Tower Hamlets Wheelers Meeting Minutes – February 2021
Held online via Zoom
Wednesday 10th February 2021 at 19:30
Attendees – David, John, Dan, Ross, Owen, Emmanuel, Martin, Keith, Iain
Guest – Simon Clark (LCC Trustee), Mariam Draaijer (Director of Joy Riders London)
Apologises – Helen, Christy, Julie
Joy Riders London
- Joy Riders London is a community group that looks to empower women by introducing them to the joys of cycling.
- They are looking to expand into Tower Hamlets (currently very successful in Waltham Forest) and the aim is for the group in Tower Hamlets to run independently.
- They are looking to restart their rides up from April 2021 and they cater for abilities. They also organise rides for commuters right across London. When the rides restart they will initially be restricted to a maximum of 6 people.
- They hope to be able to provide bicycles for people to borrow for the rides if they don’t have their own.
- They have links with female cycle instructors already who they can put individuals in touch with if they wish to build up their confidence cycling.
- They are currently looking for female ride leaders where they will provide full training & mentoring to the new ride leaders.
- ACTION Iain to introduce Mariam to Cllr K Perry
- https://www.joyriderslondon.org/
Petition – Section 59 Police Reform Act 2002
- Details of Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 can be found here, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/30/section/59
- Statistics on Section 59 are not currently made pubic.
- In 2020, across the whole of London, the Met Police seized 35 vehicles seized under Section 59.
- There is currently a petition which is requesting the police to treat this as a priority.
- Petition can be found here, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/for-effective-traffic-policing
Friends of the Earth – Hackney & Tower Hamlets
- The petition asking for Tower Hamlets Council to commit to funding phases 3 and 4 of their Liveable Streets program has gone live.
- The petition can be found here, https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tower-hamlets-council-must-commit-to...
Mansell Street
- TfL are to install a temporary dedicated two-way cycle lane with light segregation on Mansell Street between Whitechapel High Street and Royal Mint Street as part of their H2 Streetspace programme.
- A new pedestrian crossing on Mansell Street at the junction with Little Somerset Street will also be installed.
- We understand that they hope to deliver the scheme during March.
QMUL
- Are now looking at implementing FORS to all contractors onto the site.
- For further information on what FORS is, please see https://www.fors-online.org.uk/cms/
Liveable Streets Meeting Update
- We understand that the Brick Lane scheme area will be going to public consultation in the near future.
- First round of discussions have taken place with ward councillors with regards to the results of the Old Ford West public consultation.
- The Bow scheme has been approved but discussions are continuing on what (if any) exemptions will be made for any timed closures (e.g. blue badge holders or carers with designated carers parking permits). The exact timing of any closures is still to be decided.
- If lockdown restrictions allow, there is potential to hold a small number of Dr Bike’s or bike marking sessions at the pocket park on Old Bethnal Green Road. This wouldn’t be until the summer at the earliest.
- We fed back a list of suggestions of small improvements that could be made to the Bethnal Green scheme (additional dropped kerbs, additional signage etc).
Better Streets for Tower Hamlets Website
- Currently the ‘Our Vision’ does not mention anything around main roads. It was agreed that we should look to update the ‘Our Vision’ to encompass a sentence around tacking/improving main roads.
- ACTION – Dan to draft up additional text
- We should look to create contact book of all the stakeholders within Better Streets for Tower Hamlets.
Pre-planning
- Should we start to look to plan what LTNs could look like in other areas of the borough so that we can present to the council our proposals & be criteria friends?
- Look to mirror what Hackney Cycling Campaign have created https://hackneycycling.org.uk/the-vision-map/
AOB
- Local Group Survey. LCC Central have shared the annual local group survey which they are needing to be completed by the start of March.
- They are not looking for individual responses but one response as a group
- ACTION – Iain to share the survey to help draft the group response.
Next Meeting – Wednesday 10th March 2021, 7.30-9pm, The Cabin, St Margaret’s House, Old Ford Road, E2 9PL or via Zoom if lockdown is in place. Email or contact on social media to receive the invite link to the Zoom meeting.
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