Greenwich Cyclists want the borough’s next council leaders to implement “gamechanging” plans for better bike lanes across the borough after the election next month.
The group, which is part of the London Cycling Campaign, wants political leaders to pledge to implement new cycle routes that Transport for London has calculated will have the most effect.
Greenwich Cyclists’ top priority is continuing Cycleway 4, which is already being extended from Charlton to Woolwich, all the way to Thamesmead.
It would also like a start to be made on long-delayed plans to link Greenwich town centre with Eltham, which the council consulted on five years ago, but scrapped in the run-up to the 2022 council elections.
The call is part of the London Cycling Campaign’s Streets For Cycling drive, which is asking all 32 of the capital’s boroughs to complete the core network that TfL has identified by 2030. These would come with TfL funding so would come at little cost to councils.
The borough elections, on May 7, are set to be the most unpredictable in decades, including in Greenwich, which Labour has dominated since 1971.
“Building the basic cycle network identified by Transport for London would be a gamechanger,” Greenwich Cyclists spokesperson Neil Robertson said.
“Thousands of local car trips every day could be switched to cycling in Greenwich if people felt safe enough. We’d start to see children cycling to school, and more women, elderly people and people with disabilities discovering the freedom, convenience, health and pleasure that a safe, joined-up cycle network brings.
“The more people cycle, the more we reduce traffic congestion, road danger and harmful pollution.”
TfL’s analysis also includes a route from east Greenwich towards North Greenwich, while links out of the borough from Deptford to the Old Kent Road and the Oval, Greenwich town centre to Hackney, and Woolwich to Wanstead Flats are deemed as having top potential.
Cycleway 4 currently links London Bridge with Charlton, through Rotherhithe and Deptford, although it has a gap at Greenwich town centre which the council is hoping to plug in the coming years.
Work started last year on an extension to the Woolwich Ferry, a further extension is due to take it to Plumstead. The TfL analysis suggests a continuation to Thamesmead town centre, which could serve the new town at Thamesmead Waterfront.
Past attempts at a Greenwich to Eltham route have briefly passed into Lewisham and have caused headaches for both councils. In 2020 Lewisham Council tried to close South Row, on Blackheath, to through traffic – which Greenwich was opposed to – but had to backtrack after the almshouses at Morden College complained that deliveries were affected.
In 2021 the Greenwich Council proposed a route from Greenwich Park to Eltham including closures for through traffic at Kidbrooke Gardens – just metres from the South Row closure briefly implemented by Lewisham – and on the Page Estate in Eltham, but these were dropped by the Labour council after the Conservatives seized upon them in campaigning.
Cyclists can join the campaign at Streets for Cycling.
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