Tuesday 14 May 2024

Positive response to TfL's cycling plans for Harlesden-Wembley Central route: 'Now let's build it - no time to lose!'

From Transport for London

Between 10 November and 21 December 2023 we consulted on walking and cycling improvements between Wembley Central and Harlesden stations.

 

The proposals include a protected two-way cycle lane on the A404 Harrow Road and Brentfield, new and improved cycle and pedestrian crossings over Harrow Road, better street lighting and more trees and plants to help make the area feel safer and more welcoming. 

 

We received 313 responses in total, including ten from stakeholders. 

 

Some key findings include:

• 83 per cent (233 respondents) think the scheme will encourage more people to walk

• 87 per cent (243 respondents) think the scheme will encourage more people to cycle2

• 69 per cent3 (190 respondents) think the scheme will encourage more people to use public transport

• 60 per cent (163 respondents) think the scheme will mean fewer people will choose to travel by motor vehicle for personal journeys and 46% (125 respondents) think it will have no impact on business journeys

 

Next steps

TfL will continue to work closely with LB Brent officers to develop these proposals for walking and cycling improvements between Wembley and Harlesden over the coming months. The feedback we heard from local people and other stakeholders during our consultation will inform this work, along with further surveys and assessments.

 

An updated set of designs for these improvements will then be shared with Brent Councillors, who will then make a decision on whether to progress the proposed design solution to construction.

 

We will continue to liaise with community stakeholder groups to provide updates on our progress.

 

These are the indicative timescales we will work to, going forward:

  • Spring 2024 – further design work, including surveys and assessments
  • Summer 2024 – continue to engage with stakeholders
  • Late 2024 – decision point (with Brent Council) to commit to constructing the scheme, subject to acceptance and further refinement of proposals following the consultation, The contract for the detailed design work would then be issued
  • 2026 – anticipated start of construction, subject to approvals and programme

 

On Twitter Brent Cycling Campaign said:

The report into the consultation on the proposed walking and cycling improvements to the Wembley-Harlesden route has been published. Disappointing response rate but largely supportive. Let's build this now pleaseTfL and Brent Council. No time to lose.
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25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope they fix the potholes along Wembley High Road before they put in this scheme as at moment they are death traps for cyclists.

Anonymous said...

And hope they clear all the clutter from our pavements!!!

Anonymous said...

It won’t be going along Wembley High Road. In any case this road is due to be resurfaced completed.

David Walton said...

Wembley to Westfield direct separated cycling with HS2 Old Oak station and Wormwood 80 ha Park on route.....

Government is way behind on active traffic car-free tower cities movement rights major investment, as discretion would much rather spend elsewhere in 'right' places instead. However, extreme congestion and capacity failure risk data emerging from car-free housed towered population growths is likely to force major investment into new direct separated active traffic routes providing new resilience and liveable city rights to all.

Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation 650 ha transport hierarchy prioritises active traffic within its zone, however government will likely require of it active traffic connection out into its surrounding locals, some of those a car-free towers tall building also, very nearby.

Trying to get South Kilburn car-free housing tall building zone with no tall building masterplan plugged- with new cycleway extensions direct seamlessly into City of Westminster's already built high quality separated cycle infrastructure. That really does remain mission impossible.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the scheme includes dangerous floating bus stops which the government are under pressure to ban after major protests...

BBC News - London transport: Call for ban of 'floating' bus stops
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-69001698

They have floating bus stops in Stratford High Road and they are really dangerous as the cyclists make no attempt at all to slow down even when very vulnerable people are trying to cross the cycle lane - also loads of the cyclists there are STILL cycling on the pavements 😡

Anonymous said...

The number of Uber Eats and Deliveroo with their electric bikes who consistently use the pavements cannot be called "Cyclists" as many lack basic skills, they struggle to steer, change gears, have balance problems, never indicate to pedestrians they are there as they don't have bells or horns, and no lights. As many refuse to use the road, they probably won't use these new cycle lanes either. Perhaps Enforcement/Police will do something only when some poor pedestrian is seriously injured.

David Walton said...

If designed well and to ambitious scale as if cycling and walking were valid transport modes worthy of major investment, a kind of counter ULEZ programme.

Direct separated cycle superhighways to allow movement even of Brent's massive scale car-free towered population growth to and from Inner London's opportunities land- fast, direct, certain and cheap.

As I say, Wembley Park to Westfield, and get car-free tower developers to fund movement infrastructure rights for their car-free tower tenants responsibility. The landmark towers of the Great Western Tower Hundreds City building as dispersed fragments already show how near all these towered fragments slowly connecting potentially can be to each other.

Anonymous said...

Are Brent Council going to clear all of these stupid Lime bikes off our pavements???? They are dumped all over Brent creating dangerous trip hazards for elderly and blind people and blocking access for wheelchair users and parents with prams 😤

Other boroughs insist that these Lime bikes are
returned to proper docking stations - why haven't Brent got this system too????

We need clear pavements to encourage people to walk!

Anonymous said...

They should not be on the pavement - we've watched police just stand there amd fo nothing as they cycle past them on the pavement.

Anonymous said...

Cyclists should be licensed and insured.

Anonymous said...

Let's hope Wembley's new facial recognition cameras will be used to catch
- all the cyclists riding illegally on the pavements,
- all the fast food delivery people riding their bikes and motorbikes illegally on the pavements and parking up illegally all over the pavements blocking pedestrian access;
- all the drivers parking illegally on yellow lines, zig zag lines and on bus stops clogging up the traffic.

David Walton said...

Returning to the Wembley to Willesden Junction cycleway infrastructure investment.

It is important for all who live in Brent to visualise, imagine, in-fill and become mindful of the Great Western Slab Tower Hundreds City building in bit-by-bit fragments from Wembley to Westfield, from Brent Cross to Hounslow. A ghost mega city kept opaque by government and politicians.

How will this mega population density growth tenant occupied car-free towers city by 2050 have movement choices and resilience baked in? Rail lines, canals, motorway severances to direct bridge already, but also slab towers being no-plan packed-in now to block off direct cycle and walking infrastructure connection possibilities (and destroy most existing green space infrastructure) as this new tower city has no coherent plan put forward as yet.

Maybe direct cycle/ walk superhighways connecting its stations and parks could be a way to make sense of and find a clear plan way through this massive scale car-free slab towers city shadow land for its overcrowded in occupiers?


Jaine Lunn said...

If Brent Council were to put in the same effort of Zero Tolerance as they have done with regard to Street Drinking on Event Days the majority of issues mentioned by Anon on 16 May @ 8.30 would not exist and Wembley would be a much better place to live.

Anonymous said...

Football fans and concert goers are easy targets! Council officers get overtime pay for working weekends and evenings on event days and our council tax pays their wages and the clean up costs.

Yet all we hear is Brent Council have no money - if they have no money why are they issuing licences for more and more events at the stadium???

Anonymous said...

If it's going to Wembley Central Central it must go along Wembley High Road? So yet more congestion?

Anonymous said...

The FA pays for the costs, not council tax.

Anonymous said...

If Brent Council employed more Enforcement Officers to enforce a Zero Tolerance of all the offences that currently people get away with i.e Flytipping, Street-Drinking, Riding bikes on Pavements etc etc ....the list is endless. They would be able to recoup the money by all the fines that were issued and collected and Brent would be as clean as Westminster and Chelsea.

Anonymous said...

Response to Anon 18 May 09.12.
I remember the good ole days when we saw the Rubbish being collected immediately the fans were in the stadium all along the High Road, and down roads 25mtrs from the main thoroughfares, and strolling around the following morning to see the place clean and tidy. Oh and they also used to Jet-wash the pavements and streets. My guess is the FA doesn't pay anywhere near the true cost of cleaning up the mess the fans make in Public Realm. The same as their penny pinching tactic in not paying the correct amount for Police and Security for their events. Isn't that why we had all the trouble at the Euro's final?

Anonymous said...

You are wrong - the FA pay some of the costs but a huge amount of the cost comes out of our hard earned council tax!

Anonymous said...

Would someone please explain WHY our Council Tax is used to pay to support the activities of a Private (very wealthy) Company just because it's located in our Borough?

So who do you think I should invoice for the cleanup of my private property when fans urinate/vomit/throw rubbish in my garden?

Anonymous said...

We heard last week that jet washing of disgusting paan stains from our streets had been cut from the council clean up budget.

So Brent Council can't catch these disgusting people who spit this in the same places everyday and now they won't clean it up either 😡

Anonymous said...

It's not only the FA/Wembley Stadium that should be paying the full costs for the Police, Brent Council PSPO Enforcement Officers, and clean up costs on event days - what about the stars playing their very lucrative concerts at the stadium? For example Taylor Swift, who's doing 8 concerts at Wembley Stadium this summer, is apparently worth £1.1billion pounds - what will she contribute towards these costs?

And we can also ask again why were multi-billion pound property developers Quintain given £17.8million of our Brent Council NCIL money by Labour run Brent Council for their 'vanity project' and completely unnecessary new steps outside Wembley Stadium??? That huge amount of NCIL money, given by developers to fund for projects in our local communities, would have funded so many vital local groups in Brent supporting people in need.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you can ask Brent Council - where are all the extra public toilets in Wembley on event days???

All the toilets at Wembley Central Station are out of use awaiting repair - they've been like this for over a year and TFL say they hope to repair them before the end of the financial year - so April next year??? 😡

Anonymous said...

The reason why we had do much trouble at the euros is because the local shops were openlu selling unlimited amounts of alcohol to fans - we saw fans coming out of the shops with a case of large beer cans es j

Anonymous said...

The reason why we had so much trouble at the euros is because the local shops were openly selling unlimited amounts of alcohol to fans - we saw fans coming out of the shops with a large cases of beer each!

Also for such a huge event just after lockdown Brent Council, The Police and Wembley Stadium should have anticipated the potential for trouble and planned everything better and acted quicker on the day - we were outside the stadium that day at 1.30pm and left soon after because we could see it was turning ugly then yet nothing was done - people could have been killed.

But hey look how quickly the police closed down the peaceful vigil for Sarah Everard 😞