South Bank consultation

SmellTheGlove

This won't do...

http://www.bikeradar.com/commuting/news/article/cycling-on-londons-south-bank-under-threat-27356

If I use the "P" word I'll no doubt have spen all over me like a cheap suit, BUT here goes - surely, a precedent has been set over many years for bike access in those parts (I'm not talking about private land). I don't commute over that stretch but I don't want my daughter or her mates or anyone else for that matter to be barred at some future date from BMX-ing or whatever two-wheeled stuff they want to do down on the South Bank, when I've been enjoying it my entire life.

Please get on to Lambeth Council and oppose any "enforcement". It stinks worse than my bag.

10 September deadline for opposition.

[Apols if this has been posted before]
EDIT this is probably destined for dullweb - I'm a creature of habit you see, can't get used to the new order...

Headhuunter

I have to say I never really cycle along there anyway, too many people, kids, dogs etc running under your wheels. It's pretty pointless and not enhjoyable constantly having to brake etc.

I have to say that most cyclists on paths like this on the South Bank or canal towpaths like the one up in Islington/Hackney seem to be the least experienced who have no clue how to behave in areas thronging with peds and runners etc. I fairly often run along the towpath in Islington and am regularly nearly mown down by idiots going waaaay too fast for the situation, trying to race with traffic and people etc coming the opposite direction.

I know the South Bank path is much wider but it gets very busy with tourists and people going to work etc. I think when it was conceived as a mixed use pathway, cycling in London was far less popular but with the increases in numbers of cyclists we've seen it can get a bit silly.

DonDaddyD

Personally i think it should be ped only.

I used to have lovely walks with the GF along there always annoyed by kamikaze cyclists storming through the gaggle of peds.

It's why I tend not to ride through parks (with shared paths) at speed. Too many peds, and at 'slow ped avoiding speed' its just not enjoyable.

lost_in_thought

I can see both sides of this I guess, personally I wouldn't cycle along there 99% of the time, as DDD says it's not fun sharing with peds, but that 1% of the time I may want to with friends.

So I don't think it should be illegal, no, but maybe controlled a bit more, set aside a designated cycle path perhaps?

SmellTheGlove

I don’t believe that stretch will ever be a heavily used commuter or fast route and no doubt there are better parallel routes for those purposes, it’s just that to my mind, blanket enforcement will herd out anyone who happens to want to cruise through, stop off here and there, take in the scenery and so on. Also, wheels on the South Bank are absolutely part of the furniture – skateboards and BMX are aboriginal residents (and not forgetting the Eye).
Restriction and exclusion seem to be creeping all over – my commuting route takes in part of London Network route 5 which now has gated sections FFS!
Yes I have a personal hatred of control, regulation and diktat in daily life; I guess it’s because I spend my working life practising them (apart from the diktat bit) that I don’t like having them served up outside. Nope – can’t shrug this off.

davmaggs

Outcome is already decided. Consultation just a costly legal exercise.

Interesting article on how it is done here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7955561/A-Government-ruse-thats-nothing-short-of-an-insultation.html