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Residents oppose Quietway through East London Park

Child has already been injured by speeding cyclist, say locals

Residents near a park in East London have begun a petition to stop a ‘Quietway’ cycle route running through it, saying it would turn a peaceful place into a thoroughfare.

Quietway 6, currently still only a proposal, would bring cyclists from Bancroft Road, in Mile End, to Wallis Road, Hackney Wick, via Meath Gardens.

But the Friends of Meath Gardens group say cyclists in the park are already a nuisance.

“We’d like TfL and the council to consider a different route,” Anju Aggarwal told the East London Advertiser. “We don’t want it to become a thoroughfare for cyclists. There’s plenty of viable alternatives.”

There has already been an incident earlier this year when an eight year old girl was left with a broken leg following a collision with a cyclist.

Anju said: “I’ve had several incidents where I’ve asked them to slow down and some have had headphones on when they are cycling.

“People love this park but children’s safety has to be a priority. Do we need more accidents for them to listen?

Alison Nicholls, from Friends of Meath Gardens, said: “We get the impression the consultation is being held after the fact. Also, most residents have not received their consultation papers, it’s been incredibly frustrating.”

A spokesman for Tower Hamlets Council said “This includes consolidating and improving a single preferred cycle route through the park, to encourage responsible cycling, reduce conflicts with other park users and further restrict mopeds and powered two wheelers from entering the park.”

Sam Monck, TfL’s head of borough projects and programmes, said: “The consultation on this section of the Quietway is still open and all submissions will be carefully considered. The proposed route was carefully chosen after consultation with Tower Hamlets and we will continue to discuss plans with all interested parties to arrive at the best solution.”

 

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14 comments

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burtthebike | 8 years ago
0 likes

I did wonder about the veracity of the eight year old with a broken leg, but it turns out to be mostly true.

http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/mums_want_speeding_cyclists_b...

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Wolfshade | 8 years ago
0 likes

Shared paths are a nusiance. Sometimes handy, but a nusiance as you have two conflicting groups. You have cyclists who for the most part behave like "traffic" i.e. they move in a predictable manner and direction (unless you know being garrotted by wiretraps or punctures from thumbtacks), but pedestrians wander (and quite rightly so, they have no rules on them no expectation) so people meandering around meandering people doing near similiar speeds it isn't too much of an issue but you then put cyclists moving more directly and at higher speeds you end up with conflict.

Where the paths do have an element of segregation (solid whoile line down the middle) it isn't really helped as while the cyclist must stay on their side pedestrains are free to wander across both sections.

Moreover there does seem to be a lot of people who don't like "other people" using their park. From people objecting to cyclists, to banning parkrun, surely anything that encourages people to be active is a good thing.

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LegalFun | 8 years ago
2 likes

8 year old kids often move erratically on paths, wandering from one side to the other with no warning. I'm not surprised that a cyclist knocked one over. I've accidentally knocked kids over when walking, but when their head is about knee height, it can be hard to see them running through a crowd. One of the worst things about being over 6ft.

Essentially, accidents happen, especially with children. Adults are also just as bad. There are a few shared use paths near me, where you can see pedestrians for a good 200m or so, and most cant stay to one side of the path. They dont even need headphones on to be oblivious to a loud bell, or even an old-fashioned horn (my dads bike).

The dutch have it right, with segregated paths between cyclists, pedestrians and cars. None of them mix very well, so best to separate them.

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emishi55 | 8 years ago
9 likes

Meanwhile...

 

this evening's news..."25 years ago childhood diabetes was unknown. No more, as it is now linked to the obesity epidemic".

people have limbs amputated due to this. The NHS is over.....you know the rest...

 

On and on it goes.

Dutch (primary) children cycling to school?      ...50%+...

How many in the UK....?   

etc..

 

Time to get those council departments in health transport environment finance and just about everything else, and bang their heads together.

You shouldn't really need to consult for the modern equivalent of putting a sewage pipe underground in a time of cholera. 

 

 

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Kapelmuur | 8 years ago
2 likes

I swear in Flemish, I'm ashamed to admit that swearwords are all I can remember from childhood holidays at my grandparents in Flanders.

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Mungecrundle | 8 years ago
4 likes

It seems to be a depressingly British disease. Far easier to get a bunch of NIMBYs together to be against something rather than go to the hard work and effort of finding a solution or creating something positive. My local high street for example is a retail wasteland of empty shop units partly due to the "Don't like it, don't want it" brigade who oppose any and all proposed change of use by people who are willing to risk their own money time and effort to create a viable business.

Too many people with no vision, no ambition and narrow selfish perspective, but unfortunately with enough time on their hands to get organised and get representation for their views.

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bikebot | 8 years ago
3 likes

Oh and bluebug above of course isn't helping with his horseshit about foreigners.

All London parks get some antisocial behaviour. With cycling, some of that seems to be the current obsession with riding around with one wheel in the air (the bikelife/storm/whatever). When it comes to cycling, your average friends of group can't be bother to tell the difference between that and people just getting about. It isn't interested in the idea that greater everyday cycling discourages anti-social behaviour.  All they can see is something they don't like and they'd rather just ban it.

 

 

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bikebot | 8 years ago
4 likes

Friends of [insert name here] Park, criticise cycling. Same story everywhere. I have literally never encountered or heard of a "friends of" group anywhere that didn't fall into this pattern. Even some of the Richmond friends obsession with one particular type of litter probably has something to do with the Quietway route. Southwark Park friends managed to get a ridiculious barrier put up that actually blocked many disabled cyclists on the only safe route to the park. I could go on, they're all like this.

If you have one locally, you can consider reminding  them to represent you and the things you support (which is actually their job). If this is blatently ignored, contact the park management to point out that they aren't representing all views and should be treated as such. 

I'd also quite like to see the LCC do that occasionally, but they seem to be rather good at shaking hangs with people who repeatedly criticise and undermine cycling.

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burtthebike replied to bikebot | 8 years ago
1 like

bikebot wrote:

Friends of [insert name here] Park, criticise cycling. Same story everywhere.

So right.  I well remember Friends of Blaise Castle, in Bristol, opposing a cycle route through the park because it would lead to a road, which would lead to a motorway.

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paulgannon | 8 years ago
7 likes

Bluebug:

How do you know they are swearing, or do you happen to know lots of swear words in lots of languages?  And, why do you force them to stop completely? 

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davel replied to paulgannon | 8 years ago
2 likes
paulgannon wrote:

Bluebug:

why do you force them to stop completely? 

Absolutely this. So far, bluebug's point seems to be that some people take up the middle of the path, running clubs take up more space, and he stops foreign cyclists.

If you have a more reasonable point, communicate it more clearly; otherwise accept that you're coming across as a grumpy user of a shared use path, who doesn't like the 'shared' bit, a bit like these 'Friends of' asshats.

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brooksby | 8 years ago
10 likes

"There are plenty of alternative routes for the cyclists " - like, er, the busy roads that the Quietway is trying to avoid? I do hope that Alison Nicholls puts as much effort into campaigning about motor traffic, because I'd bet my left kidney that way more than one eight year old's arm has been hurt around there.

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brooksby | 8 years ago
8 likes

"Won't somebody think of the children!?"

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Beecho | 8 years ago
15 likes

I've just seen a bus doing at least 35 down my road in a 20mph zone.  We should ban buses round here.

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