Hundreds of people took two wheels (or sometimes three or four) on Sunday 2 September, in the try-a-bike area of Palmers Green Festival. Run by Enfield Cycling Campaign and Better Streets for the council’s Cycle Enfield scheme, the annual Try-a-Bike had its busiest year yet. By the end of the day close to 400 people of all ages had pedalled around Broomfield Park’s tennis courts.

A boy uses the handcycle – designed for wheelchair users but fun for anyone

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Think you can’t cycle? Think again!

A trike from Bush Hill Park inclusive cycling scheme

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This Saturday (25 August) will be the fifth Easy Riders meet of the year – don’t miss out if you want a gentle, sociable group ride to Forty Hall! Details here.

The March ride. It’s hard not to smile on bicycle – especially with your nearest and dearest, on a nice safe bike lane

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The council leaflet

Enfield Council is seeking residents’ comments about some plans to make Haselbury Neighbourhood in Edmonton better for walking, cycling and living. You can see the plans in detail here and give your views – the closing date is this Sunday, 1 July. This is just ‘early engagement’ and there will be a full consultation later. Continue reading

Who are the winners and losers?

Better Streets has taken a keen interest in the local elections – it’s local councils after all who are responsible for most of our streets. We’ve asked each political party leader to take our pledge , alongside the London-wide Liveable London campaign asking residents to email the leaders en masse. The Green party fully supported it and Labour supported the pledge but modified it on the basis of their version of Quieter Neighbourhood (watering it down). While the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats made opposing Cycle Enfield a major part of their campaigns. So what would be the outcome of polling day on Thursday 3 May?

I woke up early on Friday to watch all the final results come in for the Enfield wards. I live in Winchmore Hill ward, and the results were last to be announced.  Palmers Green had again solidly returned three Labour councillors, and so had Southgate Green – and this ward originally only had two Labour councillors, so it was a gain. There was also a Labour gain in Southgate ward but that looked tight. Winchmore Hill was an important ward as most of the anti-cycle lane campaigners seem to focus on it as an area where they thought there were the most problems. Oddly, much of Palmers Green is also in the ward, so in effect Winchmore Hill has two of the most important town centres affected by the work of Cycle Enfield. Would Winchmore Hill vote in the three Conservative candidates who so opposed our new cycling infrastructure? When the result came in I posted a rather bleary-eyed tweet complete with typos: Continue reading

***UPDATED on Tuesday 1 May***

A few weeks ago we got in touch with Enfield’s four main political parties, and asked them to pledge to create better streets if they won the council in the May local elections.

Specifically, we asked them to commit to:

1) Submitting a high-quality and safe, “Liveable Neighbourhood” bid, based in an area with high potential for walking and cycling, that provides big wins for both and that takes major steps to prioritise people walking and cycling over private cars in the area during the course of your term

2) Creating low-traffic neighbourhoods, to reduce traffic speed and volume where people live

3) Completing the work of Cycle Enfield, to allow all-age, all-ability cycling throughout the borough.

So what were the responses? Here they are below. Maybe this will help you decide how to vote on 3rd May… Continue reading

As the local elections approach, a lot has been said about the cycle lanes – with opposition parties in particular accusing the council of using features that are dangerous.

Leaving the politics aside, is there any truth in these claims? Should we be concerned about the dangers of ‘orcas’ and bus stop ‘boarders’? Here are some thoughts from Better Streets. Continue reading

The My Liveable London campaign is now live.

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Would you like an Enfield that’s “liveable” – where streets are much less dominated by traffic, and much more pleasant for walking, cycling and spending time? That’s the goal of the My Liveable London campaign. If so – can you help? From next week we will need volunteers to distribute “My Liveable Enfield” leaflets, asking the public to email Enfield party leaders before the local elections.

Basil Clarke tells us more about My Liveable London in his article below, re-posted from the Palmers Green Community website:

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We’re delighted to announce that Enfield Green Party are the first party to take our pledge for better streets in the run-up to the May local elections!

Co-chairs Alex McRae and Kate McGeevor said, “Enfield Green Party are commited to making Enfield’s streets cleaner, safer and healthier for residents. We believe streets are for people, not traffic. The space has to be shared but on residential streets residents should come first. We are delighted to support the Better Streets for Enfield campaign and to pledge our support for the creation of people-friendly streets throughout Enfield.”

Here’s the pledge they took:

Better Streets for Enfield calls on all local parties to commit to supporting the health and happiness of all residents by creating people-friendly streets in Enfield – where traffic is reduced, where people have priority over traffic, and where walking, cycling and public transport are safe, attractive options for everyone. We ask you to commit to:

1) Submitting a high-quality and safe, “Liveable Neighbourhood” bid, based in an area with high potential for walking and cycling, that provides big wins for both and that takes major steps to prioritise people walking and cycling over private cars in the area during the course of your term

2) Creating low-traffic neighbourhoods, to reduce traffic speed and volume where people live

3) Completing the work of Cycle Enfield, to allow all-age, all-ability cycling throughout the borough.

We’re also hoping to hear from the local Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties. We believe that making our streets safer, greener, cleaner and less traffic-dominated  for everyone cuts across party lines – this is surely a goal that every candidate should support.