WIll the borough grasp another chance to make walking and cycling number one?

Tonight is the council’s environment, sustainability and something or other committee. They’ve got another chance to send the rubbish plans for Twickenham back to the drawing board. Will they choose Paul James’ excellent suggestions instead?

Probably not, but I’ve written to them all anyway:

Dear Councillors,

Tonight you’re going to have another look at the street scene and highway plans for Twickenham town centre. Before you do, can I urge you to look at these:

Firstly, Ealing’s report from their visit to Copenhagen and how it has become one of the world’s top cities to live in, partly through the provision of cycling for all: http://media.urbed.coop.ccc.cdn.faelix.net/sites/default/files/Report%20of%20Copenhagen%20Study%20Tour.pdf

Secondly, have a look at Paul James’ alternative suggestions for how Twickenham could be a great place to walk and cycle: overlaid on a Google map here.

Boris Johnson wants us to “Love London and Go Dutch”. A quarter of Richmond households don’t have a car. Car journeys are decreasing in the capital. Shoppers are voting with their feet by going to mega malls like Westfield where they don’t have to dodge multiple lanes of traffic to get from one shop to another.

We’ve still got a great opportunity for Twickenham to be a beacon to the rest of London for what a beautiful, pedestrian friendly, safe street scene can look like, but I don’t think the current proposal is it.

If you can find shoppers who welcome the opportunity to cross up to four lanes of traffic, and then get a coffee while staring at that traffic …

If you can find non-cyclists who want to weave around taxi ranks into the paths of trucks and buses …

If you can find parents who are going to persuade their children to cycle to school through a junction which gives them no marked space, but has up to 40,000 vehicles a day through it … 

If you think Twickenham is better served by people who drive through than people who stop …

If you think that a vibrant town centre hums to cars stopping right outside a shop, rushing in and rushing out …

Then you should stick with the council’s current proposals. TfL is currently predicting cycling rates in London to fall, yet we’re looking at plans which aren’t inviting for cyclists or for non-cyclists.

Please seize this opportunity to get this scheme looked at again. Make walking and cycling number one, for once.