Barking's hidden cycle storage

Take a look at the upper floor of the building containing the dentists in this view https://goo.gl/maps/ZvmRQ. I think these are the bike racks of building 5, as it's referred to in the travel plan helpfully sent to me by a potential resident. There are 233 of them according to the travel plan.

Go down the black and white path alongside the building and you will see an unmarked door leading to a stairs, secured by some kind of electronic lock.

Photos:

Next take a trip to Axe St and go down the service road next to the white block of flats - no 87 Axe St or "building 4". On the left you will see a low white building secured by a gate. I believe this is a bike store - capacity 40 according to the travel plan, though it looks like it's being used for rubbish.

Photos:

It seems to me that residents do not know about these facilities. They should be bought into use either for residents or for local workers, or even anyone who wants to use one.

ELT wins an award

The East London Transit is widely mocked for its name and the insistence that it's not a bus, even though it stops at bus stops, charges bus fares, is shown as a bus on maps and in journey planners as a bus, runs over the route of a bus that hasn't run since it was introduced, and - above all - uses the same vehicles as a bus. Writing "transit" on the side of a bus doesn't stop it being a bus, writing "Rolls Royce" on a Datsun Cherry would achieve the same - nothing except a laugh.

It was going to be  a tram, and at one point monorail plans were if not drawn up, given the artist's impression treatment.

Anyway, to crown it all it's now won an award, partly because it serves Barking Town Centre, from where buses were excluded in the early 1990s.

So that's divert buses away from a town centre and 15 or so years later undo your work, but calling a spade a material extraction device, and get an award for it. Hmm.

Low Carbon Neghbourhood

http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=23462

Barking Town Centre is one of 10 Low Carbon Zones in London.

"Each of the winning boroughs will be awarded at least £200,000 to pioneer energy –busting measures in their low carbon zones. The Mayor wants to make London a low carbon city, boosting ‘green collar’ jobs and helping to lower energy bills by becoming more energy efficient. These zones will showcase exactly how London can become a low carbon city by using a wide range of measures to help people cut carbon and by reducing the emissions of some of London's older buildings, which have generally been more difficult to make energy efficient."

East London Transit moves a step closer

I've had a letter saying there will be explanatory drop in sessions:

St Luke's Church, Baxter Road, Iford on Tu 2 December, 10-7
Vicarage Fields, Barking on Sa 6 December, 10-5
Sue Bramley Centre, Thames View,Tu 9 December, 1-7

In 2006 when they had a similar thing, I wrote to them and went to a drop in because the plans they were putting forward not only failed to tackle some long standing issues for cyclists, some of which had been formally identified by TfL in 2003 in a cycle route audit, but it also proposed to introduce further restrictions. It looks like I wasted my time, because the latest proposals as documented at August 2008 don't look much different - a bit worse if anything. See for yourself at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/east-london-transit-maps.pdf

Do go along to the sessions, or write to elt@tfl.go.uk or phone 0800 587 3068

No car developments

I have heard that a fairly senior council officer resigned over the issue of no car developments in the borough - in particular I believe this was about the dwellings above the new Library (Learning Centre) in Barking. It is widely known that someone has bought up all or most of the flats in that development before they were finished / off plan. (No source for this info at present).

If this is correct, the speculator clearly doesn't see a problem. Neither do I. When people buy or rent these flats, they will know what the car parking situation is and if they don't like it they will go elsewhere if they can. Without a car, they're more likely to spend their money locally, thereby stimulating the local economy. Without the expense of a car, they'll have more money left over to spend, too. And they won't have do get involved in bickering about where to park and how much it costs.

Of course, we'll need the right support for cycling and public transport - we don't want to confine people, but a car free life is possible.