Mini Holland New Malden Raynes Park link

The next Mini Holland project, following Portsmouth Road, from RBK, is a connection between New Malden and Raynes Park; a new walking and cycling route. It will run alongside the railway on Thames Water supply pipes and go under the A3 dual carriageway. The new route is planned to open up an area of valuable green space for all ages to enjoy, cycle, walk, learn and relax; making it quick and easy to travel on a traffic free route between the two town centres in a way that has not previously been possible.

The long term plan, perhaps aspiration, at present, is that this route will link with the planned Transport for London Quietway from Waterloo to Clapham and on to Wimbledon which will extend to Raynes Park. It is not yet clear what route the Quietway will take nor, as far as we are aware, has funding been made available.

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Mini Holland Portsmouth Road Revised Proposals

We welcome the revised proposals for the Portsmouth Road mini Holland scheme which have been published by the Royal Borough of Kingston, today, Monday 16 March 2015;

http://www.kingston.gov.uk/downloads/file/1212/portsmouth_road_revised_scheme

These proposals are a considerable improvement on the original proposals. We will be seeking further assurances about the design but, in the round, we support it.

The northern part of the route is a two way cycle track on the river side of Portsmouth Road. This has some impressive features; fully protected space, floating bus stops, refuges for turning cyclists, possibly crossings which can detect bicycles and a well thought out link to Surbiton via Palace Road. It will be valuable for family and novice riders, particularly if it joins the Boardway link along the Thames. It is a reversion to the original design in the bid document which featured such a two way track and is certainly better than the “white paint” in the original proposal in February.

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KCC Responds to Kingston’s Mini-Holland Proposal

· The Kingston Cycling Campaign strongly objects to the design of the scheme set out in the consultation documents.

· This is Kingston’s first Mini Holland scheme; it is important to set a satisfactory standard and precedent for later schemes.

· We believe that full segregation, (protected space), can be provided along the length of this route. Connections with facilities to the north and the south need to be designed at the same time to ensure continuity.

· In the bid document it was stated this road was to get a fully segregated two way cycle track for about half its length and the remainder was to be semi- segregated. Around 70 to 80% of the carriageway length is proposed to have no protected space for cycling, rather there will be Mandatory Cycle Lanes (“white paint” as people call it).

· The proposal may be of some limited value to existing cyclists but will do very little to encourage non-cyclists, or the hesitant, to use bicycles; which is the objective of the mini-Holland programme.

· It is not the dramatic or step change in cycling provision which the mini- Holland schemes are intended to achieve, as in the Mayor’s Cycling Vision for London.

· We met with Councillors from the Administration and without giving any promises they said they would speak to Officers about increasing segregated provision. We welcome this.

· We do not want this fantastic opportunity for our Borough to be wasted and we are confident that if aspects of the scheme are redesigned to incorporate protected space along the entirety of this short route it will prove an outstanding achievement for Kingston.

Portsmouth Road response Final v1

Meeting to discuss Mini Holland proposals

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 10 March 2015 at 8pm at the Richard Mayo Centre, Eden Street, Kingston on Thames KT1 1HZ http://mayocentre.org.uk/. We hope to discuss the revised Portsmouth Road Mini Holland proposals and feedback from the Sustrans workshop on the New Malden to Raynes Park Mini Holland Link. If you cycle, or would like to cycle, in Kingston please join us.

Mini Holland Meetings with Officers and Councillors

Officers

On Thursday 22 January 3 campaigners from Kingston Cycling Campaign met with Officers from the Royal Borough of Kingston to discuss their Mini Holland proposals for Portsmouth Road. We were accompanied by the Campaigns Officer from the London Cycling Campaign http://lcc.org.uk/. We saw detailed plans of the proposals for the first time. These were frankly disappointing. The plans confirmed our fears that this is largely a “white paint” scheme with limited protected space for cycling. The areas of segregation are small; perhaps the southerly, heading away from Brighton Rd, 20% of the Northern bound carriageway, which is fully segregated. Additionally semi segregation by means of armadillos is proposed towards the north end, near Kingston, on both sides of the road but only for a short distance, particularly on the southbound. In all, so far as one can tell, only about 20% of the scheme has any protection at all. We are awaiting copies of the plans so we can comment further. There are some nice landscaping features and 2 raised pedestrian crossings but the cycling provision is certainly not to Dutch standards. We made the point that proposals such as these will do little or nothing to encourage cycling among those who don’t already ride. Schoolchildren will not want to ride along Portsmouth Road protected by white lines.

Councillors

On Monday 26 January another 3 campaigners met with 2 Councillors from the Conservative administration of RBK. Cllr Richard Hudson who chairs the Infrastructure, Projects and Contracts Committee, responsible for the Mini Holland Projects, and Cllr Andrea Craig, Lead member for Children and Young People, who is also a keen cyclist. This was a positive meeting. All wanted the Mini Holland schemes to be realised and to succeed. All, whilst recognising we may not agree on everything, want a degree of consensus to be achieved. All wanted schemes to be designed, so far as possible, for new or occasional cyclists, particularly children. All recognised schemes should benefit the whole community. We discussed various forms of physical protection for cycling such as armadillos and stepped kerbs. On the face of it there is room on Portsmouth Road for more protected space for cycling than is in the current proposal. Without making any promises Cllr Hudson said he would speak to Officers following the consultation to see if the degree of segregation can be improved.

Please do complete the consultation; link below. Everyone we speak to wants protected space unless you say so you can hardly blame Councillors or Officers for being unaware of that;

http://www.kingston.gov.uk/info/200355/mini-holland_cycling_programme/1118/mini-holland_cycle_routes/2

Portsmouth Road Consultation

The public consultation on the proposed Portsmouth Rd mini-holland scheme opens today. You can find all the details on what is proposed and how you can make your voice heard:

RBK Portsmouth Rd Consultation

You can also read the Portsmouth Road Full Proposal Document (PDF)

If we don’t let the Council know what we think, we can’t complain about what they give us. Rich, one of our supporters, has produced a template to respond to the consultation:

https://stuffrichwrites.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/response-to-portsmouth-road-consultation/

Please feel free to adopt it or adapt it.

The Council’s proposals will not prevent this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxqtgYon0Lk

We want protected space infrastructure so truck drivers can not endanger their fellow citizens in this way and 8 to 80 cyclists will use this route.

Portsmouth Rd Mini Holland Proposals

LCC members in Kingston and the surrounding Boroughs will be aware of the Council’s successful Mini Holland bid. The first proposed Mini Holland Scheme is Portsmouth Rd. The proposals go to Kingston Council’s Infrastructure Committee today, Tuesday 13 January, at 7.30pm. The public are entitled to attend and speak. See this link for the agenda and the details;

http://moderngov.kingston.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=573&MId=7550

These proposals are a hugely disappointing missed opportunity. It isn’t Mini Holland. It isn’t Go Dutch. It isn’t compliant with London Cycling Campaign policy which seeks genuine segregation on roads over certain speeds and/or volumes of traffic. At most 15% of the whole (may be 25 to 30% of the west side) is properly segregated. Around 60% by our estimate is simply white paint, the balance “Armadillos”. In the Mini Holland bid documents almost half Portsmouth Road was fully segregated, the balance semi. In truth this is “old style” London; let’s fit in a bit of second rate cycle infrastructure.

We have no alternative but to go to the committee to object. Achieving full segregation on this stretch will be challenging because of space, assuming the road remains a two way motor road, but they can do a lot better than this proposal. There is scope, and room, for segregation on the northern part of Portsmouth Rd and the southern, although some major works or innovation will be required to avoid a gap in the middle.

One possibility, at least for the northern stretch, is two way segregated cycle lanes on the west side. Obviously this first scheme will set the tone for Kingston’s Mini Holland future and, may be a wider precedent, not just for the two other MHs, but for cycle schemes in the outer Boroughs generally.

This proposal will do nothing to encourage cycling, nor for cycle safety. It will make it slightly easier for experienced cyclists to ride along Portsmouth Rd. Mini Holland is not supposed to be aimed primarily at people who already cycle a lot but those who cycle a little or not at all. Nervous folk will not be pedalling along Portsmouth Road protected by 1.6m white lines (apparently the bulk of the proposal).

Comments from our members on the proposals include;
“It does not pass my would you ride this with a 7 year old test”
“Very disappointed”
“Would not provide a step change in provision for people who want to cycle”
“very poor”

We have always been a local borough group which sought to co-operate with its Council. Sadly these proposals are so inadequate, and much less than originally envisaged, we can’t support them. We don’t know if they have the approval of TfL, or Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s Cycling Commissioner, yet. When we met him in the Summer he was very positive and clear in favouring adequate provision for nervous or inexperienced cyclists (only by getting new people cycling will you reduce congestion). We would be disappointed if he had accepted these proposals.

Rest assured we will do our best. If you can make it this evening to lobby the committee, please do.

Campaigners meet with Kingston Council

Members of the Kingston Cycling Campaign meet every three months with officers of Kingston Council to progress improvements and repairs for the benefit of cyclists. Today, (13th October), four campaigners met at Guildhall 2 to discuss the Mini-Holland project, Kingston’s Local Implementation Plan (LIP) and some of our Top 40 projects that we want to see done. Not only that, but we reported the missing bike logo at the new ASL (Advanced Stop Line) at Sury Basin by the Richmond Road Sainsbury’s and the failure of the Tolworth Greenway where some sections of the coloured surfacing have been sinking. A particularly interesting discussion was the concern about the safety of the junction of London Road and Coombe Lane. The problem is that cyclists and motorcyclists riding in the bus lane towards Kingston are being clouted by drivers turning right into Coombe Road (traffic in the bus lane is often hidden by stationary traffic), or by left turning vehicles. We discussed some solutions that could address the collision problem. We would like to see a solution that provides some segregation and stop cyclists getting hurt.