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Air Quality action?

It’s 5 months since the consultation, to which we responded, on Barnet Council’s Draft Air Quality Action Plan 2017-2022 ended.  The Council got the message that actions promoting sustainable transport are badly needed, yet we are still waiting to see any signs of action.

The results of the consultation have been published by the Council as follows:

We asked

We asked residents for their views on the Council’s Draft Air Quality Action Plan 2017-2022

You said

We received 73 responses to the consultation.

80% of respondents said that they felt poor air quality is an issue in Barnet to a great extent. The most common themes were concerns about air quality affecting heath, the sheer volume of traffic on Barnet’s roads, congestion, the lack of cycling infrastructure, and the general unpleasantness of walking due to traffic fumes.

Most respondents (over 85%) agreed with the air pollution sources that the action plan will focus on, and over 70% felt that the plan was easy to understand. With respects to the proposed actions to improve air quality, there was strong support, particularly for increased green barriers and trees, anti-idling projects and work with schools on travel planning. The action with most disagreement was introducing 20mph speed limits close to schools as a measure to improve air quality where 11% of respondents strongly disagreed.

We asked residents for their own suggestions and ideas on improving air quality. Many respondents said there were simply too many vehicles on the roads and that cycling, walking and public transport needs to be incentivised. Many respondents cited the extra traffic generated by increased housing being built in the Borough as a key concern. Idling vehicles, particularly outside schools was also a strong theme.

Ideas included segregated cycle routes for commuters and advanced stop lines for cyclists at junctions; better maintenance of walking paths; tackling the school run; banning bonfires entirely in residential areas; closing off local “rat-runs”; education campaign to move to cleaner more efficient boilers in the home; limiting the use of wood-burning stoves; educational campaigns to get people to reduce their reliance on the private car.

We did

All of the proposed actions will go forward to the new air quality action plan 2017-2022. We will focus more strongly on the actions promoting sustainable transport as a result of the consultation exercise. We will consider the other new ideas including actions around wood-burning stoves, bonfires, better cycling infrastructure and promotion of efficient boilers through the air quality steering group process.

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Thursday 29th March Monthly Meeting: Local council elections

We have invited representatives of all local political parties to come to our meeting to talk about what they would do for cycling in Barnet. At the time of going to press, we have had a replies from the Green Party and the Labour Party and they will send representatives to the meeting to outline their policies and to take your questions.

Meet: 8pm Carey Hall, Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley N12

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Sunday 18th March: Zeppelin Ride

Charles and Talia take you to places connected with the downing of the German airships SL11 and L31 in 1916, at Cuffley and Potters Bar respectively. Lunch at The Chequers in Potters Bar and tea stop at The White Hart at South Mimms. To give you a feel for the rigours of high altitude flight, Talia will be leading a special “high altitude” ride to Essendon to look at the memorial on the church there. Charles will lead wimps and softies on an easier “low altitude” route.

Meet:   10am Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley N12

or        10.45am outside Waitrose, The Spires, Barnet – Stapylton Road

entrance, by the bandstand

For further info, contact Charles Harvey charles.harvey@hotmail.co.uk

020 8455 5174

 

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Sunday 4th March TUAG: Turn-Up-And-Go

Nothing planned in advance: turn up early if you want a coffee and to talk about where to go. Group should (!) be ready to leave at 10am.

As of Saturday afternoon the temperature is rising (a bit) and Sunday should be a few degrees above freezing. So if anyone wishes to venture out……do take care on roads that will still have snow and slush around. Remember you are responsible for your own safety and making sensible decisions about where to go.  Looking forward to warming days very soon!

Meet: McDonalds near Tally Ho, North Finchley N12

Time: from 9.30am for coffee and planning – leave at 10am.

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SUNDAY 18th February – Any sign of Spring?

We will go in search of early signs of spring around the lanes of south Herts. Lunch will be at the Black Horse in South Mimms. Weather permitting, there will be stop for tea in the afternoon

Meet:   10am Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley N12      or        10.30am outside Waitrose, The Spires, Barnet – Stapylton Road entrance, by the bandstand

Ride leader: Talia Ross

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‘Dockless’ cars for Barnet?

At a time when neighbouring boroughs are bringing in dockless bikes, Barnet is consulting on the car equivalent instead: https://engage.barnet.gov.uk/floating-car-clubs

They are called ‘Floating car clubs’ and work in a similar way to dockless bikes:

  • A nearby car is located via a smartphone app.
  • It can be reserved and driven within a defined area.
  • The car can be left suitably parked at the destination.

Will this actually reduce car ownership?  Or will it increase car use for those who don’t own a car and would otherwise walk, cycle or use public transport?

The consultation closes on 27 February. It’s an opportunity to ask why Barnet is not consulting on bike sharing schemes.

Dockless bike schemes are spreading into Outer London: Urbo bikes are in Waltham Forest and coming soon to Enfield. Why not Barnet? Have your say at https://engage.barnet.gov.uk/floating-car-clubs

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Using TfL’s on-line Healthy Streets tools to improve streets for cyclists and pedestrians

By Lucy Saunders

On Monday 5 February, 7.30 – 9pm at Islington Town Hall, Upper Street N1 2UD

All London borough campaigners welcome – no booking necessary.

Lucy Saunders is a public health specialist who developed the Healthy Streets approach and its 10 Indicators for TFL. She has now taken the lead in developing a set of tools to ensure the approach is used when new schemes are proposed. The idea is that TFL will require boroughs to use the Healthy Streets checklist to get funding. This could be transformative.

This session is aimed at helping campaigners across London to understand how they can use the on-line Healthy Streets tools that have been developed at TfL. Local activists will find them useful when pressing London boroughs to submit well thought out, high quality Liveable Neighbourhood Programme bids and in assessing the likely effectiveness of any other road and public realm schemes they are drawing up.

Useful links:

Guide to the Healthy Streets Indicators

My summary of the Guide to the Healthy Streets Indicators

Healthy Streets Check for Designers

My summary of the Healthy Streets Check for Designers

Small Change, Big Impact

Read more at https://healthystreets.com/