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Enfield cyclists stage 'cash mob' - spending money to reassure traders cycle paths won't mean less business

Enfield is to become a London 'mini-Holland' - but shopkeepers fear loss of parking spaces will deter shoppers...

Cyclists have spent hundreds of pounds in a shopping parade in north London to prove to traders that bike paths outside their shops will not put off trade.

20 cyclists visited Palmers Green in Enfield to show that replacing parking spaces with cycle paths under ‘mini-Holland’ plans will not deter shoppers.

Enfield Borough Council successfully bid for £30m under the Mayor Of London’s £100million Mini Holland initiative to encourage more people to get on their bikes in the capital.

Adrian Lauchlan, a Southgate Cycling Club member and borough co-ordinator for the London Cycling Campaign in Enfield, told the Enfield Independent: “People panicked when they announced they could remove the parking spaces.

“But we want to show – we’re here to buy things. We spend money too.

“Cyclists aren’t just lycra-clad people going out on their bikes just for a bike ride – we want to show them that we actually will be cycling to the shops of these plans go ahead.”

Claire Rogers added: “We would still spend as much money as people who come by car do. It makes so much sense to me.

David Hughes said: “Anything that improves the environment is worth it. This would stop people from using their cars and help keep the roads a little bit greener.”

Earlier this year the London boroughs of Enfield, Kingston upon Thames and Waltham Forest each got around £30 million in funding as part of Mayor of London Boris Johnson's 'Mini-Hollands' initiative, which aims to prioritise cycling in outer London town centres, including redesigning junctions using Dutch-style infrastructure.

The unsuccessful boroughs were Bexley, Ealing, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Newham. The first four will share the remaining £10 millon or so of the £100 million put aside for the initiative, while Newham will get money from a separate source for works in Stratford town centre.

Mr Johnson said: "I have been incredibly impressed with the standard of the mini-Holland entries and by the thirst among all the finalists to transform themselves into better places for people. It has been so hard to choose between them that I have decided that all shall have prizes.

“Areas once terra incognita for the bicycle will, over time, become every bit as cycle-friendly as their Dutch equivalents - places that suburbs and towns all over Britain will want to copy.”

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4 comments

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Simon E | 10 years ago
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Found an old retweet by Carlton Reid showing what happened to business on a Seattle retail street when parking spots were replaced w/ bike infrastructure.

https://twitter.com/modacitylife/status/367312232511582209

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MuddyPete | 10 years ago
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Nice one TfL  1 . I was working on Dutch railways last month: Delft station (similar size & capacity to Enfield Chase) has 5,000 bike-parking spaces, with plans to increase it to 7,500  13 . Rotterdam Centraal station (similar size & capacity to Euston) has 7,000 bike parking spaces with plans to increase it to 12,000  13  13 (Google images has plenty of photos of both).
You can fit 10 bikes into the parking space of 1 car: that's up to 10 times the number of potential customers, which can't be bad for Enfield shopkeepers.
The Dutch shops didn't seem to be suffering a lack of trade and Delft station has a busy road network around it. But very few car parks.

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bikebot | 10 years ago
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At least they won't get any such objections in Kingston. No one likes that mangle of a gyratory systems whether they are on bike, foot or car.

People just fear change, and then it happens and they wonder what the fuss was about.

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Simon E | 10 years ago
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In towns and cities across the country scaremongers have been telling shopkeepers this bollocks for years - that the important customers all need to drive and park on the main street in their big car (for free), block the pavement, scare other people away... but must still be prioritised. It's about time that myth was buried for good!

A single borough requires £30 million to (hopefully) do it properly, yet in a road.cc article yesterday the Highways Agency considers just £20 million nationwide will make a difference? Compare that with £4.6 million to 'improve' a single roundabout on the A5 outside Shrewsbury.

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