Issue - meetings

With the permission of the Leader, five speakers addressed the Cabinet for 5 minutes each, having submitted valid deputation requests.

The first deputation speaker, David Tarsh, stated that, according to the Cabinet report, the design of the Safer Cycle Pathway route would be delegated to the Chief Officer for Public Realm. He  strongly disagreed with approving this scheme without having a final design. It was premature as he believed that residents would have no saying on the final scheme, and it was even possible that residents would prefer the scheme not to be built at all.

Edmond Sixsmith, the second speaker, expressed his concerns in relation to the two-way cycle path, as it could potentially cause serious accidents between bikes coming from opposite directions. He recommended that the design of the final scheme should create separate cycle lanes on both sides of the road for cyclists to ride on he left. He was also concerned that the cycle path might be passing in front of Latymer court bus stop, forcing passengers to cross it to get to the stop, which would become difficult and hazardous to access. In addition, the bi-directional cycle route would increase congestion on the busy junction between Wolverton Gardens and Hammersmith Road junction.

The third deputation speaker, John Griffiths, stated that the cycle pathway would pass the busy North End Road junction. There was already limited space and time for pedestrian and cyclist to cross at this junction and it also appeared that there was no time for a further phase in the signals. Therefore, he could not envisage how a high-speed cycle route through there would work. There was also the potential increase in collisions between pedestrian and cyclist at the main crossing at Hammersmith Gyratory. He also believed that with the Olympia Development going ahead the cycle pathway would impose severe traffic congestion on the area, which would also affect emergency and bus services.

Leo Murray, the fourth speaker representing W6 Safe Cycling Families, stated that currently their children were not safe cycling on the borough streets. If the Safer Cycle Pathway went ahead, his family and the other thirty plus families in the W6 safe cycling family group would use this route every day to travel between home, school, clubs and work. This would support the borough’s

Climate Emergency programme. He also noted that pedestrians should always be given priority over cyclists. He stressed that for this new protected cycleway to serve the mobility needs of local families it was vital that the route should incorporate the gates of every school in the borough.

George Abaraunye, the 14-year-old speaker representing H&F Cyclists, stated that in June 2019 on his way cycling home from football training he was struck and almost killed by a person driving a car, while cycling in a bus, taxi and cycle lane. He requested that the Council committed to deliver this safer segregated cycling infrastructure in 2020, as part of a network of safety improvements and segregated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80