In fact, some of these residents admit to using the Cycle Hire Scheme themselves, proving this is NIMBYism at its very worst.
These residents are up there with the group of businesses that took Westminster Council to court in 2010 because they erroneously thought having cycle hire bikes nearby would damage their business. In fact, the opposite happened: footfall, and profits, picked up; and Westminster Council won damages.
Anyway, I'll let Ian Jones' letter speak for itself:
Ian: we've never had the pleasure of meeting, but I really couldn't have put it better myself.
Also of interest is this article on local opposition in Wandsworth from I love Boris Bikes.
It seems most people just accept cars and the infrastructure required to support them as natural, essential and inevitable, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a link to the Westminster story? I'd love to know more about it.
Unfortunately not. Martin Low mentioned it anecdotally at a recent meeting about Westminster's planned North-South route. Amazing how much grief councils get from cycle-phobic residents and businesses...
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, at the same meeting when I proposed closing off a rat-run in Westminster with a few bollards, Martin Low related how when serious plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street were last raised the Taxi Drivers started continually driving around Marble Arch (stopping traffic) until the plans were killed off...
ReplyDeleteI fully agree, this is just NIMBYism. There is a no harm whatsoever in installing a set of Boris bikes here. In fact this is a perfect location for a Boris bikes station, right by a Clapham Common and in a quiet residential street. Rather than opposing the plans, the local residents should rejoice at having been selected as a Boris bike station location and it would be far more helpful if they were campaigning for the street to have a contraflow put in for cyclists, extra traffic-calming measures put in (like cycle-friendly sinusoidal speed humps), a safe bike crossing over Clapham Common Norgth Side Rd, and a desire line route into Clapham Common. There is enough room to put in a contraflow if the parking bays straddle the footway.
ReplyDelete@engineeronabike
ReplyDeleteGreat comment, I completely agree. Also, fantastic blog - I've added you to my 'blogroll' list!
The trouble with the noisy NIMBYs is that they are often listened to by the politicians who can often appear unable to separate fact from opinion or see a picture larger than the tiny bit the NIMBYs are pointing at now.
ReplyDeleteActually, there is no legal requirement to consider a conservation area in making changes to the public highway. It is considered good practice to consider the impact on such an area, but not the law. If it was, Westminster would never have been able to have allowed the sea of security bollards round government buildings around Whitehall.
I recall a row over Boris docking stations being rejected at The Mall and objections to planning applications. Again, I don't believe that a highway authority needs planning permission to install cycle racks in the same way they don't for parking signs, traffic signals or cycle tracks!
How about the BANANAs - build absolutely nothing anywhere near neat anyone!