September saw the return of the London Walking and Cycling Conference. Guildhall’s Great Hall was awash with professionals, experts, academics, community groups and this London National Park City Ranger.
The annual event is an expansion of the Hackney cycling conference that partnered with the City of London in 2020 to add walking and London to the title and agenda.
This was my first year attending the event but I was in the company of many familiar faces. This included Footways Co-founder David Harrison who’s TikTok video I posted that morning was slowly gaining traction online whilst he joined a panel in the West Crypt on widening the appeal of walking and wheeling.
It was an intense tour-de-force of ideas, actions and insights. I made plenty of notes, recharged my phone twice, ate delicious canapés and stumbled down a few engineering rabbit holes that left me both bewildered and intrigued all at the same time. Finding super niche conversation within niche events is one of my favourite things.
The following article is my attempt at reconstructing my 2000 words of notes and slide images into a (hopefully) helpful overview of the event. I will do my best to link source material and double check statistics. In the latter case I am often hampered by clumsy thumbs so please forgive me for any numerical inaccuracies.
I can promise you plenty of applause for some wonderful projects and my honest opinion where relevant and irrelevant. There will definitely be a rant on the use of initialism and acronyms and how they are a major factor in the downfall of society and solely responsible for public distrust in well meaning initiatives.
All opinions are that of Michael Shilling and are not representative of LNPC or any other organisations he has aligned himself with this week. He also wanted to stress his political neutrality and point out that any cheerleading for individuals associated with any particular political party is merely down to the fact that he thinks what they are doing is really dope.
Writer, broadcaster and content creator Jools Walker did an amazing job as MC. Whilst keeping a firm hand on the timings and reprimanding the owner of a poorly parked bike she also reunited attendees with a lost train ticket to Chelmsford and a mushroom shaped keyring.
Table of Contents
What is next for walking, wheeling and cycling?
Appointed to cabinet in two weeks before lockdown, the now Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley is all about the importance of the daily walk to explore our local greenspaces.
The Mayor emphasised the importance of creating a borough where children can independently traverse through safely.
“We are at a very exciting moment when we have support for active travel and we need to take advantage of it”
A few fun stats
- Hackney have recently introduced their 1000th bike hanger
- They have 50 schools streets
- There’s 100% 20mph coverage
- Full coverage of controlled parking
- Leading borough for cycling
- They are doing very well (and have done for some time) in the Healthy Streets Scorecard results.
- They’ve logged over 4000 hours of voluntary action in parks and greenspaces
Couple of things to look up
Do have a read of the Hackney climate action plan – May 2023 – it’s very good.
Zero emissions network helps businesses and residents in Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Westminster and the City of London save money, reduce emissions and improve local air quality
Exciting things afoot in the city
Shravan Joshi MBE, Chair of the Planning & Transportation Committee at the City of London started his talk with a few stats and actions.
- 73,000 more jobs than 2019 – we need spaces for these people to meet eat and drink and appreciate the city
- Traffic down 60% since 1999
- Half a million people work in the City of London
- 6 tennis court of walking space created
- Temporary Covid changes being made permanent Traffic restrictions and walkable spaces have also been created.
Joshi then talked about the exciting plans for the St Paul’s gyratory
He then touched on the Holy Trinity for public realm improvements. Get these things right and you’re well on your way to creating better public spaces.
- New cycle lanes
- Wider pavements
- Safer crossings
The elephant in the room whenever you bring together walking, wheeling and cycling is of course dockless bikes. Throughout the day this was barely mentioned (at least in the talks I attended). Dockless bikes are like that drunk Uncle at Christmas—you’re glad they showed up, you invited them after all, but by the end of the day they’re sprawled out on the pavement and you’re left arguing about who’s going to pick them up.
If you enjoy a good Streets & Walkways Sub Committee report then you’ll love their Update on actions for improving dockless e-bike hire in the City
Opening Plenaries
In the unspoken and never ending race to become the Capital of Europe many sub-categories have emerged.
Brussels is of course the capital of Admin closely followed by Luxembourg who rule the sub-sub-category; Legal and Judicial Admin.
The latest category to emerge is “City with green intentions whose Mayor gets bombarded with hate on the social media platform formally known as Twitter”
Whilst London’s Mayor may think himself a shoe-in for this category his strongest competitor from Paris was represented by his Deputy Thomas Chevandier.
The war against the SUV and other stories from Paris
Chevandier is in charge of public construction and coordination of public space transformation work in Paris aka The Parisian War on the SUV.
The problem in Paris was clear, 80% public space was dedicated to the single car and only 4.3% of Parisians were using a single car.
“We had to fight the hardest against the car to even the share of public space. We are still fighting.”
The first Applause break of the day came after the following statement;
“We had to fight against Conservatives views”
He then clarified the term conservative to be an ideology rather than an association with any political party but at that point the crowd had already revealed their left-of-centre leanings.
Since 2001 – progressives have been running Paris and their election ratio is going up.
The French Revolution in public space has car usage halved and air pollution reduced by 30% – 60% since 2004
The fight begins in our heads
Chevandier talked about the pedestrianisation along the river Seine
“The same people kept saying you cannot do this – and so did the court – but now people are walking and cycling enjoying the space.
We cannot imagine that just a few years ago it was a highway”.
The emergence of School Street in Paris in the last 5 years is impressive.
Of the 600 schools half have no cars – 100 have completely transformed to fully pedestrianised and even have some green features and what appears to be rain gardens.
“Only 5 years ago this felt impossible”.
We need to give priority to the most vulnerable people and start from this point.
One interesting anecdote Chevandier shared was that whilst creating a huge cycle network did cause a lot of complaints, two major changes changed public opinion.
First was a two month public transport strike which was closely followed by lockdown. The people of Paris had no choice but to take their bikes – and they did, in droves.
Many of the temporary changes, many have now become permanent and since 2014 550 km of bike lanes have been added to the Parisian travel network.
“If you say stop to the car you need to show how it will improve people’s environment.
It can only be done democratically
This is how we’ve made Paris more beautiful and more welcoming”.
Will Norman, London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner
I’ve seen Will Norman speak at several events and I must say I was slightly disappointed he didn’t use his go-to introduction about “If I could invent a drug as good as walking, I’ll have Nobel Prizes up to my armpits”
I suppose this was the crowd of the converted and fairly cycling heavy so perhaps this intro has been merely parked rather than retired.
After acknowledging that a little bit of healthy competition from Paris is more than welcome, London’s Walking and cycling commissioner hit the ground running with a flurry of stats.
- 95 people died last year on London’s roads.
- That’s a 30% fall in deaths and a 40% fall in cycle deaths.
- 18 out of 33 boroughs have 20mph speed limit
- 25% fall in deaths on TFL roads.
- LTN’s are 3-4 times safer
- 614 school streets
It went on like that for a bit.
I realise the importance of data recording and sharing stats it does come with its own problems.
- Whilst being impressive, they’re not really that inspiring compared to anecdotal evidence.
- People (mostly on X) are sceptical about their accuracy.
These are just my opinions of course but from a pure communications point of view I think that when you share a statistic you should couple that with some storytelling.
The story here is if we want to get more people cycling and walking then we need to make people feel safe. This was a running theme throughout the day, Sometimes it felt like the only theme, which is fine. But sometimes I yearn for a little sprinkle of joie de vivre in these sort of things.
More stats followed but Norman did round things off nicely.
“How do we make walking and cycling the default choice?
Too many people are still getting hurt on our roads We need to innovate. We need to do more. We have to work together. Contact me at any point if you have ideas
This work is not easy – we need political backbone”.
Vision led planning
Dr Ada Lee, the Infrastructure and Climate Change Specialist from the Royal Town Planning Institute led a talk on Planning for healthy and sustainable communities. This was particularly interesting as it highlighted that the words vision led has appeared for this first time in transport planning.
I have to be slightly sceptical on this as I don’t really know what that entails, or what it really means. It sounds a bit cultish or at the very least something not out of place from a noughties Silicon Valley keynote.
Dr Lee did share some fascinating history from Haussmann’s vision for Paris to the Garden City movement. Perhaps this is a call to arms to organisations with a total landscape vision for London to take the wheel and inspire planning regulations.
Perhaps this organisation is London National Park City? Who knows?
The Royal Town Planning Institut’s vision for the future is creating healthy and sustainable communities that work for all. That sounds like a Greener Healthier and even wilder vision to me.
An A for your Q
I’m not going to share all the Q&As for every section of the day as most of the time it’s just people making statements. But I will share some highlights that got my attention.
LCC asked if more safety standards are being introduced like those in London for trucks – 50% of collisions are with trucks.
Are Paris doing the same thing?
Chevandier – We are fighting against SUVs – he doesn’t know about trucks
If we don’t do this it’s a very good idea
There was also some talk about LTNs and the fact that they are still dominated by parked cars
Will Norman pointed out that for the last 100 years our cities have been designed around cars.
The idea that a road trip is freedom – we need to change that perception
Widening the appeal - encouraging and enabling people to choose to walk, wheel and cycle
After a coffee and tea break we divided into breakout rooms. I headed to the West Crypt to watch a panel discussion on widening the appeal of walking and cycling chaired by Samantha Tharme from the City of London Corporation.
Tim Fendley from the Applied Information Group shared their Pathfinding project and Toolkit.
I especially enjoyed learning that London has 5 different colours for cycle paths and that only 40% understand what the Low flying bicycles sign – actually means.
Dr Amy Walker from Sustrans talked about their study of 8 families in Scotland on neuro diverse children walking to schools.
Diane Farmer, Hackney Council & Reyss Wheeler, My-Choice shared their experiences of the Kings Park Moving Together project.
It really stressed the importance of hyper local projects and ones that pop up in places that you don’t expect, a cycle hub in a boxing club for example.
The point of making people see themselves within travel was also importantly underlined.
David Harrison, my man from Footways, was on form sharing his love for wonderfully constructed public realm spaces that surround train stations.
Euston station got a bashing as the polar opposite of a pedestrian paradise.
The Footways collab with Network Rail is launching very soon so keep an eye out for posters guiding you to digital maps of quiet and enjoyable walking routes appearing in train stations.
Douglas Leroy introduced us to OurBike, a community cargo share scheme that enables residents and businesses to hire an electric cargo bike by the hour.
One of the nicest features is local businesses, community groups, charities, residents associations or groups are able to become hosts. In return for keeping the batteries charged the hosts get 20 hours per month of free use of an electric cargo bike.
Q&A
One topic in the Q&A I thought had significant potential began with a discussion on the barriers of bureaucracy when it comes to working with the NHS.
I think a lot of walking and cycling organisations would do well to promote GPs to encourage social prescribing.
Another discussion was on the subject of how do we make walking sexy again.
The answer appears to be gamification, Beat the Streets and Go Jauntly both got a shout out.
We all (for the most part) agreed that once you have the infrastructure in place then you can work on behaviour change projects.
It’s all about awareness and uncertainty – if we’re not sure we can do something we walk away – There’s probably some good neuroscience studies to look upon more information on this. The neuroscience of cognitive restriction is a good place to start.
“If we can’t see things we don’t believe they exist. We’re not built for this labyrinth world we have created”
Tim Fendley
Laura Laker, journalist and author of Potholes & Pavements, co-host of Streets Ahead podcast
Back in the main room and Laura Laker took to the lectern to shift a few copies of her new book Potholes & Pavements
Described as a state of the nation for the National Cycling Network the book is not only Laker’s experience of navigating the network but also a look at its history.
I can really recommend the Streets Ahead Podcast S2Ep16. This will give you an overview of the book in Laker’s own words.
I made lots of other notes and later on enjoyed a glass of wine and some tiny but delicious canapés with Laura. Everything she shared is in the book, including her ten point manifesto, so go get yourself a copy.
The history behind the National Cycling Network was probably the bit I found most compelling – How protest didn’t work – so volunteers in the 70s and 80s just started building stuff.
I do like the story about how the very first section of the network was created with £10k from Clark’s shoes, something I think is an inspiring bit of fundraising. What better way to wear out shoes but build paths?
It’s also worth noting Laker’s observation that most of the routes are used by walkers rather than cyclists. It’s one of the accidental unintended benefits like how dropped curbs for those who wheel is also good for kids who scoot.
A deeper understanding - the latest research on walking, wheeling and cycling
Back in the crypt for a sessions chaired by Samantha Tharme from the City of London Corporation
Quick rant (as promised)
If you want people to hate something refer to it in initialisation or even worse as an acronym. If you want to openly mock something then create a portmanteau, but that’s a whole other story.
Initialism is the language of alienist elitism. If we actually want to be inclusive then it should be avoided at all costs. This rot begins internally which is why by the time we take an idea out to the world it’s usage is already predetermined.
Freight Operators Recognition Schemes and Construction Logistics and Community Safety are groundbreaking concepts that even impressed the deputy mayor of Paris.
Unfortunately Tom Bogdanowicz from London Cycling Campaign (who I’ve got lots of time for) talked about FORS and CLOS and I zoned out and lost interest.
Look up Freight Operators Recognition Schemes and Construction Logistics and Community Safety. It’s really inspiring.
Jamie Furlong from the University of Westminster talked about the Low Traffic Neighbourhood road safety impact.
Conclusion : LTNs improve road safety.
Unfortunately nobody cares because initialism has caused this wonderful innovation to become hated and used as a political weapon : nods in the direction of Tower Hamlets.
Nicola Pastore from Solve the School Run thankfully begun her talk by not initialising School Streets.
(This is my last mention of initialism I promise…but it does make my point. Everyone loves School Streets, they’ll be less support for SS schemes keeping our children safe).
Solve have a data dashboard for the school run across London. They made the very good point that we are all affected by the school run.
I do worry that the data points a finger at children at faith and independent schools who have further to travel and are therefore more likely to be driven to school. The only real solution to this are school buses which could probably be part funded by the new 20% tax on private education. That would probably have a more positive impact on everyone and might even get a few Chelsea tractors off the road at 8:30am.
Richard Dilks from CoMoUK (I don’t know what that stands for) talked about increasing use of shared micro-mobility by disabled people. This is a research project with RiDC, funded by the Motability Foundation.
Swooping in like a majestic vulture of public perception, Dr Tom Cohen from the University of Westminster entered the crypt late, but with gusto.
“…those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to take care and reduce the danger they pose to others”.
It was like Highways code H1 was written by Uncle Ben himself in a bid to protect, what Dr Cohen refers to as Un-dangerous road users – never mind vulnerable
What is needed?
- Publicity
- Better integration into Highway Code
- Driving instructors
- Disqualification/confiscation rather than fines
- Periodic retakes of driving test
New Government, New Opportunities
Chair Jools Walker opened the closing discussions on what is next for walking, wheeling and cycling.
Sarah McMonagle, Director of External Affairs at Cycling UK switched up the mood with a few reasons to be cheerful – there has been investment – there’s a new government and they seem to be making the right noises – listen to Laura Laker’s interview with Louise Haigh MP, Secretary of State for Transport on the Streets Ahead Podcast
It’s a really positive interview and certainly a reason to be cheerful. There’s reasons to still be skeptical as it seems Haigh’s views and options aren’t always aligned with the government’s (at least in regards to boycotting certain ferry companies).
This was closely followed by some top fours asks
- 10% of transport budget
- Long term funding settlement
- Sustainable new homes
- Road traffic offences
Alisha Pathania, Policy and Research Lead at Transport for All talked about the barriers disabled people face in active travel
She pointed out that improvements in active travel must be inclusive and accessible to all
To overcome barriers, there must be:
- Funding
- Engagement
Catherine Woodhead, Living Streets’ new CEO began with the point that walking had no mention in the Labour manifesto.
If you weren’t already aware, Livings Streets have spent 50 years of campaigning against pavement parking.
She made a call for pavement funding to be given the same funding as potholes.
Temi Lateef, founder, My-Choice London talked about community based solutions for active travel – especially with women and girls.
He stressed the importance of talking to people to find out what their barriers actually are – time / financial etc
Only truly knowing this can we create plans to remove these barriers. This seems to me to be a pretty concise description of what a public consultation is but I think Lateef might be making the point that not all consultations are created equally.
I did particularly like the call to arms for collaboration within the sector. I think we could do with more of that. Unfortunately much like consultations, not all collaborations are created equally.
Top line asks
The presentations reached their climax with the panel being asked their top line asks.
- More transparencies in funding
- Ban pavement parking
- Make Active Travel funding more inclusive
- Funding, funding, funding – 10% of the transport budget to active travel
Jools Walker’s closing statement
“There’s so much to celebrate. We have cleaner air – safer roads and streets. A clear vision attracts funding and focuses minds. We all have a passion to let our communities thrive”.
Final thoughts
As I entered the crypt to enjoy an organic beer or two and far too many arancini balls on sticks one speaker’s voice still rang in my mind.
Temi Lateef’s plea for an already converted crowd to come together and work as one really resonated with me.
We use the word support a lot, whether it be supporting the most vulnerable, the disenfranchised or even the most un-dangerous. But we seldom speak about how we support each other.
It may be true that we often come together in coalition and collaboration but what seems to happen is we play a game where we compete to fly our individual flags the highest.
We are not all singing from the same hymn sheet, we’re only singing out loud to the lines we wrote.
Going back to Will Norman’s question
HOW DO WE MAKE WALKING, WHEELING & CYCLING THE DEFAULT CHOICE?
The answer, which he gave and it seems we all agree on, is you remove barriers of fear. It’s not enough to be safe, you need to make people feel safe.
To truly know everyone’s fears we need to collate not only data but anecdotal information.
We need an Active Travel Fear Index because there’s no point putting cushions on pillows when the bed is made of concrete.
