Today we had a visit from Jenny Jones, Green Party member at the London Assembly. She is currently visiting local LCC groups to see what concerns and ideas they have.

We met her at the western end of CS3 at Royal Mint St and gave her a tour along it to the junction of Horseferry Rd and Narrow St. She was interested to hear our concerns, which included the inconsistent design of the junctions where minor roads met the Cable St route. Sometimes cyclists should give way, at others vehicles from the side have priority. This was not just the result of poor planning but because the design and implementation of cycle facilities was an afterthought, which leads to a ‘compromise’ where cyclists get the worst part of the deal.

We pointed out that this is the case across London, not just Tower Hamlets. Where CS3 meets the Tower Hill gyratory was a good example of the way cycle provision is just bolted on to an existing system with poor and confusing signage, sometimes four or five lanes of traffic to negotiate, some pavements being narrow for shared use and not clearly marked as such.

Jenny saw that the eastern end of CS3 had confusing contraflow cycle paths, which were at times too narrow, and along Horseferry Rd the cycle path runs along the wrong side of the road because the other provides parking as the council believes the convenience of motor vehicle owners to park on the same side as their home outweighs the convenience and safety of the thousands of cyclists who use this road.

We delivered her back to Tower Bridge having returned via the Shadwell and Wapping docks and the riverside path to give her a contrasting view of cycle provision in the borough. Jenny has asked us to keep in touch and to provide her with more details of problems and suggestions we may have, which she will collate with responses from other local groups and present to the GLA and the mayor.