Boris Johnson and TFL have announced the most ambitious plans for cycling the capital has ever seen. Almost £1 billion is due to be spent across London, focused on rebuilding London’s roads to make cycling safe, convenient and inviting to people of all ages and abilities. The ambitious plans include a 15 mile separated cycle route across the centre of London, a grid of routes in the city centre dedicated to cycling and an outer network of quiet routes along residential streets. However, Croydon could miss out on all this. These projects will not be…

We have had a second article published with local political blog Inside-Croydon, this time covering the events leading up to the cycling death on Mitcham Road and the aftermath. http://insidecroydon.com/2012/12/19/council-ignored-danger-warnings-over-deadly-mitcham-road/    

We have published an article on our vision for cycling with local political blog “Inside-Croydon”. Please visit the site to read the article, we hope you find it an interesting read and will be convinced to share this vision also! http://insidecroydon.com/2012/12/12/where-theres-a-wheel-there-ought-to-be-a-way-for-cyclists

The Croydon Cycle Forum is a meeting held by the council 3 times a year with representatives from all the active cycling organisations in the borough.  It is an opportunity to meet with a small number of councillors (Cllrs Wright, Chatterjee for the council, opposition councillor Kathy Bee), council officers and other cycling groups to discuss matters relating to cycling in Croydon.  The most recent meeting was held on Tuesday 6th November, and was my first opportunity to go along and see if I could make a difference. So I joined local cycling champions Austen…

We thank Caroline Pidgeon  (Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, Chair of the London Assembly’s Transport Committee and Deputy Chair of the Police and Crime Committee) for raising the following question with the Mayor of London (and to Ian Wingrove, Green Group Press Liaison Officer for distilling and passing on the information). The LIP is the Local Implementation Plan (LIP), a statutory plan setting out how Croydon Council intends to implement the London Mayor’s Transport Strategy within the borough.  The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has signalled his wish to see 5% of all journeys…

Croydon North will shortly elect a new MP.  Croydon North is considered to be a safe labour seat, so when we decided to ask candidates questions, we included the short list of Labour candidates who Labour will be selecting from to run in the by-election.  There’s a fantastic opportunity for Croydon North to secure an MP who really understands the need for liveable streets and the key role that cycling plays in such a vision. [UPDATE] Labour have now chosen their candidate to stand for election in Croydon North. They will be represented by current…

I hadn’t been out for a long bike ride for ages, and so was tempted by the fine early autumn weather of Sunday 14 October 2012 to go out with the Anerley Bicycle Club on a ride down to Chiddingstone Castle in Kent.  The Anerley is one of Britain’s oldest cycling clubs, having been founded in 1881, and has regular Sunday rides into the Kent and Surrey countryside, plus Tuesday trips too.   Over a dozen people showed up, most of them regulars but one or two new faces or, like me, those returning after a prolonged…

Last month I e-mailed Councillor Sean Fitzsimons, a representative for the Addiscombe ward and a member of Croydon Labour Party, for clarification on his stance on the matter of 20 mph  zones.  Below  is my request and underneath that, his response and more recent developments – watch this space for more. On 5 September 2012 21:17, austen.croydoncyclists@gmail.com <austen.croydoncyclists@gmail.com> wrote: Dear Councillor Fitzsimons, I’m currently the co-ordinator of Croydon Cycling Campaign and a member of the Board of the London Cycling Campaign (LCC).  The LCC recently responded to a request by the Greater London Authority’s Transport…

In my previous post I discussed some councillors who had raised objections to cycling exceptions on one-way streets, in spite of this having worked so effectively in other boroughs and the City of London now opening up 34 roads to contraflow cycling or two-way operation. I also highlighted one particular councillor who not only objected but gave quite a speech, in which he showed his disdain for those who ride bikes, rejecting best practice because ‘if it works in other boroughs it isn’t necessarily right for Croydon’ without giving any reason why Croydon might be…

Croydon’s Traffic Management Cabinet Committee meets 4-5 times a year and is responsible for approving or rejecting proposed changes to Croydon’s transport infrastructure. That makes these meetings very significant for cyclists. What you may not know, is that you can attend these meetings as an observer, or maybe even speak for or against one of the measures on the agenda. The agenda and minutes for these meetings are also available online. If you want to know how projects are approved/rejected, it is worth attending one of these meetings to get a feel for the local…