Chicanes on the towpath

I don't know how long I have been arguing for chicanes on the towpath that actually slow cyclists down - and in response the Canal and River Trust have been saying they would rather 'educate' cyclists to slow down.

So imagine my surprise, when exploring the Camden side of the tunnel, to find that there already is a chicane that does exactly what I have been saying they should do.  And here it is.  3 prongs, and a tight enough dimension between them that you have to seriously slow down to get through it, but it doesn't stop wheelchairs, or buggies, or tricycles.  You just can't physically pass through it at any speed on a bicycle.

If CaRT can provide this on the Camden side, why can't they do it on the Islington side, where cycling pressure is at its greatest?

Motion to Islington Council on Canal Management

Below is the text of the motion to Islington Council identifying the canal management issues that impact negatively on the Borough of Islington.  This motion was passed unanimously, supported by all elected members of the Council across the chamber.  

"This Council notes:

Under Government reforms, British Waterways became the Canal and River Trust (CaRT) – a charity that owns and operates England’s inland waterways and infrastructure. The Regents Canal and towpath run through the borough of Islington, passing through St Peters and Caledonian wards, and in these urban areas the towpath passes very close to people’s homes near the canal. Access to the canal and towpath is controlled by CaRT and is not a public right of way.

Since the Trust took over the running of the canal, there has been a sharp increase in problems with speeding cyclists on the towpath, failure to keep the bins emptied, from noise and air pollution coming from Canal boats moored on the banks of the canal, and congestion from double and triple mooring in built-up areas. The CaRT has been very slow to respond to these problems, and when they have, they have largely failed to make any difference, or they allow different standards to operate on different parts of the canal for no obvious reason.

We call on the Council:

• To work with CaRT, TFL and London Borough of Hackney highways officers to achieve safe alternative cycle routes for cyclists in a hurry, and to introduce cycle calming measures on the towpath that force cyclists in a hurry to slow down.

• To bring legal pressure to bear on CaRT to ensure that the Towpath is kept clean, the bins emptied 7 days a week, and an acceptable standard of public hygiene maintained.

• To bring legal and moral pressure on CaRT to enforce higher environmental standards on the owners of canal boats, to reduce noise and air pollution from noisy generators, and to require boaters to burn only smokeless fuels, and to set up mechanisms to enforce these standards.

• To lobby for changes to the Clean Air Act to include the waterways.

• To bring pressure to bear on CaRT to enforce their own mooring rules.

• To cooperate with CaRT to erect new joint CaRT/LBI signage on the towpath making clear what are the environmental and mooring rules.

• To commence joint working between the Council and CaRT to establish ways of legally enforcing compliance with these rules.

This council further notes:

• CaRT is the owner of the canals, and needs to take full responsibility for the behaviour and actions of people using the canal and the towpath, and for the environmental impacts of that activity. "

Remembrance day gets bigger and bigger

Islington Green was packed with people this morning for the annual Remembrance Day multi-faith service.  There were war veterans, councillors, our local MPs and GLA member, police, cadets, scouts, guides, brownies, and the wonderful tightly-drilled drum-core, which I could hear as soon as I left my house.  The event was superbly well organised, and as it gets bigger, it generates a stronger and stronger sense of community in Islington.  It would be nice if the Police could stop the traffic for more than just the 2-minute silence, an hour say, or even for the day. Councillors were also there in large numbers.  After the service St Peters Ward Councillors met up with the Pearly King of Finsbury and one of the surviving veterans.  See below:

We then went on to Spa Green War Memorial for the Clerkenwell and Finsbury service, which was attended by several hundred people, including drums, a brass band, and incense from the Holy Redeemer Church.  A huge increase from when I first started attending in 2006, when there were about 30 people, and a tape recording of a brass band.  The most poignant moment was the Last Post being played by a real trumpeter, with a great deal of feeling.  A striking contrast to the rather hurried recorded version used at Islington Green.  Overall though, a very good event.

Partnership working between COLAi and Hyde kicks off

I was invited last Monday to speak at a small prize-giving ceremony for art students at the City Of London Academy Islington (COLAi).  The prizes were for pupils who had won a place in a competition to produce a community artwork to be hung on the ‘old’ Packington buildings to liven it up until final demolition of the last phase takes place.  This was the first time that Hyde and the School have jointly delivered a project, which has to be a good thing for the local area.  Much more partnership working is promised, and I am particularly keen to see the building project used as a way to whet the appetite of pupils who may be interested in construction work

 

I got the job of handing out the prizes to the pupils, and I have now lost the piece of paper with everyone’s name on, for which I humbly apologise.  The photo shows the prize-winners, Rebecca their art teacher, in the middle at the front, Bernice Ramchandani from Hyde 3^rd from left, head teacher Clare Verga 5^th from the right, and yours truly lurking at the back.

The occasion was also an excellent opportunity to congratulate Clare Verga on the quite remarkable improvement she has made in the results at COLAi this year, almost doubling the number of 5 GCSEs with English and Maths from 33% last year to 61% this year.  This just goes to show what a huge difference a good head can make to a school in a very short space of time.

The artwork was hung in the wrong place in my view.  You can barely see in the distance in the photo.  It needs to be rehung where people can see it. Anyway, a good time was had by all, and the team made short work of the sausage rolls afterwards.

The Canal Festival goes from strength to strength

St peters Ward Councillors had another excellent day today on our stall at the Angel Canal Festival.  We met lots of people, many of them local residents, and spent time talking about the Canal, Labour policy for the next election, the hidden underground theatre on the corner of Essex Road and Islington Green, and trying not to get drawn into talking about Syria, amongst other things.  We were supported by Nick, Felix, David, Sue and Ian, all of whom worked hard throughout the day to make it a success.

Our petition this year was to make the canal and towpath safer.  We are lobbying the Canal and River Trust (CaRT) to introduce cycle calming measures on the towpath that force speeding cyclists to slow down, to enforce their license conditions against the small minority of boaters that cause a nuisance, either with noisy smelly generators, or by holding noisy late-night parties and events that disturb residents and other boaters, and to keep the bins emptied. The response to the petition was very positive, and we collected over 100 signatures.

We had a visit from the chief executive of the CaRT, and we had an interesting and useful discussion with him about ways in which we can work together between the Council, the Police and the Trust to try and resolve some of the towpath issues, but we also stressed to them that residents want to see a real difference in the levels of nuisance and disturbance that they experience from the minority of disruptive boaters, and other disruptive persons that are currently being attracted to the canal.

We were also visited by the Angel of the festival, who blessed us (in a rather modern way), and who within the same blessing also damned the Tories, for which we were most grateful.

Cycle chicanes are normal

Whilst on holiday last week I took the opportunity to go on a few cycle rides along by the river.  The rides were along dedicated cycle tracks, and at every junction on the track there was a chicane like the one in the picture above.

The purpose of the the chicanes was to allow cyclists and walkers through, but as you can see from the wheeltracks on the ground, the geometry of the chicane forces cyclists to make quite a difficult turn, involving slowing down to walking pace.  These chicanes are simple to make, effective, demountable for maintenance access, and ensure that cyclists slow down at critical locations.

Today we hear of a lady hospitalised with a fractured spine after being hit by a cyclist who didn't stop at a red pelican crossing.  And a small minority of cyclists continue to ride at dangerous speeds on the towpath without any way of slowing them down.  it is shameful to think that it is unlikely anything will be done about this until someone gets seriously hurt.

Cycle chicanes are not rocket science.  They are normal.  Anyone cycling at a civilised speed on the towpath should not object to them.  How long will it be before the Canal and River Trust realise that physical barriers like this are a sensible and necessary safety feature on the towpath, and the only practical way of preventing intimidation and injury?

Traffic smoothing or traffic calming?

Following local residents' concerns about the perception of the junction of  Basire Street with New North Road as being a dangerous junction, council officers commissioned a traffic report on the junction.  I was not the only person to be surprised that the report was mainly concerned with "easing traffic flows" through the junction.

We all thought we had expressed the concern that the junction was dangerous, and needed moderating.  - Most people would agree that traffic tends to build up some speed on this section of the road.  Yet the mind-set of traffic engineers still seems to be to make traffic flow more smoothly (ie speed it up).

It is a well know fact that Islington has relatively low levels of car ownership, and is plagued by traffic from elsewhere trying to get through our borough, which is actually nothing to do with us.  What we need is traffic calming, and if it takes traffic longer to get through Islington, so be it.  The above sign outside Whitmore Primary School (just over the border in Hackney) sums it up nicely.