Ealing Council has agreed on an ambitious plan to provide a network of cycle routes in the borough over the next decade, making it safer and easier for more people to get on their bikes.
The plan, agreed at a January meeting of the council’s cabinet, is a significant step towards improving the borough’s cycle routes and giving people of all abilities the opportunity to cycle. It also protects cycling infrastructure and routes when planning other borough developments.
The Cycle Network Plan shows the routes where the council will prioritise cycling infrastructure improvements. These include new cycle lanes, clearer signs and road markings, segregated routes on main roads, and safer routes through neighbourhoods and green spaces.
More than 1,000 residents, cycling groups, and neighbouring boroughs responded to a public engagement survey last year, and the results helped create the plan. The plan will form part of the borough’s new transport strategy, published this summer.
Following public engagement and statutory consultation, detailed designs are being finalised for several major roads, including Park Royal Road in Acton and Boston Manor Road in Hanwell. Work is due to start by April this year.
These schemes will be supported by expanding the council’s popular bike hangars, which will total 125 hangars this February, allowing more people around the borough to store their bikes safely. Plus, the council’s cycle training for school children and adults will continue, and there will be more opportunities to rent cargo bikes for those who want to try them.
Councillor Paul Driscoll, the council’s cabinet member for climate action, said; “The borough is facing ongoing challenges with congestion and pollution, but the new Cycle Network Plan will go a long way towards mitigating this. With better connected, safer cycle routes across the borough we should start to see more people opting for this mode of transport and with that a decrease in the amount of congestion and pollution damaging our neighbourhoods.”
The Ealing Cycle Network is part of the council’s wider work to make the borough healthier, safer and greener by encouraging more people to travel actively and sustainably.
Photo by Bing Zhang on Unsplash
© London West (powered by ukpropertyforums.com).
Sign up to receive our weekly free journal, The Forum here.