The deadline for submitting comments on the Enfield Town and A110 (Southbury Road/Lea Valley Road) cycle lanes proposals is 18th December - this Friday. If the earlier A105 consultation is anything to go by, the deadline will fall at exactly midnight on Friday night, after which the system will no longer accept any input.
Consultation links
The debate about Cycle Enfield has been ongoing, on our forums and elsewhere, with little sign of convergence between the two sides of the argument. It's a little unfortunate that one of the clearest expositions of the principles behind the proposals was published only this week, in the local press - a letter from Councillor Vicki Pite, the Cabinet Member for Enfield North (her letter is reproduced at the bottom of this article).
Also rather late in the day is a contribution to the Palmers Green Community forums by a road traffic engineer, Philip Ridley, who is concerned about various aspects of the scheme, in particular putting buses in Church Street (Enfield Town) into a single lane with no possibility for overtaking, and reductions in the throughput of junctions along the A110. He also criticises what he sees as the failure to take a "holistic" approach to the design work, ie to look at all aspects simultaneously.
I think that Philip's point about the need for buses to be able to overtake one another is clearly correct, and the council's engineers will definitely need to revise their ideas for Church Street. Option 1 has a pretty wide raised central reservation. Perhaps narrowing the reservation and taking away a bit of width from the pavements on either side would provide an overtaking lane for the buses? Or for two-way bus operation in Church Street (as per Option 6a) the cycle road could be moved to one side?
All of Philip's points need careful consideration. However, as made clear in Councillor Pite's letter, in David Hughes' response to Philip's post and in Clare Rogers' article in the Guardian, Cycle Enfield is not primarily about improving conditions for cycling commuters, but about a much more fundamental rebalancing of priorities for our town centres and residential streets.
While this rebalancing would involve reducing the proportion of journeys made by car, it is nonsense to suggest that anyone would be banned from using their car (of course there are some journeys where a car is the only viable option) or forced to start riding a bike. The point is that there are people who would like to ride a bike or walk their children to school, but currently don't think that it's safe enough to do so.
Letter to local press by Councillor Pite
The council was returned in 2014, with an increased majority, on a manifesto which included Cycle Enfield.The Cycle Enfield consultation is not a referendum, nor a case of being "for" or "against". The consultation is designed (and has been from the start) to harness residents', partners' and experts' views in order to shape the final design so that it is the best it can be for the people of Enfield, young and old, businesses and families, the disabled and vulnerable, and also for the visitors we hope to attract to our revitalised town centre.
The consultation is independently designed by experienced professionals, and follows Transport for London practice and guidelines. It is absurd to expect the council to publish adjustments on the hoof in response to concerns raised before this consultation is complete.
Meanwhile, we are listening, thinking about the adjustments that can be made and, when all views are known, will develop a final proposal which will take all views into account and the objectives of the successful bid, to which we are contracted (and which received cross-party support).
To firmly rebut the accusation that the consultation is somehow "flawed" it's worth pointing out that Cycle Enfield has been shortlisted for an award by the Local Government Chronicle for campaign of the year — communications.
Independent, expert, assessors have been appointed to perform impact assessments on equality, air quality, the local economy and disability. The emergency services are also being specifically consulted. All interested parties have been consulted throughout as invitees to the Cycle Enfield Partnership Boards.
If individuals are not prepared to countenance any adjustments to the current way of doing things, which already cause congestion, road rage, rat runs, unacceptable levels of air pollution, obesity and ill health, which will get much worse if we do nothing, what are we to do?
Enfield is already confronting an unsustainable situation regarding traffic, parking and pollution. Obesity among Enfield children has increased this year, again, and yet one of the biggest causes of complaints concern parking and congestion around schools and "school runs", which continue to grow in number.
Cycle Enfield is underpinned by what are called the Dutch principles, which focus on cycle safety, health, access to schools, social inclusion and access to employment.
Our intention is to achieve, ultimately, an environment in which a child may cycle safely. This precludes sideroads, where parking is a continuous hazard, and isolated footpaths.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents reported in May that promoting cycling and improving cycle safety benefit pedestrians and also that both pedestrians and cyclists are highly vulnerable to, and restricted by, motor traffic. It reported, too, that it is important to improve driver behaviour.
Enfield bid for funding from the "Mini-Holland" programme. All publicly funded programmes lay down strict objectives which successful bidders must meet. In the case of Mini Holland, these objectives aimed to improve public health, reduce congestion and revitalise town centres in outer London by reducing the number of journeys by car and replacing the thousands of short local journeys by car that could easily be cycled, or walked.
If successful, Enfield could see dramatic reductions in traffic, air pollution and parking and at a minimum, major improvements to public spaces.
The vast majority of shoppers in Enfield Town arrive by public transport or walk. Most cars in Enfield Town are passing through, they neither stop nor shop. Our town centre is one big rat run — polluted, unpleasant and unsafe for pedestrians, cyclists, the vulnerable, the elderly and the young.
Change is essential and inevitable.
Councillor Vicki Pite,
Chase Ward
Associate Cabinet Member Enfield North
Chair, Cycle Enfield Partnership Board (North)
