Clare addressed our monthly meeting on 17th July 2017 at Sidings.
Here are some points from Clare’s talk
The Enfield Mini- Holland scheme was granted £42 million and was intended to include:
- five major cycling routes on A roads including the north-south A105 and the east-west A110,
- and upgrades to town centres at Edmonton Green, Palmers Green, Winchmore Hill and Enfield Town,
- as well as cycle training, residential cycle parking and cycle hubs.
These are shown on the diagram from Clare’s talk:
The route on A105 is currently under construction. The approach is similar to that used in Seville: to maximise the number of kms of cycle route (over 20 km planned) with a view to getting lots of people cycling. Enfield’s modal share is currently 0.7%.
Clare showed us photos of the newly constructed infrastructure on the A105 at Ridge Avenue and Winchmore Hill including:
- a bus stop bypass with ‘rain gardens’ on the approach
- the ‘rain gardens’ appeared here and there and seem an attractive feature – they consist of relatively small planted porous areas where surface water can be absorbed;
- a bus boarder where there isn’t room for a bypass;
- both sorts of bus stop are nicely surfaced with striped granite setts and cycle logos – a consistent approach that appears to clarify the potential conflict points;
- side road treatments with the cycle track set back and marked clearly across the side road;
- the track on one side of the road is at footway level and on the other side, protected by Orcas.;
- Bush Hill junction, where the A105 route intersects a Quietway, with a simultaneous green for pedestrians and cycles without conflicts.
“Bike lash”
Clare described the opposition that built up and how it was gradually overcome. We have some lessons to learn from her experiences.
- the then conservative MP set up a referendum and reported that 17% support the scheme while 75% said ‘No’. Then some of the shopkeepers set up ‘Save our Green Lanes’ with the result that the opposition minority started to attack the council. https://saveourgreenlanes.co.uk/;
- The Evening Standard wrote an article saying ‘businesses hit with drastic drop in income’ after part of Enfield mini Holland scheme finished https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/businesses-hit-with-drastic-drop-in-income-after-part-of-enfield-mini-holland-scheme-finished-a3492646.html;
- Clare commented that the Evening Standard had confused the effects of the road works with the scheme.
Better Streets for Enfield
Five people in Enfield Cycling Campaign started a new group “Better Streets for Enfield” with website https://betterstreets.co.uk/ and FB group
https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/1491332947831990/
Twenty campaigners attended the first meeting (Clare described them as ten cyclists and ten normal people). The conversations were about better streets and those people who don’t cycle made sure they looked at the bigger picture of better streets, not just from the cycling point of view.
- Their aims include filtered streets and safer school streets. They served a cooked breakfast for the people building the new route.
- Clare showed us the poster of her nine-year-old daughter with a caption: “I want to ride my bike to school”
- They convinced officers that they should talk to the shopkeepers in Green Lanes.
- Better Streets for Enfield’s new campaign is for low traffic neighbourhoods. But the council does not appear to be planning to filter through traffic from residential streets. Clare felt it was understandable since the backlash from the A105 has left little appetite for controversy over ‘closing’ roads. Better Streets are nonetheless advocating for filtering to create low-traffic neighbourhoods, pointing to the transformation in neighbouring Waltham Forest’
- Clare has worked her way round the neighbourhood forums talking about low traffic neighbourhood.
- Enfield High Street – the original aim was that it should be car free, but they ended up with cycle lanes.
Here’s a a link to the Better Streets for Enfield manifesto: https://betterstreets.co.uk/our-manifesto/
Clare’s presentation was followed up by a lively discussion and then after warmly thanking Clare we broke into informal groups to continue while Clare relaxed with a glass of wine.
Clare’s presentation is available at:
Lessons from Enfield’s Mini Holland for Camden Cyclists (low res) [1.2 Mbyte PDF]
