Better Bankside's Travel Planning Group has achieved its Key Performance Indicator for 2007-08 by working with the Council to install more than 50 new cycle stands in the area.

 

 

The latest batch of stands are at the west end of the area, and complement those installed in the autumn of 2007 at the east end. There has been a particular focus on increasing parking around the Bluefin Building, and the rest of the Bankside 123 development. In addition, stands have been situated where Southwark Council-controlled roads meet the 'red routes' controlled by Transport for London, where cycle parking is notoriously bad.

Says Business Liaison Manager Giles Semper: 'According to Southwark Cyclists, North Southwark came top in Time Out magazine's cycle parking "Spots of Shame" list, with Borough Market particularly badly served. Our own 2006 review of cycle parking bore this out. However we have received excellent support from Southwark Council - and particularly its Cycling Officer Roger Stocker - in trying to rectify this situation. Now we need Transport for London to address as a matter of urgency the wretched provision on our two red routes - Borough High Street and Southwark Street.'

Although the Travel Planning Group has decided to switch its Key Performance Indicator in 08-09 to workplace travel planning, cycle parking remains a priority. Says Giles: 'Our Bankside Travel Plan has attracted European-wide attention, to the extent that Sophie Tyler and I will be speaking on it at the forthcoming ECOMM conference. However unless we create the conditions to deliver its ambitious targets on walking and cycling, it will have been a waste of time. With Roger Stocker, we are looking at Anthony Lau's innovative Cyclehoops as a way of achieving more capacity very quickly - not least because we can paint them pink!'