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news
Cycleway 9 on Chiswick High Road (picture credit TfL)Conservative councillors say people going for brunch are 'ruining cycle lane experiment'
People who visit Chiswick for brunch are 'trampling' over local residents views' by using a new cycle lane, say Tory councillors.
The row comes as the Labour-run Hounslow Council turned down a Conservative challenge to the Chiswick High Road cycle lane - built in February 2021.
The TfL-funded cycle lane is intended to promote healthy travel, increase safety and discourage car use.
The Chiswick Conservatives organised a 'call-in' on August 4, asking the council to re-think its decision to keep the cycle lane for another six-months, reports My London.
But all members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted to push ahead with the new lane.
> West London council votes to make temporary cycleway permanent - for next 18 months at least
Turnham Green's Tory councillor Joanna Biddolph, said: “We continually have decisions made about Chiswick that are just imposed on us by people who just do not know it.
“Driving through it or having brunch here is not knowing how Chiswick works, you have to know it as a resident or a worker.”
Chiswick Homefields councillor and Tory leader Gerald McGregor said: “This current scheme, and the new Experiment Traffic Order is hopeless.
“There is a perceived lack of fairness, Chiswick residents feel they have been trampled on. The democratic deficit is clear here.”
The new cycle lane plan was 'rubber stamped' by Hounslow’s leadership and 'uses weasel words and lacks transparency', Cllr Biddolph argued.
> Huge growth in number of people including families riding bikes on West London protected cycleway
Defending the scheme, Hanif Khan cabinet member for transport, said London Mayor’s have consistently encouraged active travel.
He added: “The council transport strategy set out to reduce the dominance of cars on the road and we see that everywhere, where possible we want to take necessary steps to provide amenities to encourage walking and cycling.
“The pandemic has further highlighted the need for the benefit of urgently providing high quality cycling infrastructure.”
Council transport officer Jefferson Nwokeoma, revealed that between February and June 2021 average weekly cycle lane users increased from 1,239 to 2,316.
Mr Nwokeoma emphasised that the council was going 'above and beyond' by engaging with the public for 21 days before starting the new temporary cycle lane.
Defending an alleged 'failure to consult' in the last seven months, Mr Nwokeoma said 8,000 letters were sent to Chiswick’s 45,000 residents, as well as stakeholder emails and 'town hall type events'.
Speaking about the plans last month, London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, said: “[The] data shows the huge positive impact cycle lanes can have not only in enabling more people to cycle, but also in reducing road danger and improving air quality.
“Chiswick High Road has been transformed by the trial lane, with cycling on weekdays up by almost three quarters and bikes now making up a fifth of ‘vehicles’ using the road during the day.
“We will continue to work with Hounslow Council and boroughs across London to do all we can to ensure a greener and cleaner recovery from the pandemic.”
Latest Comments
- HoarseMann 2 min 16 sec ago
Yep! Although, there was one point where a cyclist fails to give way as the chap with the guide dog is trying to cross at the zebra crossing....
- stonojnr 5 min 53 sec ago
The issue, much like with shared paths, is pedestrians rarely conform to the they must only walk in this bit and be mindful of cyclists on this...
- bensynnock 10 min 49 sec ago
Cycling competence should be part of the driving test.
- hawkinspeter 12 min 53 sec ago
There's a specific problem with getting an AI model to continue training called "overfitting" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overfitting). This is...
- mitsky 18 min 32 sec ago
Did anyone catch the bit on BBC Breakfast this morning about floating bus stops?...
- Mr Hoopdriver 35 min 50 sec ago
No mention of the industry's marketing being focussed too heavily to the sports (esp. road racing) sector than utility sector skewing the figures.
- dave atkinson 55 min 29 sec ago
I'm 1.89m and not anywhere near the limit of the bar adjustment, although I do make smart bikes a bit shorter and more upright than my outdoor...
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You try being dyslexic. You might find it fun,
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I find Synergetic can last a few weeks between applications. It can withstand torrential rain and still be good the next day. it is pricey, but I...
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51 comments
Not that type of capitalism....
People driving through is one thing, they surely bring very little benefit to an area. People walking and cycling to use local shops and services, are also likely to live locally, not everyone sets off on a century ride for an incidental cafe stop or even brunch.
I'm really confused as to what the counsellors are objecting to as they seem to be complaining about the success of the scheme with measurable benefits. Or maybe it is they who are confused about what the local economy actually needs in the way of less traffic congestion, healthier residents and increased high street footfall.
'Tory councillors in talking garbage shocker' - Honestly, what on earth is wrong with these people? And what about the people who vote for these councillors?
And they'll probably moan about the cycle lanes causing traffic congestion.....when they are the traffic.
When you don't really have any logical, sensible, even mildly valid reasons for opposing something, you have to make up some illogical, ridiculous and utterly invalid reasons, and these are so fictional as to be worthy of Dickens, or more likely Terry Pratchett. If this is how the tories ensure that high streets blossom and prosper by discouraging hungry, thirsty cyclists from stopping and buying food and drink, they're even stupider than I thought.
Such incredible short-sightedness in the face of galloping climate change, the obesity epidemic, congestion and injury and death is truly staggering.
I object to that reference. Terry Pratchett at least produced works of fiction where you laughed at the content, rather than laughing "at" the author. The great man even had a quote perfect for those cyclists "ruining" the cycle lane my using it.
“It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it.”
The councilor is not against cycling, just don't do it in HER burough.
Sadly, that justifies the petrolhead, ABD attitude to claiming the road as their own fiefdom.
Thank you. I stand corrected and humbled.
Douglas Adams?
I thought the usual argument was that cycle lanes stifled local trade, because nobody on a bicycle stops to spend money. But now the argument is they are stopping to spend money locally, to eat brunch?
Councils: We want visitors to spend money
Also Councils: Not that kind of money!
Not that kind of visitor?
They might have come from Hounslow, or - shudder - Isleworth.
I wonder whether they survey where people live who are driving through the borough? I mean, clearly their opinions and convenience only count if they live locally and are driving on the road for work purposes (not recreational use, god forbid!)
I was just wondering that. All other Councils want people to visit their borough/district so that they spend money and use their facilities. Clearly they are all muddled in their thinking !
Surely, if they live locally and work locally then they need a cycle lane, not a car lane!
So if you eat brunch, you are not a ‘proper’ local? Is the definition of someone who ‘truly knows’ the area one who thinks that cycle lanes are an abomination? And if you like cycle lanes then that disqualifies you as a ‘true’ local?
Yes but you forgoot a person shops local by bike is also not a true local. Members of the community who shop local by bike are simply hobos
It's the famous "no true Scotsman" fallacy all over again...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
No true local? No true bruncher?
You can't expect conservatives to be rational or make sense, they have long ago caught themselves in a logical condundrum by deriding the bicycle as the transport of the proletariat and simultaneously deriding it as the plaything of rich inner city latte sipping Lefties.
Having thus described the bicycle as a useful object for rich and working class alike, they have checkmated themselves but refuse to accept it. So they try every possible move to get out of the impossible situation they're in, over and over again. It's pitiful.
It's the "No True Scotsman" fallacy all over again.
This is a local district for local people, there's nothing for you here!
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