith

Councillor for Town Ward
Cabinet Member for Crime & Anti-social Behaviour

[14 Sept 2007]
John -

Thanks for your email and I appreciate your comments regarding the scale of bike crime in proportion to the number of people who cycle.

That said, I am satisfied that the work load going into cycle crime is already proportionate to overall resources in the borough - both from the Police and local council. Indeed, I believe the main factor that will combat the theft of pedal cycles - in fact, all crime - is robust, 24/7 high visibility, neighbourhood beat policing. Our pilots of just that are taking place in Shepherds Bush Green and Fulham Broadway, with excellent results - and with the concept becoming talked about on the pan-London and national stage, I am optimistic that this style of policing will become the norm over time.

Regards,

Greg Smith
*****************

John is in contact with Gareth Winnard of Hammersmith Safer Neighbourhood team, and Inspector Dan Stobbart, trying to push things.

The way the Home Office plans to change to change how cycle crime is dealt with is given here: see section 5 at page 43
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/crime-strategy-07/crime-strategy-07?view=Binary

REUSING / RECYCLING BIKES
There was a lot off discussion about this. It would be good if the large stores of captured bikes could be released back into the wild.
John has previously been in contact with the group re-cycle which sends bikes to Africa. However there were problems of transporting the bikes from lbhf to the Lambeth depot. John to send Paul and Amanda his contacts / correspondence on it, hoping something will come of this.

A possibility would be to sort bikes at the lbhf depot into usable ones /scrap and get them sent to the appropriate place. Paul will explore ways of acquiring a suitable lorry/ van. It is hoped that lbhf might see this as a good thing to do.

RIDE THIS SUNDAY

On Sunday 7 October meet at 10am in Furnivall Gardens by the river wall, to set off to the Chiswick Car boot sale. Also the farmers market nearby. Not far, and gentle outing along riverside for most part. At Chiswick Community School, corner of Alexandra ave and Staveley rd, W4. Please let john know if you expect to come along [as below]

EXPENSES.
£21.84 for refreshments tonight
£10.58 for 3 months web hosting / uploading facility

DATE OF NEXT MEETING -Tuesday 6 November 2007, 7.15 pm for 7.30pm at the info centre. Please put in diary NOW.
See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/meetings.htm

John Griffiths [chair / co-ordinator]
020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748
john@truefeelings.com
OUR WEBSITE www.hfcyclists.org.uk