Hello fellow cyclist! With the summer heat upon us, I hope you’re enjoying getting out on your bike riding for work, shopping or for some exercise but meanwhile, Havering Cyclists have still been campaigning and raising local cycling issues. Please read on for details.
MARSH WAY IMPROVEMENTS
The project to provide a section of segregated cycle path on Marsh Way on the railway bridge and to give much improved access to the CEME centre and surrounding industrial and further improvements along Marsh Way is progressing. The project is being funded through a Freeport bid which is under way and if all goes as planned, the work is expected to be completed by March 2026. This is an important improvement that we have been pushing for since the tragic deaths of two cyclists in 2021.
QUIETWAYS
Work is underway to develop four “Quietways”. Two roughly following the existing LCN58 north from Romford to Collier Row and LCN58 south from Romford to Rainham, one roughly following LCN15 from Rush Green to Upminster and lastly from Romford to Harold Hill. Detailed Designs have been prepared and they will be presented to TfL to seek funding from the Cycle Network Development Fund. If it goes ahead, it will be progressed incrementally over two to three years.
TWENTY MPH ZONES
Havering council has been looking at expanding the number of 20mph zones. We have made suggestions of where we would like to see more 20 mph limits to create corridors of calmer routes but we await feedback from the study being undertaken by the council’s contractor Project Centre.
HORNCHURCH STATION PARKING
The plans to provide secure cycle parking lockers at Hornchurch Station had a setback with supplies of the lockers from the manufacturer. Some “Havering” stands were installed as a stopgap but these have been removed and the one locker now planned is expected to be installed imminently.
LONDON CYCLING FESTIVAL IN HAVERING
Havering Cyclists led a family bike ride on 25th May to coincide with similar events taking place across all London boroughs to celebrate the London Cycling Festival.
WALKING AND CYCLING BUSES
We were pleased to hear that Havering council has set up a number of walking and cycling buses to help children to and from school. These are the schools involved. We hope that there will be more in years to come.
Walking buses: Concordia Academy, Langtons Infant School, Langtons Junior Academy, Newtons Primary School, Rainham Village Primary School and Squirrels Junior School
Cycling buses: Crownfield Junior School, Engayne Primary School, Nelmes Primary School, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School and Whybridge Junior School
FREE CYCLE MAINTENANCE TRAINING
Our cycle maintenance training programme for 2025 is well under way with most sessions now fully booked.
We have also been delivering sessions in the Compass school. These sessions have been very popular and we hope to be able to run more next year but this will depend on funding being available.
PAGES WOOD
We have finally been able to get the official OS Map updated to reflect the correct route of NCN136 through Pages Wood. We will be inspecting it shortly to firm up our recommendations for where signage needs to be corrected.
DARTFORD CROSSING
While not in Havering, this certainly affects Havering Cyclists: The access path to the crossing control point on the Essex side of the Dartford Crossing has been closed and the control point moved by National Highways due to high air pollution. We have complained on the basis that alternative route (in red) takes cyclists on very busy roundabouts and main roads mixing with large volumes of HGV traffic. Our complaint has been escalated and we have been told that NH is going to discuss with Thurrock council to see if there is a way to create safe access from the Stonehouse Lane Roundabout along London Road to the new control point. This (in blue) would at least mean that the recently added path beside the Purfleet by-pass would no longer stop short at said roundabout. We await further news.
SUPPORT OUR WORK Decent routes for cycling do not happen by accident. They have to be fought for. You can help us by supporting us on social media, by joining with us on our activities and by joining Havering Cyclists where your membership subscriptions will help fund our work. Please help us continue. https://www.haveringcyclists.org/join-us/
KEEP IN TOUCH Remember that you can sign up for news updates from our blog at https://www.haveringcyclists.org/blog/ by completing the subscription box in the right-hand panel. Please also get in touch to let us know you views on any of the above. You can contact us through our website contacts page, through Facebook (Havering cyclists) or Bluesky (@cyclehavering.bsky.social)