Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been presented by Councillor Vidhi Mohan.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

Councillors’ in attendance confirmed that they had recorded their pecuniary interests on the Council’s register of interests.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 4 July 2017 and 12 September 2017 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held 4 July 2017 was approved as an accurate record subject to the following amendments:

·         £770,000.00 was available to the borough for the period of 2018/2019 for walking and cycling schemes.

Forum Members were given a presentation which included details on the following:

·      Croydon cycle crime figures

·      Cycle enabled crime

·      Cycle Security

               Officers explained that the crime figures for cycle theft was 223 for 2017/2018 which was 45% higher than the previous year. This was still low compared to national figures for bike thefts. Croydon was a low crime area compared to other boroughs. The Metropolitan Police reported a rise of 24.9% in cycle theft in 2017. It was emphasized that there was a need for education of cyclists around security, as the locking of bikes was the key factor behind the rise in level of cycle theft.

               The Forum was informed that stickers had been put on cycle hubs to notify users of how to lock their bikes properly. Further advice on security was also available on the TFL/Met websites.

               Forum Members commented that it would be useful for the images used in the presentation to be circulated to cycling groups. Officers advised that publication was distributed to the public at all cycling events held in the borough.            

The Forum was given an update of timelines in implementing proposals of the strategy and was informed that this would be presented to Cabinet in January 2018. This will initially be a 5 year strategy and was anticipated to exceed the Mayors overall target of 80% by 2021 in opportunity areas.

Officers explained that the strategy that was being presented at Cabinet was clear on the target audience and barriers seeking to overcome. The Scrutiny meetings held on the strategy plans assisted to inform on achieving quality and accessibility.

It was observed by Forum members that the proposals were more of a delivery plan and they were unsure that 5 years was a long enough period for a strategy to be implemented. Members expressed the need for a refresh after five years with a consideration for possible extension.

Forum member’s commented that growth cannot be achieved without wider demographic involvement. There were things that could be implemented to further encourage people to cycle such as the following:

·         Designated cycle areas

·         20 MPH Zones

·         Increased Publicity

·         Changes to funding for schools             

Cycle Forum Members discussed the possibility of redevelopment of the railway lines which had been closed and remain unused for the past 30 years. A cycle and walking line could be developed to allow safe routes to the local schools in that area.  The Chair stated that this had been suggested up in the past, securing funding would be key to redevelopment Members suggested that if a design or plan was produced, it may be possible to apply for funding from Crossrail or HS2 who are always looking to invest in projects.

The Chair further commented that a feasibility study would need to be undertaken and funding secured for such a project as well as acquiring ownership of the land which belonged to Network Rail.

                        Officers to look into this and report back to the Forum.

Forum members discussed the initiative which had been successful in the West Midlands with police regulating how close vehicles can pass cyclists. The initiative had been successful and won praise from cycling groups. Members suggested that the council encourage the police to pilot this initiative in Croydon.

Officers informed the Forum that whilst the initiative had been successful in the West Midlands and the Met Police had taken onboard lessons learnt, the initiative could not be taken up in Croydon at present. Extra resourcing that was not currently available would be required for such an initiative.

Forum members commented that the initiative would make cyclists feel more secure and create a culture of motorists respecting cyclists by staying behind or making ample room when passing alongside them.

There are currently no plans in place for the extension of this scheme beyond the Norbury.

Members stated that they had not been informed of the removal of the shelter prior to it being taken down. Officers apologized for this and advised that the decision for it to be taken down on that day had been done urgently as the roof was damaged and warning of the impending hurricane.

The position of the bike shelter had been temporary until TFL could provide funding for a permanent shelter to be located on the west side of the train station. A replacement location is currently being sourced and enquiries were being made to facilitate a new shelter.

Items for Discussion

-Pedestrianisation of the High Street

Officers provided an update on the pedestrianisation of the high street.

The Forum was informed that this is a 12 month pilot to improve movement across the town centre. There was still development work to be carried out in front of the post office with proposed segregated lanes for cyclists from the post office into north end.

Cycle Instructor - The Forum was informed that there had been an increase in bookings for the Bike Ability courses ran during the holidays from the 4 different site. There was a issues with the supply of bikes whichwas only currently available at the Arena site. The Forum was advised that on comparison, the index of relative deprivation of the venues, location had an effect on bookings as on average 50% of participants in moredeprived postcodes would like to borrow a bikes. It was evident that provision of bikes could be attributed to involvement and participation by poorer families.

It was mentioned that there was a London borough that provided bikes for every bike and school programme and whilst it may not be appropriate in every school in Croydon, it was suggested that this could form part of policy intervention.

Officers stated that Croydon had a larger proportion of school aged children than most London boroughs which would make provision of bikes for every child difficult to implement. It was noted that in 2016/2017 74 schools participated in the bike and school programme and that there had possibly been more demand than schools could manage due to curriculum priorities. The Council is looking at intervention in certain areas of the borough to effect real change.

              The Mayors of London’s healthy streets strategy has been released and further information was accessible from:

               https://healthystreetscom.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/guide-to-the-

               healthy-streets-indicators.pdf

Wheels for Wellbeing - The charity had recently celebrated its 10year anniversary, a conference was held at City hall where a guide to inclusive cycling was launched. Further information was accessible from the website at   www.wheelsforwellbeing.org

15% of Londoners cycle with impairment and welcome the principles ofinclusive cycling being adopted in national cycling strategy. They are currently working on a possible pilot for the equivalent of the Blue Badge scheme with TFL. The Forum was informed that funding had been received from TFL to run Kids on Wheel over the holidays for the next three years.                    

Dates of future Cycle Forum meeting

- 20 March 2018

Tuesday 20 March 2018 at 6pm.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This was not required.