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Heath cycle routes still on track for July decisionq
SOME clarification is required following your coverage of the City of London’s commissioned study on Hampstead Heath’s cycle routes (Report paves way for Heath cycle lanes, December 27).
In the Pedestrian and Cycle Observation Study, independent consultants Intelligent Space and Atkins found that of the seven routes proposed by the Camden Cycling Campaign, five were unsuitable for consideration as new cycle routes. This was due to a combination of poor sightlines, already heavy pedestrian flow, width and gradient.
The consultants recommended that two existing paths could be converted to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians on a “mixed use” basis. These are the pathways which run north-south alongside the Lido and to the south-west of the athletics track.
The report has now been published – interested readers can download the detailed executive summary from the Hampstead Heath page on the City of London’s website (www.cityoflondon.gov.uk) or apply for a copy of the full report on disc to be posted to them. We look forward to receiving comment on this study (please submit by February 1), which will be fed in to subsequent reports to the relevant City committees.
Hampstead Heath Consultative Committee will meet in March to discuss the report in full, with the management committee deciding later that month whether or not to consider implementation of any of the recommendations from the study. If it should so decide, it will seek technical advice on such proposed implementations and then, after further brief consultation, come to a decision in July 2008.
The City of London is very grateful to all those who have given up their time to help create what is a comprehensive, pioneering study into cycle and pedestrian flows in an urban green space. It has provided extensive and detailed information, which will be invaluable in helping us plan successfully for a Heath for the future.
BOB HALL
Chairman, Hampstead Heath Management Committee
City of London
• THE piece in the New Journal of December 27 (Report paves way for Heath cycle lanes) is far from being accurate.
The findings did not highlight that “out of the seven proposed new cycle routes, five could be converted to mixed use”. In fact you have the figures back to front. Of the seven proposed routes five (Links 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) have been designated as not being “suitable as shared use routes”. Only Links 1 and 7 met with the consultants’ approval.
The existing routes A, B, C and D did meet with the consultants’ general approval but improvements need to be made to all four.
PHILIP COHEN
Laurier Road, NW5
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