Philip …“Chris so there was no local consultation with anyone, the local schools whose children are the most at risk were not consulted neither were local parents.”We are in close touch with all the schools. Almost all now have a School Travel Plan, which forms the basis for investment in cycling facilities both within the school grounds and more widely. We also provide cycle training in schools. “How much extra would it have cost to have had a kerb to separate cycle path from road.”We could not have achieved this here, due to the buried services which the new kerb line is now hard up against. The only other option would have been to install a (better than previous) cycle path on the footway. As I have posted on other occasions, most cyclists do not want a footway cycle path. Cordoning off the cycle lane from the traffic lane, even in those few locations where carriageway width permits this, has several shortcomings, the two main ones being: • Cyclists have to give way to turning traffic at each junction or commercial crossover• The cycle trough is difficult to drain and machine clean. Kerbed off cycle lanes call into question the status of cyclists as road users at all other locations where such separate facilities are not available. The only locations where I would advocate a kerbed off cycle lane would be (in general) on 40+mph roads. Even there, the problems with giving way to side roads (and conflict with pedestrians) make these facilities equally unpopular with cyclists.“As for the award ! All that means is Hounslow council has been less crap than the other boroughs because none of the councils treat the safety of children on the road with ANY priority at all.”Thanks. I’ll print and frame those words alongside the award, which was judged by independent transport experts, presumably including at least one who cares about children.“I must agree with Tim that the old path running along the pavement was poor but that was down to the crap design with those steep ups and downs. As for Captain Morgans, was the pedestrians perhaps the owners of the cars which always used the cycle lane to park on and were never ticketed. They still park on the pavement there. Between them, the tables and that always in the way sign you are lucky to get by as a pedestrian let alone as a cyclist.”I agree about the footway obstructions and have passed your comments to the appropriate officer. There is currently only a single yellow line in front of the Capt. Morgan. We are just about to consult on changing this to double yellow. Ideally no car parking would be allowed at any time in any marked cycle lane, although there are locations where we have no option but to allow some off-peak goods loading - to deny this would be to risk destroying local businesses.“I am still a little confused about how revealing Thames waters response is third hand, surely any official inquiry from the council to Thames water is documented and available to be quoted in accordance with the freedom of information act.”I said that the relevant officers (i.e. not me) have “discussed the issue with Thames Water”. There is no correspondence for you to request under the FOI.
Chris Calvi-Freeman ● 6776d