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“You have come at the point when feelings are running highest,” says Paul Gasson, from Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign, as we cycle around the eight roads temporarily closed to traffic as part of the borough’s £30m Mini Holland scheme.
Moments before, Paul appeased a shouting match between one of our group and a man on a motorcycle.
“I’ve been running these [Waltham Family Bike Club] rides for 14 years and that is certainly one of the worst incidents I have seen in those years. There is quite a lot of tension around, people saying ‘why are you doing this for cyclists?’”
The two week trial closure, which runs until 13 October, has sparked lively discussion both locally and nationally (featured on Radio 4’s Today Programme), but, Gasson says: “We have seen the worst of it, I think. For every shouting match there are half a dozen more gentle conversations going on.”
The Mini Holland programme is one of three in outer London given a share of £100m as part of Boris Johnson’s cycling vision, to showcase Dutch-style designs to get more people walking and cycling. However, it’s largely unprecedented in the UK, let alone in this corner of north-east London, and has come as rather a shock to some.
A major complaint has been a perceived lack of information from the council ahead of the trial closures. The scheme, which could see certain roads permanently blocked to motor traffic, is not just for cyclists, Gasson says – a reduction in congestion and air pollution would be good for everyone.
Retired resident Keith Dyson is among those sceptical, however.
“Residents have got to be able to get through somehow,” he says. “I go out on a bike as well, and in a car. You can get around, but the roads that have been closed off mean other roads have got to take the bulk of traffic and our road is one of those roads, so to us it’s of no value at all.
“I can’t see everyone getting out on a bike.”
We return to Orford Road, a small high street at the heart of the trial. On this cold, rainy October day, families with young children on bikes and scooters fill the street. Temporary orange barriers and trees in wooden planters sport “Road Closed” signs, and there’s a man at each end whose job it is to open the barriers to let the W12 bus through. One tells me although he’s had residents blaming him for the road closures, but the majority of comments were positive.
Barnaby Smyth, a TV and Film sound engineer, is walking with his young daughter in a pushchair. He lives nearby and commutes by bike to Kings Cross, but didn’t know about the scheme until he stumbled across it. When I tell him it’s part of Waltham Forest’s Mini Holland scheme, which includes a cycle superhighway on the congested Lea Bridge Road, he isn’t aware of that, either but, he adds, it seems a good idea – anything to reduce motor traffic.
Lucy Gibson and her son, Peter, are on bikes. Peter cycles through here to school some days with his dad, and says without cars it’s felt safer and more fun.
Lucy usually drives but says the scheme has changed that: “Every journey that I have done [since the road closures] I have thought: ‘Can I do this on my bike?’ It has actually changed my behaviour. I have done more cycling journeys since the start of this – only one or two.”
Butcher Mick Norkeet, of Orford Road’s East London Sausage Co., is positive about the trial but says he will wait to see council figures before making a decision.
“I have had a few more customers. It is only the first week but I like it: there’s fewer cars, there people walking about. They said we would have difficulty with our deliveries but because people park here all day it’s made no difference because we have to park at the end of the road and carry [goods] up anyway. Trade-wise I haven’t seen any problems,” he said.
A man who identifies himself as Nick, but won’t give his surname, says one of his five-minute taxi journeys has become a 25-minute one.
“I don’t think it has been thought through very well. I agree there needs to be fewer cars but it maybe needs to be thought through about the knock-on effect further out.”
Outside under a green gazebo Waltham Forest Council staff shelter from pouring rain. Their head of highways and infrastructure, Vala Valavan, tells me they are collecting data from surrounding roads before and during the scheme. Using cameras with number plate recognition they can tell if people are stopping in the area or just driving through, and will use this and feedback from local people to develop the final scheme.
Councillor Clyde Loakes, deputy leader and cabinet member for the environment, explains: “Given the scale of the proposals, a live test was crucial in understanding how such a scheme could work, rather than implementing proposals without any proper testing. All of the feedback will be collated to help us create a better and more informed scheme. We have made some changes in response to feedback, including more road signs and the deployment of additional staff in the area. We’re also aware that some residents and businesses didn’t feel informed about the trial so we’re stepping up our communications with more regular updates to ensure the community are properly informed about the process we’re taking and next steps.”
Gasson adds: “The scale of challenge we are facing as a planet, people are going to look back and say: ‘They were making a fuss about that?’”
“This is a gift, I have never been in a situation like this before and I feel privileged to be in the middle of a community that feels so passionately. People care, whatever side they are on.”
