Home > Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: F10, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX. View directions

Contact: Thomas Downs
02087266000 x86166  Email: thomas.downs@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

28/19

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Simon Brew and Isabelle Clement.

29/19

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.

30/19

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 89 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2019 as an accurate record.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 June were agreed as an accurate record.

31/19

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.

 

32/19

Action Plan pdf icon PDF 45 KB

Response to the action points recorded at the previous meeting.

Minutes:

The Transport Planning Manager informed the Forum that Lime dockless electric bicycles had pulled out from the borough and across South London. This would be discussed in more detail during Item 7.

 

Members of the Forum heard that an update on cycling to schools would be delivered during Item 6.

 

The LIP3 appendix had been circulated to members in June 2019.

33/19

Croydon Cycle Network Review with School Locations pdf icon PDF 3 MB

(Mark Strong, Transport Initiatives)

Minutes:

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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33/19

34/19

Bike Hire Update

(Ben Kennedy, Transport Planning Manager)

Minutes:

The Transport Planning Manager informed the Forum that, before pulling out, Lime had between 80 and 100 bikes in the borough. The council were informed that Lime would be leaving South London in September 2019 due to data from usage figures, loss of bikes and lack of enthusiasm from surrounding boroughs. Lime had officially left on 14 October 2019, but there was a possibility of them returning in spring 2020.

 

The council had met with Jump Bike (who were owned by Uber), Freebike and other providers. Lessons had been learned from the Lime pilot; these included bike model preferences and where they should be left on the highway.

 

There were currently no provisions to stop dockless hire schemes from operating, with bikes only being removed from the highway if they were causing a blockage. Work was being done on a pan-London bylaw, with support from TfL, which would require boroughs to delegate authority to London Councils; to do this it would need to be approved at Council. The new law would allow operators to be fined, and the council would likely look into introducing a new scheme once this was passed with virtual docking and parking areas.

 

The Croydon Cycling Campaign representative praised Jump Bikes, but stated that recent changes to charging policy had made them too expensive. However, they could be a good introduction to ebikes.

35/19

Liveable Neighbourhoods - Plans, Old Town and Rearranged Cycle Forum visit to the Liveable Neighbourhood area

(Ben Kennedy, Transport Planning Manager) 

Minutes:

The Croydon Cycling Campaign representative presented slides detailing a number of possible interventions aimed to open up the cycling networks on either side of Mitcham Road/ Roman Way, with particular attention to schools. Some of these included reducing the number of one way roads and increasing the number of no exit roads to prevent rat running, and the introduction of road diets.

 

The Head of Transport agreed with the need to tackle rat running, and that some of the sites identified in the presentation currently had planned interventions; the Vice-Chair stated their support of no exit streets over one way streets. Members agreed that the issues raised were important, and the ones that were not picked up under Liveable Neighbourhoods should be looked into regardless.

 

The Chair stated that they had good knowledge of the Old Town area and that many of the issues were due to the layout, and that a larger urban design solution would possibly be required.

 

The Programme Manager informed the Forum that plans for the Old Town roundabout were being updated using information from traffic modelling. Any plans would ensure space for both pedestrians and cyclists, and be more ambitious than previous designs. Plans would be finalised in spring 2020.

 

Councillor Joy Prince queried whether resident’s desire for additional bus services would be given equal consideration, and the Head of Transport responded that additional bus routes would be introduced, but that there needed to be additional infrastructure to support this.

 

The Croydon Cycling Campaign representative queried whether the Liveable Neighbourhood funding would be enough to fund ambitious proposals, and whether LIP funding could be used to make changes to one way streets and other minor interventions. The Head of Transport responded that the Liveable Neighbourhood funding was being more than matched by other sources including the LIP funding.

 

The Chair requested that a previously proposed walkabout of the Liveable Neighbourhood area be arranged for late November, with a meeting beforehand in Bernard Weatherill House to go through the proposed designs. The Chair also requested that ward councillors be invited.

36/19

Cycling Strategy Update on project delivery

(Tom Sweeney, Programme Manager)

Minutes:

The Programme Manager introduced the Item and went through a map of the phases of the cycling strategy in the Town Centre. There was a temporary scheme in place outside of Fairfield Halls which would feed into the future public realm scheme in the area; signage would be added to link this scheme to existing routes.

 

There was a proposal for the end of Mint Walk, which was the last piece of Phase 2 work remaining. The route to the Flyover was being looked at, but this was a complex area and required coordinating with development sites.

 

There were longer term proposals for College Road, George Street and the West Croydon area. Some of these required traffic modelling to assess the possible impact of the schemes.

 

The Chair requested that information be provided on how the Town Centre schemes linked up to projects for London Road, Brighton Road and Ampere Way.

 

The Right to Ride Network representative asked whether the Phase 3 plan for Dingwall Road would be affected by TfL’s possible Tram Loop scheme. The Programme Manager responded that any plans would be compatible with the Tram Loop, and TfL would incorporate cycling if the scheme went ahead.

 

The Right to Ride Network representative queried whether there were any plans for additional crossings between Lloyd Park and Coombe Wood School as there was currently only one. The Programme Manager informed the Panel that this was being looked at, but a feasibility study would be required.

37/19

Peddle My Wheels

(Ben Kennedy, Transport Planning Manager)

Minutes:

A representative from Peddle My Wheels introduced the Item by playing the video which could be viewed on the link below:

 

https://youtu.be/kQHuVAywnQ8

 

Peddle My Wheels allowed customers to pay for a bike via a rolling monthly contract on a wide range of bikes; these included electric, electric cargo and normal models and each was paired a different associated cost. Customers could cancel their payment at any time and return the bike, or carry on payment until they owned it.

 

The bikes were delivered by an electric van, and an instructor would provide a two hour skills session; additional training could be provided as required. Peddle My Wheels differentiated from other similar schemes as they delivered bikes, whereas others had made customers go to a collection point and take the bike home, which had put some customers off. The service was good for people who wanted to cycle, but not commit to owning a bike, and could be a good alternative to cycle to work schemes. Many of the customers were freelance and agency workers.

 

The business had started in Kensington and Chelsea, and then moved into Lambeth, Ealing, Haringey and others. There was a one-off fee to the council and the business then became self-sustaining through bike sales.

 

The Right to Ride Network representative queried whether folding bikes were sold, and learned that they were. Bikes were supplied by Raleigh, Tandem Group and Ridgeback; the full range could be seen on their website. Some councils had given Peddle My Wheels customers priority on bike hangers.

 

In response to a question from the Croydon Cycling Campaign representative about the makeup of the customer base, the Peddle My Wheels representative said that it was around 70% women, as the scheme could be less intimidating that an enthusiast shop.

38/19

Update on Climate Emergency

(Ian Plowright, Head of Transport)

Minutes:

The Head of Transport introduced the Item with some background figures on emissions in London over the past two decades. Croydon’s policy on emissions took a large steer from the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, which had finished its last stage in early 2019 and was now formal policy.

 

TfL had provided a number of trajectories to meet, and these incorporated CO2 emissions, road share statistics and traffic levels. In 2013, 250,000 metric tonnes of CO2 had been released from road traffic in the borough, and the target was to reduce this to 211,000 by 2021 and to 57,000 by 2041. A lot of this change needed to come from changes to the power sources of vehicles, reduced traffic levels and reduced levels of car ownership. While the borough population continued to grow, more space for walking, cycling and public transport would need to be provided to still ensure levels of CO2 could be reduced.

 

The Chair reminded the Forum that the Climate Emergency had been declared at July Council in 2019, and that a Citizen’s Assembly and Sustainable Croydon Commission would be set up. More information on this would be circulated to the Forum by the Clerk.

 

The Vice-Chair queried how the borough would meet the targets for reduced transport emissions with increased housing targets. The Chair responded that the borough had ambitious housing targets, with 2900 units required over the next 10 years; however there were some indications that the London wide target for housing may decrease, which could reduce Croydon’s targets.

39/19

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

(Ben Kennedy, Transport Planning Manager)

Minutes:

The Transport Planning Manager introduced the Item and informed the Forum that work with the Regeneration team had begun to reduce traffic and rat running in two proposed Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. The first was in the Broad Green area, and would be a particular challenge due to its proximity to Croydon University Hospital, and the second was in the Upper Norwood/ Auckland Road area.

 

Work on both was in the early stages of being assessed for feasibility. In response to a question about how data on rat running would be collected, the Forum were told that ANPR traffic surveys would be used to understand current traffic routing. The Transport Planning Manager and Head of Transport had both observed high volumes of traffic on Auckland Road during school times.

 

The Healthy School Neighbourhoods programme would be funding work on both Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, and work was being undertaken with schools to increase cycle training and to look at small interventions in the local area.

 

In response to a question from the Croydon Cycling Campaign representative asking whether traffic models would be used, the Head of Transport responded that they would; it was stressed that they were only a tool to help predict the worst case scenario of how people might react to changes, but that it was still a useful exercise.

 

The Chair asked if plans were ambitious enough and queried what lessons from the ‘Little Holland’ model in Waltham Forest could be applied to these projects. The Transport Planning Manager responded that the areas in question were much bigger in Croydon, but that consultants and engineers who had worked on the Waltham Forest project had been talked to.

 

In response to a question from the Right to Ride Network representative, the Forum learned that initially three neighbourhoods had been planned, but two had been joined to make one larger area.

 

The Chair requested a report back on any progress made in six months’ time.

 

40/19

Update by Cycling Groups

Minutes:

The Wheels for Wellbeing representative informed the Forum that the organisation was now operating on three sites (Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon) with 78 attendees for the latest session. The last session of this year would be 17 December 2019.

41/19

Any Other Business

To consider any other business at the Chair’s discretion.

Minutes:

There was none.

42/19

Date of Next Meeting

26 November 2019

Minutes:

26 November 2019