Response to the Draft Cycling Policy
eleanor purser

Southwark Cyclists, an organisation of 600 cyclists

1. encourages all cyclists to obey the Highway Code
and will not defend the reckless drivers of any
vehicles, including of course bicycles.

2. wants the draft to encourage all Southwark
employees and Councillors to cycle. This includes all
Community Wardens, local police officers and traffic
wardens.

3. warmly welcomes the draft Cycling Policy and the
work that has gone into it but nevertheless hopes it
can be enhanced.

4. is delighted that we have been given the
opportunity to have an early view of the draft policy
and hopes to continue to work closely with the Council
to support cycling in the borough

5. identifies below the areas where we think
amendments are required

6. Vision for Cycling in Southwark

7. There is a lot of good pragmatic detail about
practical steps to improve cycling but these need to
be put in a context of a clear vision for cycling in
LBS: Why is LBS not pushing to make itself the borough
where there the highest percentage of journeys made by
cycle? Where is the commitment to be (say) the first
borough south of the river to implement one of the
shared surface schemes RBK&C have got on Exhibition
Road. Or could we say that we are the first borough to
work with TfL to remove gyratories which turn streets
into traffic dominated thoroughfares and discourage
cycling? Look at the fact that many local car-owners
cite the big weekly shop as the main reason they hang
onto their car. The draft should encourage the
development of alternative delivery/collection
methods. At the least we need to say much more about
cycling as a swiss-army knife travel tool.....for
shopping, for work, for school, for fun, for touring,
for going out, for exercise, for sport, for meeting
other people… We know there’s vision in Southwark viz:
GM-free borough, 20mph default but this needs to come
out in the cycling policy too.

8. We need more thought on LBS’s approach to Traffic
Management, for example, about speeding through
traffic or calming it down so that the streets for all
approach has meaning?

9. Delivery mechanisms

10. The action and delivery plan needs firming up as
soon as possible

11. the draft needs to be much more explicit about
borough cycle finance. How much exactly does Southwark
spend of its own money on cycling. How much is central
Government/TfL money?

12. the draft needs to more clearly with other current
Southwark strategies and policies so that all senior
officers understand where cycling fits into their
remit. In particular the importance of encouraging
cycling as one of the priorities of the new Traffic
Manager should be emphasised. How does the Community
Strategy actually support cycling? How will NRS
'coordinate'?

13. the draft needs to be much more explicit about the
Council's relationship and responsibilities with
Transport for London and its trunk roads. TfL have
responsibility for many of the ‘horror’ spots in LBS
eg E&C, E&C. What is LBS committed to do, to work with
TfL and where are the priorities? The policy about
through traffic needs to be explicit.

14. could cycling enhancement be one of the elements
of LBS’s sustainability assessment toolkit

15. Cycling infrastructure

16. We think policy could be clearer on such basics as
cycle lanes, advanced stop lines. This is particularly
important given the imminent release of a draft
streetscape/urban design manual

17. the passages about integrated transport need
improving to ensure that all existing and future
transport interchanges and key destinations take
cycling into better account.

18. the requirements for parking provision needs to be
clarified with explanatory text to be better
understood by lay people – not just planners i.e.
could you equate sqm to bike parking requirements to
something easily identifiable eg 150sqm which equates
to (say) to a small high street food store.

19. We applaud the concept of in-dwelling bike
parking. The parking ratio for offices seems derisory
and needs to be substantially increased. As Southwark
planning policies quite rightly cut car-parking on all
new developments, bicycle parking provision needs to
be expanded to fill the gap.

20. the section 106 element needs to be strengthened
to encourage more creative uses of use powers for the
direct benefit of cyclists and pedestrians.

21. Cycling as a policy priority

22. the policy should welcome the big new
redevelopments at Elephant and Castle, Canada Water,
London Bridge and Bermondsey Spa...and recognise more
clearly that all have good (but of course improvable)
public transport links. It is not appreciated enough
that, for example, Tate Modern, copes with 4m visitors
a year with no public car- parking except for the
disabled.

23. the draft does not mention parks, docks or the
Thames riverside. Southwark needs to support and
encourage safe cycling in all such areas.

24. the draft is silent about the need to re-educate
Council Departments and Council Officers and wean them
off car-dependant lifestyles and policies and onto a
much more cycling/walking approach and Borough.