Agenda item

(Mark Strong, Transport Initiatives)

The Transport Initiatives representative introduced the item and went through the presentation appended to these minutes.

The Croydon Cycle Network Review had used the TfL cycling design standards to look at the cycling in Croydon, with a desire for joined up cycling networks as opposed to separate cycling routes. There had been a focus on smaller interventions which could make a large difference.

The Forum heard that Croydon had low levels of cycling, but many short trips by other transport methods, and as such had a large potential to increase these rates. Current provision had been unsuitable for those who were risk adverse due to little dedicated provision and a low number of safe crossings. Cycling to work was low ranking against the London and Outer London average.

The review had been conducted in 4 stages; the first had been to review the existing conditions; the second had been to assess existing route density; the third had been to audit the accessibility of roads, paths and crossings; and the fourth had been to look at area porosity (which measured “cycle accessibility”, or the ease of making local trips by cycle).

Councillor Ali entered at 18:15

Potential “gateways” (crossings to barriers like main roads, including subways and bridges) had been looked at with regard to proximity to schools or cycling corridors. 27 had been identified, with 13 being close to both a school and a cycling corridor marked as top priority, and nine with proximity to only one marked as second priority.

The Vice-Chair requested a copy of the presentation be circulated to Forum members.

The Transport Initiative representative stated other councils had published their cycling reviews in full, but that it had been helpful to publish an explanation of the Review simultaneously to make it more understandable.

In response to a question about the power of head teachers to stop cycling to schools, the Head of Transport responded that travel plans were part of planning permission for new schools and were updated regularly. A dedicated officer designed, monitored and updated travel plans for existing schools. These could not be mandated, but were assigned gold, silver and bronze certifications to encourage schools to improve. The Croydon Cycling Campaign queried whether head teachers could ban cycling on school premises, and heard that they could. The Head of Transport stated that they thought OFSTED should score cycling to school programmes. The Chair stated that head teachers had a lot of autonomy and the council were working with them to encourage cycling, walking and school streets.

The Chair asked what actions would arise from the Review, and the Transport Initiative representative responded that the Review only made suggestions and that it was now up to the council to decide how to proceed. The Head of Transport responded that the council had been doing a lot to improve provisions including the addition and improvement of routes in the town centre and a programme of pedestrian crossings. The review had been shared with the Highways division and work would be done in collaboration to improve some of the crossings identified in the Review; discussions were also happening with TfL about the crossings under their jurisdiction. There were a number of crossings identified in existing project areas and the Review would be cross checked with current works.

The Chair requested that feedback be brought to a future meeting discussing how the issues raised by the Review would be addressed.