04 August 2021
The publication last week of Gear Change: One Year On, along with news of additional funding and updated guidance for local authorities, is a clear sign that the government expects councils to continue introducing new active travel schemes - cycle lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and school streets - in order to encourage people to walk and cycle more and drive less. What does this mean for the future of such schemes in Enfield?
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28 July 2021
The latest addition to Age UK Enfield's extensive Fit for Life programme is a weekly session for over-50s who would like to gain (or regain) their confidence on a bike (or trike) so that they can start benefiting from this healthy and enjoyable leisure activity and means of transport. There are also schemes in Enfield which provide free training sessions (all ages) or can pair you up with an experienced rider.
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13 June 2021
At their meeting on Wednesday 16th June Enfield's Cabinet will be invited to endorse a newly drafted Healthy Streets Framework, intended for use in developing and delivering Healthy Streets projects designed to enable more walking and cycling and reduce road danger.
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04 May 2021
For transport to become environmentally sustainable we need to shift a significant proportion of journeys to non-polluting modes - walking, cycling or public transport. But doing so can also improve our environment in other ways, making it safer, cleaner, quieter, more sociable. A short film, partly filmed in Palmers Green, gives a glimpse of how we can have better streets.
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02 April 2021
A recently published Environmental Statement by the Enfield Society indicates support for measures to reduce car use and encourage walking and cycling, while stressing that the Society 'is careful not to become involved in political debate' and 'will only support schemes where it can be clearly demonstrated that reduced traffic flows in some areas do not significantly increase them elsewhere'. Cycling 'is not just the preserve of young people, it should be viewed as an important mode of transport'. By discouraging car use 'our air will be cleaner, our health better, the burden on the NHS reduced and deaths/serious injuries on the roads reduced'.
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13 January 2021
Enfield Council has released the latest figures for the number of bikes passing Palmers Green Triangle in either direction. Compared with December 2019 usage average weekday usage was up by a half and average weekend usage doubled.
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06 January 2021
Enfield Council has been allocated government funding totalling £1.55 million to spend on active travel schemes: £1.3 million to pay for two cycleway schemes and £160,000 for phase 2 of the Bowes low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN), which would use a 'bus gate' to give relief to the long suffering residents of Brownlow Road. Additionally, the council is hopeful of obtaining funding from Transport for London in the next financial year for phase 2 of the Connaught Gardens LTN and is planning to start work on two further LTNs, in Upper Edmonton.
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16 November 2020
On the back of polling showing strong public support for measures to create safe space for walking and cycling, transport secretary Grant Shapps has this week allocated a further £175 million for councils to implement new school streets, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), cycle lanes and pedestrian improvements. Polling shows that in London a majority support and only 19 per cent of people oppose LTNs. Other polls are in line with this. There is also evidence that people in favour overestimate the level of opposition to measures to reallocate road space.
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07 November 2020
A year ago more than half the children attending St Monica's school arrived by car and only just over a quarter by 'active travel' - walking, cycling, scooting or skating. Now, after the introduction of a school street and the Fox Lane low-traffic neighbourhood, the proportions are almost exactly reversed. The headteacher has now begun cycling to school and is suggesting that those parents who still drive all the way to school should think about other ways of getting there.
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06 November 2020
More than 120 medical professionals, concerned about 'the adverse impact that motor vehicles have on our patients and the broader community', have written to the Mayor of London in support of low-traffic neighbourhoods and cycle lanes.
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28 October 2020
The government has rejected a petition calling for an immediate withdrawal of funding and support for low-traffic neighbourhoods, cycle lanes and school streets and has issued a strong defence of such measures. The response from the Department for Transport states that such schemes are 'a key part of the Government's efforts to reduce harmful emissions from transport, as well as to help make people healthier'
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07 September 2020
Sometimes it can take a childs-eye view to see how we can do things better, and a new competition for young budding transport planners, launched today, is intended to take advantage of this to help us speed up the decarbonisation of transport and in particular of the school run. The national walking charity Living Streets is teaming up with the Transport Planning Society to offer a prize for the best poster designed by a child of primary school age showing environmentally friendly ways to travel to school.
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07 September 2020
All of us, to greater or lesser extent, shape the world that children have to grow up in. And, without our realising it, our lifestyle and behaviour might be contributing to the problems that lead to so many children growing up obese, unfit, unhealthy and with poor mental health. Instead of blaming their parents, we should consider whether we are part of the problem.
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26 August 2020
With children soon due to return to their classrooms, the issue of how pupils will travel to and from school is becoming urgent. There are serious questions about how many will be able resume using public transport. Across the country the government is telling local authorities that they want at least half of pupils with journeys of less than two miles who have previously used buses to switch to active travel - walking or cycling. In London it's still unclear under what circumstances free public transport will be available to schoolchildren. This article points readers in the direction of some recently published information relevant to school transport in the age of Covid-19.
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04 August 2020
London's top traffic cop has reminded us that August is National Road Victims Month and asked us to watch a short film made by the charity RoadPeace. In the UK five people a day are killed on the roads and more than 60 seriously injured. Scandinavian cities, pursuing a Vision Zero policy, have almost eliminated road deaths.
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09 July 2020
Enfield Council's revised plans for the Fox Lane quieter neighbourhood, which were published today, will dramatically reduce traffic and associated pollution, noise and road danger over a large area of residential streets stretching from Palmers Green to Southgate. Subject to approval by the deputy council leader, the proposals will be implemented on a trial basis for six months starting this summer.
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01 July 2020
Enfield Council has published information about its progress in obtaining funding for urgent Streetspace schemes, designed to enable more walking and cycling post-lockdown in a situation where people will be unable or reluctant to use public transport. A document recently published on the council's Let's Talk website also includes updates about the status of planned low-traffic neighbourhoods in the Fox Lane, Connaught Gardens and Bowes Primary areas.
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10 June 2020
A new poll has found that: the majority of Londoners support moves by the Mayor, Transport for London and local councils to give more space to pedestrians and cyclists; Londoners are finding it difficult to keep socially distant from other people; there is support for face masks on public transport being compulsory; a third of Londoners expect to cycle more, but almost as many expect to use their cars more..
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07 June 2020
Enfield Council has submitted a bid to TfL for funding for a number of Covid Streetspace measures: pop-up cycle lanes, quieter neighbourhoods, modal filters to block through traffic, school streets and temporary footway widening. A revised design has been developed for the Fox Lane Quieter Neighbourhood and will be shared with the community prior to implementation.
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03 June 2020
Viola Rondeboom of Healthy Streets Bounds Green introduces the new group and its ideas for creating a healthier environment in the residential streets between Bounds Green Road and Bowes Road.
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