In mid-August the Council closed Poole Street at the Junction with New North Road in order to place site cabins near to essential utility works on New North Road. The closure is expected to be in place for a month.

Now of course we understand sometimes roads must be temporarily closed, and this inevitably causes inconvenience. But what is inconvenient for drivers can be a matter of basic safety for cyclists and users of mobility aids.

This is a key cycle route. Not one of London’s formal ‘cycleways’, but part of the old ‘quietway’ network and used by many hundreds and likely thousands of cyclists daily, including children travelling actively to the many nearby schools. It is a safe, quiet route with a signalised crossing over New North Road. There is no comparable safe and convenient nearby alternative.  The practical effect of the closure is:

• To push cyclists onto the Regents Canal towpath (which is narrow, shared with pedestrians and excludes many people especially women and girls owing to personal safety fears, particularly at night)
• To encourage cyclists to cycle on the pavement past the works which damages pedestrian accessibility and safety on a busy junction
• To encourage cyclists into Shoreditch park where there is more risk of conflict with pedestrians and children
• To discourage cycling journeys altogether (for example, if the only safe convenient cycle route to school is closed for weeks, some people will chose to drive instead).

The cabins have been placed side-by-side using the whole carriageway. If they were placed end-on-end using a single lane, then a safe cycle route could easily be maintained.  It really is as simple as that.

Ironically, further east on this same cycle route (on Penn Street) the road has been closed for an extended period for an HGV holding bay, but space there was left to maintain the cycleway.  All credit to the Council on that occasion, but more consistency is needed.

This isn’t the biggest issue in Hackney, we know, but it is symptomatic of how alternatives to driving can sometimes be given little thought, or treated as lower-priority concerns.  Did anyone in the Council realise this is such a key cycle route? How can procedures be improved to ensure simple solutions like this are picked up in future?

A genuinely low traffic Hackney will be one in which at least as much thought and care goes into protecting public transport, walking, wheeling and cycling, as goes into protecting driving. 

Journeys outside cars aren’t less important or of less value. If we want people to choose alternatives to driving, those alternatives must be prioritised.

This means:

• Proper maintenance of cycleways, pavements and footpaths so they are safe, level, smooth, accessible and comfortable
• Sweeping litter, clearing leaves in autumn, and gritting busy pavements and cycleways to the same priority as main roads in icy conditions
• Making every effort to avoid full closure of cycle routes, which are critical for safety in a way road closures rarely are for drivers
• Always providing an equally safe, convenient and clearly marked cycle diversion for temporary road closures on cycle routes

If you want to support our efforts to push for a lower-traffic Hackney, join us here!