Home > Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: F5, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX. View directions

Contact: Kieran Pantry-Melsom
02087266000 x63922  Email: kieran.pantry-melsom@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1/18

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies had been received from Councillor Margaret Mansell, Councillor Vidhi Mohan and Nadine Knight (Stake Holder Engagement).

 

Ian Plowright apologised for only being able to attend for the first 30 minutes of the meeting.

 

2/18

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 77 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2017 as an accurate record.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2017 were agreed as an accurate record.

3/18

Urgent Business (if any)

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.

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

4/18

Disclosure of Interests

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.

 

Minutes:

There were none.

 

5/18

Bicycle Policy Audit

Verbal report from Ian Plowright (Head of Transport)

Minutes:

The Head of Transport updated the forum on the following:

 

·         Audit was first initiated almost 5 years ago. Now that the Cycle Strategy had been adopted and funding for infrastructure secured, it seemed the right time to restart the process.  The auditors had been met with. They had indicated that BYPAD had lost momentum at the European level. However, there is the potential to run something similar with the Auditors.

 

·         The alternative to BYPAD is just to work up the detailed Delivery Plan (to implement the Strategy) with the Cycle Forum and report back progress to the Forum (without involving BYPAD auditors).

Members of the forum NOTED this update.

6/18

Update on junction changes at East Croydon (Cherry Orchard Road/Addiscombe Road/etc.)

Verbal update from Ian Plowright (Head of Transport)

Minutes:

The Head of Transport updated the forum on the following:

 

·            A closure of the tram network in the Town Centre will happen during the Easter break.  This will allow the next phase of the Cherry Orchard / Addiscombe Road junction to be implemented.

 

·           Reconfigures pedestrian crossing and included improvements for easier cycling.

 

Members of the forum NOTED this update.

 

7/18

Provisions for cyclists in proposed town centre developments

Response from Ian Plowright (Head of Transport)

Minutes:

The Head of Transport reported on the following:

 

·         He suggested that the needs of cyclists need to be considered in both the construction phase and operational phases of developments. The construction phase of development within the town centre was now underway.

 

·         Quantity of cycle parking during the operational phase was controlled by the standards in the London Plan. 

 

However there perhaps needs to be consideration given to the development of ‘quality’ standards/guidelines. This would be discussed with the Spatial Planning team.

 

·         Any potential changes would be discussed with the Spatial Planning team

 

Tom Sweeney, the Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling stated that mapping for cycling in relation to proposed construction vehicle routes would be accessible to keep forum members and cyclists aware of the town centre developments.

 

A question was raised as to how cyclists would move around the town centre area whilst major construction is underway. An officer responded saying that they would report back to the forum at a later date regarding this.

 

Since the meeting, HMG has announced that £100M will be made available to highway authorities for fixing potholes.

 

Members of the forum NOTED this report.

 

8/18

DfT Major Road Network funding

Response from Ian Plowright (Head of Transport)

Minutes:

The Head of Transport reported that:

 

He had submitted an officer response to The Department for Transport consultation regarding creating a ‘Major Road Network’. The focus of the Major Road Network concept is on motor vehicle flow. The Croydon response emphasised that it needs to recognise that London is different and to be able to support important London objectives including ‘healthy streets’ liveable neighbourhoods’.

 

The Forum asked if the Major Road Network is a potential funding stream for cycling. The consultation suggested funding for Road schemes of between £20-100 million.  Any scheme could include a cycling element, however the consultation did not indicate the possibility of funding for projects which were just about facilitating cycling projects. These were not factored into this planned investment.

 

The forum was informed that the London budget for TfL was cut and that road maintenance funding had been suspended for two years. It was said that Croydon would be bidding for road network funding but it was not clear how the borough and TfL would be considered.

 

Members of the forum NOTED this report.

 

9/18

Cycle Parking

Response from Ian Plowright (Head of Transport)

Minutes:

The issue of Cycle Parking availability and accessibility was briefly discussed by the forum.

 

The Vice-Chair requested for this topic to be discussed further at the next meeting and that members consider locations at which cycle parking might usefully be installed.

 

Members of the forum NOTED this discussion.

 

10/18

Cycling Strategy

Standing item on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

The Strategy has been adopted by Cabinet. This was planned to be covered under the Bicycle Policy Audit in the next Cycle Forum meeting.

 

11/18

Met Police on Closing Passing

Update from Andy Osborne

(Cycle Safety Team, Roads and Transport Command)

Minutes:

Andy Osborne, Sergeant for the Cycle Safety Team (CST) introduced himself and told the forum what the Cycle Safety Team was and how it operated to make roads safer for cyclists. 

 

It was stated that:

 

·         The team operated throughout London and worked with TfL and traffic management when carrying out their safety tests.

 

·         Tests included putting cyclists in lorries to show them its blind spots.

 

The Close passing scheme was explained to the forum:

 

·         It was first introduced in the West Midlands and is funded in London by TfL.

 

·         The scheme operated by getting plain clothed Police cyclists who would assess whether cars driving past them had made a dangerous pass.

 

·         If it was considered a dangerous pass the motorists were stopped and told what they had done wrong.

 

·         In the last 3 months there was 84 close pass presentations in which 76 tickets were issued.

 

·         The CTS had met with groups such as the British Horse Society seeking information so they could launch their own close passing initiative.

 

Andy had stated the CTS was interested in expanding to Croydon. Members of the forum asked how cyclists could make contact with the CTS. It was said that local authorities recommended areas and people submitted locations they thought justified testing via private message on their Twitter page. Difficult roads to access meant that the CTS could not always carry out the cycling tests but still reviewed the area. The Sergeant welcomed the forum to take part and get in contact for more information.

 

Members of the forum NOTED this presentation.

 

12/18

Cyclist plans for newly pedestrianised portion of High Street and North End pdf icon PDF 596 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Stakeholder Engagement Manager could not attend to present this item.

 

The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling informed the forum of the following:

 

·         Information regarding progress on high street pedestrianisation was ready to be circulated after the meeting and was added to the published agenda.

 

·         A high street survey to improve public engagement was carried out and ended on Monday 26March 2018.

 

·         Phase 2 of the engagement was planned to start after the May local elections and would include discussions about potential cycle routes.

 

A question was raised about when the results of the high street survey would be ready. It was said that there was no specific timescale for this but it would be incorporated into Phase 2 of the high street engagement.

 

 

13/18

Dockless Bike hire in Croydon

Update from Malcom Smith (Strategic Transport Manager)

Minutes:

The Strategic Transport officer had reported that:

 

The Council had been approached by bike companies such as Pony and oBike to arrange bike hire in Croydon. A trial for how dockless bike hire would be implemented by companies was arranged for May/June 2018. Companies which were interested would propose their methods as part of the procurement process of this scheme.

 

Any additional information would be reported at the next Cycle forum meeting.

 

14/18

Cycle Route signs

Minutes:

Members of the forum heard that there were some outdated and incorrect cycle route signs visible in some areas which may have confused and been inconvenient for some cyclists travelling on these roads.

 

The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling reported that some of these signs were produced and placed by our lighting contractors and work was ongoing to resolve this issue. The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling proposed that forum members could send him the locations of where these incorrect signs had been placed so it could be investigated.

 

In regards to cycling routes it was also said that signage on older London Cycle Network routes were being reviewed and updated by the Council and an interest was expressed in liaising with Google in order to update the cycle route for the Croydon map. 

 

A forum member had asked the officers whether the no cycling signs would be removed. The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling responded saying routes would need to be examined individually and how they impacted the local area before this could be considered. 

 

15/18

General Updates

a)    TfL plans for Fiveways report on the consultation

 

b)    Liveable Neighbourhoods bid 

 

c)    Cycle hub at East Croydon

 

d)    On way route on Bedford Park

Minutes:

a)      TfL plans for Fiveways report on the consultation

 

The forum heard that the consultation report was available and TfL were changing the scheme design. It was estimated that there would be new results by summer 2018.

 

 

b)      Liveable Neighbourhood Bids

 

The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling informed the forum that Transport for London ran a bidding process for liveable neighbourhood bids.

 

An initial proposal was discussed with TfL last summer. Croydon received feedback and was developing the bid. There was an opportunity to progress and extend a bid to include the Old Town roundabout. The timescale was October/November 2018.

 

 

A question was asked as to whether a bid could focus on Mitcham road and Lombard roundabout. The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling replied that Lombard Roundabout was being reviewed by TfL and was likely to be a separate scheme. Changes were being considered across the whole corridor and were likely to be delivered in phases when funding became available.

 

 

c)      Cycle hub at East Croydon

 

It was said that Interim, GTR and TfL planned to install a storage unit opposite East Croydon station for cycle parking. For other areas the forum heard that:

 

·           It was hoped that Stanhope Schroder would help find a new site for cycle parking

 

An officer stated that Head of Transport and Cycling Transport Manager were better informed to provide specific details on these matters.

 

 

d)      One way route on Bedford park

 

The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling informed the forum that this route would join the new cycle crossing. Wellesley Road had been approved by the Traffic Management Advisory Committee. The detail of how to implement this whilst other construction sites are in the area was being figured out.

 

More information regarding this development will be included in the next agenda.

 

It was stated that an undertaker carrying out road works had erected “Cyclists dismount” signs on Brighton Road, Purley. The Programme Manager for Walking and Cycling stated that if members of the forum could send the permit numbers of contractors to him then this issue could be taken up with colleagues in Network Management.

 

Update on Cycling Groups - members of the forum reported on the following:

 

Cycling Instructor – Courses for children had been fully booked for the Easter holiday. Level 3 advanced biking training was also being offered.

 

It was also said that set up trial to start adults and group lessons had been arranged for the next month.

 

Wheels of Wellbeing – Some courses over the last few Saturdays had been cancelled because of the weather.

 

Members of the forum NOTED this update.

 

 

16/18

Exclusion of the Press and Public

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.”

 

Minutes:

This was not required.

17/18

Date of the next meeting

Minutes:

Tuesday 5 June 2018 at 6pm.