Steve and Brian would like to make it clear that the opinions offered at the talk were their own and do not necessarily represent their organisation or the projects they work on. This talk was held on their own time and as a sign of respect to all the Camden Cyclists who have helped them improve conditions for cycling in London on the LCN+ project.
Steve on up to the end of 2010
The original London Cycle Network (LCN) consisted of a set of numbered radial and orbital routes. The LCN+ project selected a subset of these; it started in 2002 under Ken Livingstone and was scheduled to be completed in 2010.
Spending: Steve showed us how the funding on the entire LCN+ project and on the Camden links increased over the period from 2002-3 until 2009-10-11. The graph rose to a peak this year and then dropped right down, due to BJ’s cut in funding. Steve pointed out that Camden had done well (in the top three).
CRISP Studies: A CRISP (Cycle Route Implementation and Stakeholder Plan) is feasibility study that which recommends detailed improvements for cyclists along a Link. A link is the part of a route in a particular borough, for example, link 28 is the Camden part of route 6. In Camden 6 out of 7 studies are complete (i.e. the reports written). But we were shocked to hear that only 70 out of 260 recommendations had been completed and that LCN+ in Camden is less than 45% complete. Steve pointed out that quite a lot of Route 6 (north-south) and Route 0 (SSL) had been carried out before the reports were written. Helen raised the issue of Barnet’s proposal to reduce bus lanes. Brian noted that CRISPs are now being applied to Greenways.
Synergies: Steve advised us that there will be a more holistic approach to funding and that cycling improvements must come from 20 mph zones, bus priority, local safety schemes, town centre improvements. Camden’s allocations are given on TfL’s website at:
Mayor announces £6.5m boost to local transport in Camden
Steve advised us to make contact with Simi Shah the leader of the Local Safety Scheme program and to contact other program managers . Also to try to take advantage of the “Trial Funding”.
Post Implementation Reviews of LCN+: The LCN+ team will produce a report for each link. They will invite comments from us and devise strategies to complete routes. Brian said he would prefer to evaluate schemes (e.g. grade them) rather than just ticking them off (recommendations are regarded as complete when they have been studied, even if nothing was implemented). People agreed that evaluation would be preferable. Funding for 2010-18: Steve showed us a table taken from TfL’s Business Plan – see page 71 at:
The funding for walking, cycling and accessibility is £35 million with more for streets and road safety.
Brian on after the end 2010
After 2010, funding will be concentrated under 5 headings (instead of the current 24), giving boroughs control as to how it is used:
- Maintenance, corridors, neighbourhoods, smart travel, major schemes.
No funding is attached directly to cycling and there is risk of abuse in some boroughs.
Cycling on Greenways: will still be managed by Rob Semple of TfL and boroughs will be able to apply for funding. Schemes will be monitored by Sustrans. Routes will include the Olympic Network.
Super Highways: Will be managed from TfL. They will be radial routes derived on the same principles as the LCN+ (i.e. to join town centres). 7 out of 11 of them are on the LCN+ and 85% on TLRN. We noted that the only one in Camden is on the A5, the next nearest are on A1 and A10. We wondered about the choice of A4 – Brian told us that Rik Andrew had suggested a raised cycleway from Heathrow to Chiswick. He also noted that segregation costs £0.5 million per km. Brian showed us the high density of LCN+ links in the zone 1 area.
Cycle Hire: The proposal is for 6000 bikes with cycle stations at 300 m intervals. They are not to be sited close to railway stations (in case all the bikes get taken up… we groaned). Brian noted that bikes will be used by tourists and there is little idea of using them to relieve congestion. Very little work has been done on routes for hire bike users, although Westminster has commissioned a CRISP on permeability in a few one-way streets in zone 1.
Westminster permeability Study: This considers a hierarchy of contraflow solutions from 2-way with point closures, via segregated contra flow to cyclists exemption to 2-way. Brian will send this to us for comment.
Cycle Hubs: Camden proposes 3-4 secure cycle parks (like the one at Finsbury Park Station). It was noted that Camden/TfL are already working on one for Holborn Business Partnership.
Way Forward: Brian suggested that area-wide permeability is a useful goal and could be seen as a necessary support for the cycle hire scheme. He wants to go back to LCN – London Cycle Network properly described with route numbers. But he guesses the outer ring may be lost and we may end up with a Central London Network.
Finale: as discussion had taken place throughout the presentations and it was already 9 pm, we thanked Steve and Brian and moved to the Princess of Wales across the road.