Please respond to the Weavers Neighbourhood Refresh consultation
The Borough is currently consulting on a “Neighbourhood Refresh” for the Weavers ward (the north-west corner of Tower Hamlets, around Columbia Road). A major aim of the Neighbourhood Refresh programme is to make roads safer, particularly for people cycling and walking. We think these proposals could be made a lot better, so we urge you to respond to the consultation by its closing date of 30 September. A suggested text is provided below.
The Weavers area is of particular importance to people who cycle in the area, as it includes part of the Quietway 13 route, which will eventually run from London Fields to Farringdon. Although there are some good bits and pieces proposed, overall the proposals do not go nearly far enough. We think that this would be an ideal area for the installation an ambitious series of modal filters similar to the example pictured above, making the streets local-access only for motor vehicles and much more hospitable places for both local residents and people cycling or walking through the area. We urge you to ask for modal filtering in your response.
How to respond
There are several ways to respond: the consultation website includes a map where you can drop a pin to request an intervention in a particular spot, and a webform right at the bottom of the page where you can respond section-by-section. Alternatively, you can email your responses to towerhamlets.consultation@projectcentre.co.uk. A suggested text which you can email in is provided below, but don’t forget to sign off with your name and address! If you put these thoughts into your own words – and add some colour about your personal experience of the area – they may have more impact, but if you don’t have time don’t worry: the most important thing is that a decent number of people reply.
If you live within the Weavers ward, for additional impact you might want to email the ward councillors explaining why you would like a more ambitious scheme.
Suggested response
Email to: towerhamlets.consultation@projectcentre.co.uk
Dear Consultation team
I am writing in response to the Weavers Area Traffic Improvements consultation.
Overall comment:
I welcome the scheme’s objectives of improving the streets for people who walk and cycle. It is particularly important to get such improvements right in this area as it will form part of the Quietway 13 cycle route, and as none of the local main roads currently have any protected space for cycling it is essential that this area provides safe and comfortable alternative routes for all-age, all-experience cycling. However, this area is blighted by rat running, anti-social driving, and vehicle-borne criminality (in particular, drug dealing), and whilst the planned improvements are a step in the right direction it is my view that they should go much further.
This area is bound by several A-roads (Hackney Rd, Shoreditch High St, and Bethnal Green Rd). These roads are much more suitable for carrying large amounts of motor traffic than the backstreets through which it is currently allowed to permeate. I therefore urge the Borough to build on these proposals to create a much more ambitious scheme, centred on extensive area-wide modal filtering, with the aim of making the whole area accessible to local traffic only. This would have huge benefits both to local residents and to people walking or cycling through. In addition, the two B-roads in the area both run on residential streets unsuitable for through motor traffic, and essentially duplicate routes provided by local A-roads. I ask that the Borough investigate the possibility of declassifying these B-roads, which would then allow them to be filtered too.
Section 1:
I ask that the yorkstone paving and raised sections are executed with a bicycle-friendly smooth surface and gentle inclines.
Section 2:
I strongly support the principle of narrowing the entrance to Boundary St to discourage fast driving. I strongly support the principle of providing a contra-flow cycle lane here, but ask that the parking spaces proposed for the west side of Boundary St are moved or removed to avoid dangerous vehicle movements across the cycle lane, and that the cycle lane be made wider and benefit from some form of protection.
Section 3:
I strongly support an additional modal filter here, and hope that it will represent a first step in a much more ambitious area-wide modal filtering scheme. I prefer Option A, as the existing Elwin St/Quilter St filter would then continue to prevent antisocial drivers doing laps of Jesus Green. I ask that the existing filter be modified to make it permeable to cyclists.
Section 4:
I strongly support making the southern end of Durant St walking and cycling only. I ask it is designed such that the usable width meets the relevant London Cycling Design Standards for a shared use path and I suggest that bike hangars for residents’ bike parking could be included in the design.
Section 5:
I do not believe that making Ropley St one-way will have a significant impact in reducing traffic in this area. It will clearly not have any effect in limiting southbound traffic, and may even induce some additional traffic in this direction as it will become easier to drive down. For northbound traffic, other options (e.g. Ravenscroft St and Horatio St) will remain open.
I urge the Borough instead to install a modal filter on Ropley St, as this would be a much more effective way of reducing traffic in this area, and to bring forward proposals for filtering other nearby streets as part of an area-wide scheme.
Section 6:
I strongly support the principle of introducing design features to help embed the 20mph speed limit, but oppose the retention of speed cushions as these dangerously narrow the usable road width for people cycling; they should be replaced with sinusoidal humps. I note, however, that a more effective way of embedding a 20mph speed limit would be to introduce an area-wide filtering scheme.
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