Ealing Cycling Campaign
News December 2007

Skyscraper Cycle Parking

Big things are planned for Ealing town centre. A month after developers unveiled the Dickens Yard shopping centre for the site behind the Town Hall, the Irish owned development company Glenkerrin have announced an even bigger scheme. They have applied for planning permission for a 40 storey skyscraper opposite Ealing Broadway Station, and the redevelopment of the Arcadia Centre. Their scheme includes plans for 704 cycle parking spaces. Add this to the 680 cycle parking spaces proposed for Dickens Yard, and the 320 cycle parking spaces for the residential development at Bromyard Avenue in Acton, and it seems things are looking up for cycling in Ealing.

For years, developers have ignored cyclists. You only have to look at the number of bicycles parked on the balconies of 60's and 70's tower blocks to see that many of London's residents have nowhere practical to keep a bike. The change of direction is down to the fact that cycle parking spaces are now part of the council's planning requirements. This is a significant success after years of lobbying by cycling campaigners and Green groups. But it's not quite time to celebrate. Look closely at the plans and you'll see that things aren't all that rosy.

In the Glenkerrin development the 704 spaces are all in the second basement. Residents will have to cycle down two levels to get to them - on a ramp that will be shared with service traffic including articulated HGVs, and the hundreds of cars using the centre. Experience at Canary Wharf and in Europe shows that cycle spaces tucked away in deep basement car parks are simply not used.

Also, there are no details of what type of stands will be installed. This is asking for trouble. The developers of St. Pancras Station recently installed cycle racks that only hold bicycles by the front wheel - a design that was considered obsolete 20 years ago. And most significant for other Ealing residents, there no details shown on the plans of where shoppers will be able to park their bikes. Cyclists need parking spaces close to the amenities they want to use. Research shows that cyclists who cannot find a cycle stand within 25 metres of their destination are likely to informally 'fly park', if their visit will be short. Providing good cycle parking facilities is also in the interests of the developers. A survey carried out among 1,200 consumers in Bern looked at the 'value of purchases made' and the 'parking area used' by each customer. The results showed that providing cycle parking was the most profitable use of space. Cyclists spent 7,500 Euros per square metre, per year. Motorists came next with 6,625 Euros per square metre.

We have already submitted a response to Ealing Council.

Killer Junction Report

After cyclist, Patricia McMillan, was killed by a lorry at the junction of Uxbridge Road and Steyne Road, Acton, in February 2006, the London Borough of Ealing asked consultancy firm Transport Initiatives to conduct a cycle audit of the junction. The junction was quickly redesigned after the incident and a cycle lane removed that could tempt cyclists onto the left side of left-turning lorries. In its place a new cycle lane was placed in the centre of the road.

In the survey opinion was split about the central cycle lane: some cyclists were very much for it, others were against.  "The problem with the lane, writes Steve Essex, of Transport Initiatives, "is that vehicles on both sides of it can go straight on.  Normally the purpose of a lane like this is to provide an unambiguous and sensible route to the place cyclists will want to be next. My report to the council suggested that they try to reduce use of the left hand lane for straight ahead traffic.  There are various things they could do such as emphasizing its use for buses only by using red surfacing or using hatching but the way forward I recommended was to enlarge the triangular island so that there was only one traffic lane and one cycle lane leading towards Acton High Street.  I think there is ample capacity available to do this as the queues in the area are because of the High Street’s ability to handle traffic not the capacity of the Steyne Road junction."

Steve is not sure what the Council have done about the report, or their plans for the junction as no one from the council has got back to him. You can see a summary of the report on: http://www.steveessex.com/jobs/ealing/uxbridge.html

Mount Avenue/Birkdale Road 20mph zone

Ealing Cycling Campaign have formally objected to Ealing Council over the proposed humps in Mount Avenue / Birkdale Road, W5. The council is planning to put in the old-fashioned round-topped humps instead of more cycle friendly speed controls.

Where traffic calming is to be introduced, our order of preference for enforcement is as follows:

Acceptable and indeed welcomed
Intelligent use of one-way streets with cyclists’ exemption
Average speed cameras
Widespread streetscape treatment e.g. Hastings Road
Horizontal deflection or width restriction with cycle bypass
Speed cushions

Last resort
Sinusoidal humps

Unacceptable
Round top humps

At December's meeting of ECC there was unanimous rejection of round top speed humps (with only one abstention). If a cyclist has to slow from 10 mph to 7 mph, half the kinetic energy is lost.

It is a bit of a mystery why Ealing are installing these humps when other councils consider them obsolete. It appears that Hammersmith Council currently have a programme for replacing humps with cushions.