June 2023 Newsletter

Posted on June 6, 2023 by John Garnsworthy

Climate Safe Streets report

LCC has launched its “One year on, one year to go” report following up the Climate Safe Streets campaign at last year’s local elections. It shows a big gulf between London boroughs on active travel and car use reduction scheme delivery with, unsurprisingly, Sutton not faring well compared with many other boroughs.

LCC’s recommendation is that:

“Sutton is one of the boroughs that delivered a few schemes during the start of the pandemic and then quickly removed them in response to noisy opposition. The issue with this approach of course is it does rather leave the borough stuck trying to deliver anything on climate and roads transport. If Sutton is serious about climate, make the borough default 20mph tomorrow, start rolling out cycle parking and car parking charges – all three of these approaches are at some of the lowest levels in London in Sutton. And really, if you can’t manage all of those, let alone any at speed, it doesn’t look like you’re taking the ‘emergency’ in your ‘climate emergency declaration’ very seriously.”

Following this up, the chair of Get Sutton Cycling has sent the report to Ruth Dombey, Sutton’s council leader, with an open letter highlighting the lack of progress in relation to our set of campaign “asks” and offering to discuss with her the schemes we’ve asked for.

What was delivered for cycling in Sutton between 2010 and 2022?

Our second in a detailed trilogy of reports examines the extent of delivery of cycling schemes in the borough from 2010 to 2022. Whilst acknowledging that there are some signs of optimism more recently, the conclusion for the period as a whole is that in terms of infrastructure, “delivery in Sutton in recent years has been pitiful.”

Sutton Cyclists on Facebook

A brand new Facebook group has been launched for cyclists in the borough. It’s open for anyone to post on and totally independent of Get Sutton Cycling, the London Cycling Campaign, or indeed, any other organisation. So, whether you ride to the park, to work, the shops, for fitness, for getting from A to B, or just for fun, this is the place to share your love and experiences of cycling in Sutton!

RideLondon: the postscript

On a beautiful early summer’s morning, ideal for cycling, around thirty of us enjoyed the led-ride on 28 May from Trinity Square in Sutton to Parliament Square in the heart of the capital, our route taking us along quiet back streets and sections of the Wandle Trail. After taking advantage of the closed streets in central London, some took the opportunity of the return led-ride to Sutton (pictured) whilst others made their own way back.

A big thanks to Maeve for leading the ride and all those who helped with the marshalling.

Questions to the council

Asking questions to the council can be a good way of highlighting cycling issues and one of our members did so to the full council meeting on 24 April. Their question was:

“Following the recent opening of the cycle corridor between Croydon Town Centre and Purley, what similar infrastructure schemes will the council implement in the borough in order to meet the government’s target of 50% of trips in towns to be made by walking and cycling as well as exploiting the many benefits of active travel set out by the government in its “Gear Change” documents?”

The response by Barry Lewis, Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee was:

“The council is committed to encouraging more active travel across the borough of Sutton as set out in its Sustainable Transport Strategy. The council has proposals to continue with the delivery of the strategic cycleway linking Sutton Town Centre to Morden Town Centre as part of our TfL funded work programme in 2023/24. The current focus is on completing elements in the St Helier area, which includes completing the cycle/footway with improved street lighting through Rose Hill Park East and upgrading the crossing outside St Helier Hospital to a toucan crossing to link into existing cycling infrastructure. This will be followed by development of options for the section of the route between Sutton Town Centre and St Helier. Colleagues in Merton are developing proposals to then complete the link from St Helier into Morden Town Centre. The 2023/24 programme also includes feasibility studies on strategic corridors between Mitcham and Wallington, and between Worcester Park and Sutton Town Centre.”

Actions, as always, will speak louder than words!

You too can help raise our profile by emailing questions to the full council: committee.services@sutton.gov.uk

Women and cycling in London

It’s widely recognised that women are greatly under-represented when it comes to cycling, making just 7 cycle trips per year compared to 24 for men. In London, 67% of women do not feel it’s safe to cycle in their city.

With this in mind, two of London’s brilliant cycling campaigners, Clare Rogers and Carla Francome, were recently featured in this video on London Live to speak about the shocking reality that a lot of women have to face while cycling in London.