This is a key way to show candidates the support for making active travel, climate change and the environment a top priority.
Organised by Friends of the Earth, with support from Sustainable Haringey, Haringey Cycling Campaign and Haringey Living Streets.
So far Labour (Mike Hakata), Liberal Democrats (Scott Emery), Conservatives (Claudia Matthews) and Green Party (Emma Chan) have confirmed their participation.
Haringey Council’s draft Walking and Cycling Action Plan consultation closed on 10 January 2022. Together with several local organisations, Haringey Cycling Campaign submitted a detailed joint response to the plan and below is a brief summary of our key points:
We encourage Haringey Council to reallocate road space, creating quality cycle routes and safe junctions as standard throughout the borough. Our aim is to help create a network where cycling is a safe and enjoyable form of day-to-day travel for all.
Other London boroughs are taking up the challenge to create safe cycle networks and Haringey is currently being left behind, particularly when compared to neighbours Islington and Camden. Both these boroughs have brought forward their safe network targets in the light of changed transport use during the pandemic. Haringey has declared bold aims but we’d like to ensure that these become a reality.
Connectivity, where routes are safe, segregated where possible and continuous, particularly at junctions, is key to making Haringey’s streets open for cyclists of all ages. This will enable children who could cycle to school and also mobility-impaired users. It will also encourage women to cycle more, reducing the gender gap – research shows that 79% of women favour more protected cycle routes.
We urge Haringey to look at a united action plan for different forms of transport so that upgrades include road safety for all as a priority. We’d like to see assessment of projects requiring reallocation of road space and clear target completion dates that the council will work towards.
We encourage all communities to explore a safe cycle network, allowing us to reach our full cycling potential. We look forward to working with Haringey to create a cleaner, greener borough.
A recent government opinion poll showed 75% of people favoured encouraging people to walk or cycle to work instead of driving, with only 4% against.
Haringey Council is giving everyone an opportunity via this link to help shape Haringey’s walking and cycling action plan (WCAP) for the next 10 years.
Please take a moment to fill it in and pass the link on to others who can add their voice. The aim is to secure a long-term vision for a greener borough where walking and safe cycling play a key part. This will be the borough’s chance to engage with an active travel agenda, improving the health and safety of its residents, whilst reducing local pollution.
Your replies will help shape the council’s priorities in an ambitious 10-year action plan. Elements include Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), new cycle lanes and safer journeys for pedestrians, with public transport prioritised over driving.
Haringey states that its vision is simple: by 2031, they want:
A reputation for being one of the best walking and cycling boroughs, both regionally and nationally.
Walking and cycling as natural choices.
Active travel to have improved the wellbeing of residents.
To reduce motor vehicle use.
These are big ideas and we’d love to see them happen. There’s an election in May 2022 and a strong response now will help prioritise these aims for all councillors.
Firstly, there is a ‘Vision and Policies Questionnaire‘ with 11 brief questions. We encourage you to “agree” or “strongly agree” where asked, adding your own comments in the spaces provided.
There is also a short Delivery Plan Questionnaire, which sets out specific projects and has 7 questions. Again, we encourage you to “agree” or “strongly agree” where asked.
As well as answering the queries, you can leave comments on the interactive map by pinning a site where you feel changes need to be made.
For question 7, you might like to include some of the points we make here or below:
Connectivity is what’s needed or bad experiences will turn people back to their cars.
Road upgrades are only useful if safety is the first priority, otherwise it will just lead to faster speeds and more drivers in cars.
GPS has changed road use so that even smaller residential roads are becoming rat runs as cars try to avoid traffic on main thoroughfares.
Can the 2031 deadline be chunked into smaller deadlines so we can follow progress and witness accountability?
The consultation period ends on 10th January so please circulate this to others so that everyone can share their views. There will be a pop-up in-person session: Saturday 11th December 10am – 2pm at St Ann’s Library N15 5PU.
There will also be two online public meetings to hear more about the plan and to ask the council questions: Wednesday 15 December 6 – 8pm Thursday 6 January 6 – 8pm Click on your preferred date and follow the Eventbrite registration instructions.
Haringey’s children have high rates of overweight and obesity. Almost a quarterof reception children and 38% of Year 6 children in Haringey are overweight or obese according to the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) classification. This is in line with the findings of London’s Child Obesity Task Force who found that nearly 40 per cent of all London’s children are overweight or obese. These shocking figures will foretell ill-health in the future.
Many children don’t get enough exercise as part of their daily routine. Parents perceive London’s streets as dangerous, polluted, noisy and unwelcoming; perhaps they don’t have enough knowledge of local safe routes where children can cycle safely for fun and exercise. .
That is why London Cycling Campaign organises KidicalMass. These communal cycle rides are fully marshalled and allow families to discover London at a slow pace. Last Sunday’s ride started at one of London’s most child-friendly spaces, Granary Square.
We then cycled past the British Library, where a traffic light engineer kindly put the light on green to let 500+ people cross safely over Euston Road. Along the route there was some exciting architecture to admire, such as the One Blackfriars tower and the Young/Old Vic theatres. It wasn’t just the stunning architecture that caught the eye, with many cyclists taking the opportunity to dress up for the ride.
Having arrived at Union Street, the London Fire Brigade were delighted to find so many children outside their headquarters, and swiftly brought out their fire engine to entertain the kids.
Please consider joining the next ride on Sunday 14th May. Our local cycle campaign will arrange a feeder ride, so you don’t have to face the traffic alone.
Don’t worry too much about your child, they’ll probably be stronger than you! Yesterday 6 year old Oli cycled from Haringey to Union Street and back, without gears. He will turn 7 this week and his father is now confident that money on a new bike is well spent. My 9 year old daughter managed the whole ride too; what appealed most to her was being able to listen to different kind of music along the route.
These rides are fun as well as safe, with plenty of entertainment all the way. KidicalMass is a great way to give children a chance to exercise and to show parents that cycling in London can be fun!
Written by Anke Böhme and Angela Hobsbaum, photos and videos from Ben House, Yiannis Chronakis and Anke Böhme
This is a safely marshalled group walk and wheel and cycle ride for everyone, including families with children. We will set off from Lordship Recreation ground skatepark + BMX area (by the Shell Theatre) through St Ann’s to Markfield Park N15 6UL.
We will proceed slowly and you are welcome to join on foot, scooter, balance bike, mobility scooter, wheelchair or cycle.
We’ll finish by the cafe in Markfield Park, where the Beam Engine Museum will be open. Markfield Park sits beside the River Lea where the Moselle River flows into it – a convenient point to take the towpath north or south and explore the river, after our ride.
This is the third in our series of events on the last Sunday of the month. Look out for our next one on Sun 30 April!
General Information, particularly if attending by bike
Below is the basic information we think you need to know before joining the cycle ride. If there’s something you’d like to know that isn’t covered here, get in touch (haringey@lcc.org.uk).
How easy is the ride?
This is an easy 2 mile ride at a leisurely pace, which should be suitable for less experienced riders. We will proceed at the pace of the slowest riders, so we encourage families with younger riders to be near the front of the ride.
Accompanied sensible children are welcome – please stay with them throughout and alert a marshal immediately if you become separated. The cycle ride will take place on roads that may have other traffic, so please keep on the right hand side of your children. Please note it is therefore NOT suitable for very young or unaccompanied children. As much of this ride as possible takes place in parks and on newly quietened roads.
What should I wear?
We’re happy for you to wear whatever you want. However we do recommend you bring a waterproof jacket, gloves and any other clothing/sunscreen suitable for the weather on the day. If you want to wear a helmet or a hi-viz jacket that’s fine too but we don’t insist on either.
Is my bike suitable?
This ride is suitable for a range of cycles. If you are in doubt about the suitability or roadworthiness of your cycle, there are a number of cycle shops in Haringey that can assist you.
What should I bring?
Basic equipment you may wish to consider bringing on the ride:
a spare inner tube to fit your bike
a bike pump and tools that fit your bike
lights if there is a possibility of them being needed
All our rides are led by a ride leader who will try to, where possible, keep groups together and try to ride at the pace of the slowest. Ride leaders are experienced Haringey Cycling Campaign and Enfield Cycling Campaign members. They are qualified mechanics, first aiders, and cycling instructors.
Ride leaders are responsible for planning the route and directions during the ride.
Our ride leaders are supported by several marshals who help keep the group together and help the group pass through junctions. You’ll always find a marshal at the back of the group, making sure no one gets left behind.
Individual riders must take responsibility for:
checking the information given for the ride, so that you can judge that you are capable of completing the ride
informing the ride leader if they have any medical conditions that are important for the ride leader to know about
providing the ride leader with their phone number and details of an emergency contact
the road-worthiness of their bike
their own personal safety on the road
complying with the highway code
carrying enough refreshments
the safety of any children with them
listening to, and following, ride leader and marshal instructions.
informing the ride leader if they wish to leave the ride (so we don’t end up looking for you)
any loss or damage caused (e.g. scratching the paint on a parked car) *
* If you are an LCC member, your membership includes third party insurance which would cover this. We strongly recommend all cyclists have some sort of third party insurance cover. We’d recommend joining the London Cycling Campaign as the best organisation for leisure and utility riders in London.
Please do not turn up to this event if you are displaying symptoms of Covid-19.
We are planning a marshalled feeder ride from Haringey Sun 12 March at 9:30am from Finsbury Park cafe (by the lake) and then ride to join the main Kidical Mass at 11am at Granary Square.
We will also arrange a meeting point for those who would like to join a marshalled ride back to Haringey from Blackfriars after the mass ride.
Please note that the feeder rides from Haringey and back are suitable for more confident riders, able to ride a total distance of around 15 miles. Register here to join the feeder ride.
For families with younger children, there is the option of joining the main Kidical Mass ride at Granary Square by taking the train to Kings Cross and afterwards from Blackfriars.
In our mass-motorised world, cyclists are typically marginalized, both physically and culturally. In the popular mind, we are a tribe, sharing characters and outlooks and bearing a grudge against motorists. Our ride on 26 February, the third of our family rides, challenged that view – not with hostility but with happiness.
It wasn’t difficult to get into the happy spirit: blue skies and sunbeams always lift the biker’s heart. With babies in carriers, walkers guiding tots on balance bikes and big kids bowling along, all adjusting to a communal pace, there was a compelling atmosphere of cooperation that contrasted with the competition we feel on most urban roads.
But notable too was the accommodating behaviour of the motorists. Perhaps it was the sight of oldies alongside infants, novices with veterans, serious cyclists with fair-weather ones. Maybe it was the confidence motorists drew from those pedalling being so visible, for we were many and multi-coloured, a conspicuous caravan of travellers, with no risk of collision.
So it was mutually liberating: motorists didn’t feel apprehensive, cyclists didn’t feel threatened. Parents had brought kids, kids had brought friends, friends had brought fluffy toys and together we were a formidable but friendly presence.
Non-cyclists often need to change their perception of cycling: it’s not a sport, typically it’s a means of transport as indispensable as any form of travel. But on days like 26 February it’s just for leisure – a pleasure to be treasured in such clement weather among such good company.
As we pedalled out of Lordship Rec and through Tottenham, there was no question of motorists overlooking us or, as they often do, consigning us to the gutter. Add to that the conspicuous safety of the parks, cycle lanes and LTNs we used on the carefully curated route and it meant those pedalling and those driving were altogether free of fear of conflict.
Wheelspin by wheelspin a statement was being made; the physical revolutions of those wheels were a tangible illustration of the active travel revolution we are all aiming for.
To quote the book title of veteran cycle campaigner Carlton Reid, ‘The roads were not built for cars’. Rides like this by ordinary people on an ordinary day will demonstrate that to everyone. Then, with stresses reduced and pollutants diluted, we can all breathe a little easier. Phew.
Finsbury Park: gather at 9:30, to set off at 9:45am exact meeting point: just inside the southernmost gate, near Lidl, opposite Finsbury Park Rd: https://what3words.com/starts.logic.normal.
Who’s coming to the LCC Women’s Freedom Ride on Sunday 5 March? It’s a ride to celebrate #InternationalWomensDay and call for a London where all women feel safe to cycle!
Currently less than a third of London’s cycle trips are by women and we think that should change. The ride is open to all who identify as women or non-binary and their allies. You can dress up (or not), there will be music, and it will be amazing! Starts in Central London at 11.30am, Sunday 5 March. Find out more & register below
Stats on women in cycling: According to the most recent UK travel data, men currently cycle more often and further than women in all age brackets. • Men make more than 3x the number of trips by bike each year than women and cycle on average 4x further. • The biggest gender disparity is for women aged70+, and girls between 17-20 years old. For these groups men of the same ages cycle over 8x more. • Less than half of women surveyed felt confident when riding a bicycle compared to almost three quarters of men. • Contrast this with women in the Netherlands.They have excellent cycling infrastructure, and women cycle more than men do. • The Near Miss Project found women in the UK experience a higher rate of ‘near misses’ while cycling than men, reporting around 50% more close passes per mile
This is a marshalled group walk and wheel and cycle ride for everyone, including families with children. We will set off from Lordship Recreation ground skatepark + BMX area (by the Shell Theatre) and going through parts of Wood Green to to Alexandra Palace Farmers Market.
We will proceed slowly and you are welcome to join in on foot, wheelchair, bike or balance bike.
We will show you a less well-known, quieter route under the railway line, that avoids using Turnpike Lane and Hornsey High Street.
More than one hundred and twenty people rode, walked,
scooted, skated or ran (with and without a pushchair) from Chestnuts Park to
Lordship Recreation Ground on the last Sunday in January 2023. It was cold, but the drizzle held off and we
covered nearly 4km, bells ringing, wheels spinning, with big smiles on our
faces.
The expedition was organised by Haringey Cycling Campaign and Living Streets, led by @rustytrike, and with support from Friends of Chestnuts Park, who keep the grounds so beautiful. We wheeled through a menagerie of wall art created by James Straffon (co-founder and lead artist of the Turnpike Art Group) and ATM, passing mouflon and zebra, heron and fox, hedgehog and kingfisher. The kids were excited to show off their knowledge by shouting out the names of each as we rode past, but the mouflon (a wild sheep native to Cyprus – I had to wiki it when I got home) flummoxed most of us.
In case of puncture or other mechanical mishap, Matt from Dr
Bike was on hand to check over bikes, pump up tyres and offer advice
before and after the ride, and it was comforting to know that if anyone got a
puncture on the way, he was there to help out.
We finished the ride at the Hub in Lordship Rec. The intrepid amongst us – mostly, but not exclusively, people under age 10 – tried out the BMX track loop. The Rec is home to the UK’s first model traffic area, built in the 1930s, but thanks to the ride leader, the marshalls and the kind motorists who stopped to let a trail of 100+ riders, scooters, skaters and walkers go by, we didn’t need a model. We had the real thing. It is lovely to see kids owning their own streets in this way. Roll on quieter streets, healthier air and more kids able to cycle on safe roads.
Look out for the next walk and ride at 11am on Sun 26 Feb which will run from Lordship Rec skatepark to Alexandra Palace
Thanks to Diane Beddoes for the ride report and photos and Jeff Hum for the videos
This is a marshalled group walk and wheel and cycle ride for everyone, including families with children. We will set off from Chestnuts Park cafe, going around St Ann’s and West Green, finishing by The Hub cafe in Lordship Rec.
On the Tuesday after Christmas eighty plus people, young and not so young, responded to an invitation to “work off the Christmas pud” by taking part in a community bike ride around traffic calmed streets in Bounds Green and Bowes.
The quiet streets in the Bowes and Bounds Green LTNs make it safe for kids to take to their bikes.
The festive bike ride criss-crossed the boundary between Haringey and Enfield, two boroughs that have been taking measures to encourage their residents to adopt healthier ways of getting around – walking and cycling – by preventing cars, vans and lorries from cutting through residential side streets.
A vision of safe, healthy and people friendly streets
The community groups that organised the ride also straddle the borough boundary: Haringey Cycling Campaign and its sister organisation Enfield Cycling Campaign were joined by the Haringey branch of Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, and by Better Streets for Enfield, whose vision is for the borough’s streets to be safe, healthy and people-friendly.
The ride was also a great success for two local bike-friendly businesses. The Prince in Trinity Road opened early for pre-ride coffees and post-ride lunch, and Hot Milk Café, near Bounds Green station, opened specially for the half-way break – both did a roaring trade.
Diversity
Adrian Day, co-ordinator of the two Enfield groups, was struck by the diversity of the people who turned out for the ride:
“There was a good mix of ages, including many young people and a couple of people in their seventies, and we had Turkish-speakers from Edmonton-based Londra Bisiklet Kulübü, members of women’s bike group JoyRiders, and a cute dachsund. We had a good reception too from people along the route, who smiled and waved as we rode past.”
“I can see why you like cycling now!”
Film-maker Carla Francome’s young son thoroughly enjoyed his first group ride (on a balance bike):
“It was so nice being part of a big gang, I felt like people cared about me. And it was fun. I see why you like cycling now.”
Help shape the future of the Bounds Green low traffic neighbourhood area by completing Haringey Council’s survey and by adding your feedback to the consultation’s interactive map which closes on Tuesday 31st January 2023.
Haringey Cycling Campaign has provided feedback supporting the proposed LTN measures and school streets with key points listed below and would encourage local residents and cyclists to do the same:
1) Myddleton Rd should be made 2-way for cycles to facilitate access to the local shops and the station
2) The one-way streets at the North of area B (LB Enfield) should all revert to 2-way. If keeping them one way is essential to avoid a mini rat run, cycle contra-flow should be permitted. (n.b. The LTN “exit” arrow is pointing the wrong way at Melbourne Avenue). Cycles should be exempted from the existing right turn ban in to Kelvin Avenue.
3) TfL should change the lane designations at the Bounds Green Rd junction to the A406. The two left turn traffic lanes on the N bound approach are extremely dangerous, as cycles have to cross two lanes of traffic to go straight ahead. Many drivers in fact use the second lane to go ahead, so on a bike you risk being overtaken by fast moving traffic on both sides. The Toucan crossings do not have cycle entries to shared use pavement and do not work.
4) There should be protected cycle lanes on Bounds Green Rd, with priority maintained at all junctions.
5) HCC would support a bus gate on Brownlow Rd (LB Enfield).
6) There should be a protected cycle route on Durnsford Rd, at least from the Library up to Bounds Green Station, possibly a 2-way track to replace parking on the N side of the road.
