Don’t forget
the FreeCycle events this weekend (see Rides Blog of 28 June for more details).
Our marshals
Peter, Graham and John are stepping up to muster and coax a group of cyclists
to and from central London to participate in the Saturday 3 Aug event. Remember
you can join them as participants or find your own way into London and there is
no need to register if you don’t want to and it is all FREE!!
The start
point for the organised ride in is from Tally Ho Pub, North Finchley N12 0BP at
10am with the led start back to North Finchley from London at 3pm
Also Barnet Cycling Campaign want to wish all the best to the Barnet team participating in the Surrey 100 on Sunday 4th August. GOOD LUCK – Helen, Penny and Ray!!
The first ever (and first of what’s planned to be an annual event) London Boroughs’ Healthy Streets Scorecard launched today. You can see the LCC blog with the media release and download of the full report and spreadsheet here: https://lcc.org.uk/articles/healthy-boroughs. It has also been covered in the Evening Standard.
What is the Scorecard?
The Scorecard aims to track boroughs on nine metrics relating to the Healthy Streets methodology and the Mayor’s Transport Strategy aims. These nine are broken into four “outputs” – the long-term results of making streets healthier – such as serious collision rates, mode share and car ownership, and four inputs, one of which is a combination of two metrics. These are things every borough can and should be doing to improve streets and will mean all boroughs can affect their scoring and standing on the Scorecard within a year, without huge amounts of funding – such as modal filters installed, km of cycle track, 20mph and CPZ coverage of the borough’s roads.
All of the scores have been designed to not only be sourced from public sources of information (TfL mostly, but also DfT etc.) but also should be replicable on an annual basis. All the metrics have also been normalised – so, for instance, boroughs with more walking and cycling shouldn’t automatically do badly on collisions for vulnerable road users.
What the scorecard means for Barnet
Overall, Barnet comes 28th out of 33 boroughs, above Hillingdon, Bromley, Bexley, Redbridge and Havering. The areas where investments have the most potential for improving Barnet’s overall score are 20 mph zones and provision of protected cycle tracks, followed by Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and CPZs.
The eight Healthy Streets indicators used for the 33
London Boroughs are:
Indicator
Measure
Barnet’s position – out of 33 Boroughs
1. Modeshare: Sustainable Modes (PT+W+C)
Trip-based mode share for active, efficient and sustainable modes (Walk, Cycle & Public Transport), by borough of residence, LTDS 3 year average, 2015/16-2017/18.
23rd
2A. Active Travel-Walking
% of adults who walk 5+ times a week
25th
2B. Active Travel-Cycling
% of adults who cycle 5+ times a week
32nd
3. Casualties (Tot % P&C)
Average Annual Pedestrian and Cyclist Serious and Fatal Casualties (2015 to 2017)/1,000 daily walking and cycling stages (Stages per day, 3 year average 2014/15-2016/17)
4th
4. Cars per Household
Number of cars per household (2018)
25th
5. Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (Modal filters)
Number of modal filters (Source: TfL CID. Data collected 2017-summer 2018)/km of road length (DfT – 2017)
26th
6. 20mph
Proportion of borough managed roads (by length) with a 20mph limit (TfL)
32nd
7. CPZ Coverage
Length of roads covered by Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ) (Source: Appy Parking)
21st
8. Provision of Protected Cycle Track
Total length (kms) of protected cycle track (covers – Segregated (on- and off -carriageway), Stepped Lane/Track and Partially/light segregated (on- and off-carriageway)per km of road length (DfT – 2017)
32nd
The scorecard is certainly not comprehensive or perfect – but it’s a really good start we think, and the aim is to improve it, so please let us know your feedback.
To start with we will run through all our cycling business and the various officers’ reports. Then after the tea break Ian will run his stupendous Quiz – with stupendous prizes!! ……well as stupendous as the treasurer will allow). A bit of fun to end this session of monthly meetings before our summer break. The next meeting is Thursday 26thSeptember. All welcome.
Meet: 8pm Carey Hall, Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley N12
Last Friday, a group of Enfield residents went on a tour of Waltham Forest’s low traffic neighbourhoods, to see what they could learn for their own area. What they found, on a lovely sunny June day, was a paradise for pedestrians, on a network of streets full of greenery where walkers have priority over traffic.
With them were four Enfield councillors and their tour guides were Walthamstow residents Paul Gasson and Dan Kelly, who have worked closely with Waltham Forest council to shape their ‘Mini Holland’ scheme.
To start with we will run through all our cycling business and the various officers’ reports. Then after the tea break Ian will run his stupendous Quiz! A bit of fun to end this session of monthly meetings before our summer break. The next meeting is Thursday 26thSeptember. All welcome.
Meet: 8pm Carey Hall, Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley N12
FreeCycle is a major closed-road event where everyone can cycle round an 8 mile car-free circuit past major London landmarks. The LCC is promoting the event which is part of a festival of cycling sponsored by Prudential. NB it is necessary to register in advance.
Participants may find their own way into London or join an LCC organised group from Tally Ho Pub, North Finchley N12 0BP at 10am.The group will ride (approx. 10 miles) from North Finchley to the Museum of London, London Wall/St Martins le Grand (EC2Y 5HN) in Central London. The group will be led back to North Finchley at 3pm
from the Museum. Please note the ride from North Finchley and return is considered a long distance ride into and out of London on roads with traffic and hills – suitable for experienced riders.
Volunteers will participate as marshals and other volunteers are invited from Barnet
Cycling Campaign as marshals for the North Finchley-led Group. We have two members volunteering as marshals but more are needed.
Please see the link https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/ for more information and to register for the ride. Please speak/email Alison Ewington or Charles Jennings (see Contacts) if interested in being a volunteer marshal to help lead the North Finchley Group into London.
There is quite a lot happening on the campaigning front in Barnet at the moment and we will catch up with this in the first part of the meeting. Then after the coffee break we will continue round the M25 in the company of Doug Nevell. This is a continuation from the April meeting, and we are keen to hear about the rest of the route round the south and east of London mirroring the M25. All welcome.
Meet: 8pm Carey Hall, Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley N12
British scientists do the maths and find that we come up short for cobalt, lithium and copper.
The UK Committee on Climate Change report received criticism that it was too much business as usual, particularly with its suggestion that electric cars could replace all the ICE (internal combustion engine) powered cars in the UK, and its lack of interest in alternatives.
Now, a letter from the Natural History Museum’s head of Earth Sciences, Professor Richard Herrington, along with other experts, points out the scale of the problem of building so many electric cars. They calculate that, even with the most efficient batteries available, full electrification of the auto fleet by 2035 would need a lot more mining.
The worldwide impact: If this analysis is extrapolated to the currently projected estimate of two billion cars worldwide, based on 2018 figures, annual production would have to increase for neodymium and dysprosium by 70%, copper output would need to more than double and cobalt output would need to increase at least three and a half times for the entire period from now until 2050 to satisfy the demand.
Separating cobalt from mud and rocks in DR Congo
It would also take a lot of energy to make these cars:
Energy costs for cobalt production are estimated at 7000-8000 kWh for every tonne of metal produced and for copper 9000 kWh/t. The rare-earth energy costs are at least 3350 kWh/t, so for the target of all 31.5 million cars that requires 22.5 TWh of power to produce the new metals for the UK fleet, amounting to 6% of the UK’s current annual electrical usage. Extrapolated to 2 billion cars worldwide, the energy demand for extracting and processing the metals is almost 4 times the total annual UK electrical output.
And then, of course, there is the electricity required to power all these electric vehicles. Building wind farms to generate that much would require more copper and more dysprosium, and building solar farms requires yet more high purity silicon, indium, tellurium, gallium. Professor Herrington notes:
“The urgent need to cut CO2 emissions to secure the future of our planet is clear, but there are huge implications for our natural resources not only to produce green technologies like electric cars but keep them charged.”
We have to stop talking about how electric cars will save us; it takes too much stuff to make them all, puts out too much upfront carbon, and nobody is going to make enough of them fast enough. All that copper and lithium and nickel and aluminum and steel has to come from somewhere. We have to look at getting people out of cars, at making it easier for people to use e-bikes and cargo bikes, transit and feet.
e-bikes for mail delivery
What is the best tool for the job? Cars are convenient for some, but we can’t just build electric powered two and three ton boxes moving one person a few miles. We have to look at alternatives that use less stuff more efficiently. Electric cars won’t save us.
The event is
not until August but it is necessary to register in advance. FreeCycle is a
major closed-road event combining a free solo or family-style ride in central
London. LCC is promoting the event which is part of a festival of cycling
sponsored by Prudential.
The actual FreeCycle
8 mile ride is in Central London on Saturday 3rd August 2019. Participants may find their own way into
London or join an LCC organised group from the park adjacent to Tally Ho Pub
(N12 0BP) at 1000 in North Finchley which will ride (approx. 10 miles) from
North Finchley to the Museum of London, London Wall/St Martins le Grand (EC2Y
5HN) in Central London. The group will be led back to North Finchley at 1500
from the Museum. Please Note the ride
from North Finchley and return is considered a long distance ride into and out of
London on roads with traffic and hills suitable for experienced riders.
Volunteers will participate as marshals and other volunteers are invited from Barnet Cycling Campaign as marshals for the North Finchley-led Group. We have two volunteers volunteering as marshals but more are needed.
Please see the link https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/ for more information about the ride and to register for the ride. Please speak/email Alison Ewington or Charles Jennings (see Contacts) if interested in being a volunteer marshal to help lead the North Finchley Group into London.
Public exhibitions at the station on 13 June 2pm-9pm; 14
June 2pm-8pm; 15 June 10am-4pm.
Don’t forget to visit this exhibition today, tomorrow and Saturday this week.
It is the launch of their consultations for the site, and is the first of a number of events being held over the coming months to gauge the views of the community and how the proposals can benefit the local area.
An interesting part of the proposals is a ‘bike hub’ with a cycle shop, better cycle storage, charge points for e-bikes, etc. Cycling is a key part of the proposals and driven by TfL’s wider brief to switch more people to cycling.
So why not cycle there and give them your 2 cents worth of suggestions and endorsements? Also get your free cup of coffee!
Barnet Cycling Campaign 