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Regent's Park rat running motorists to be banned 20 hours a day

Plans to install bollards on the route will reduce rat running and make cycling more pleasant, but a coalition of cycling clubs say they will fight speed humps "to the death"...
Close pass in Regent's Park - photo credit @LondonDynaslow

Plans to ban rat-running motorists from Regent’s Park’s Outer Circle for 20 hours per day have been welcomed by cyclists who commute and train on the route. However, a coalition of cycling clubs says they are concerned over four proposed speed humps with granite cobbles on them and says they will fight them “to the death”.

As part of plans for Cycle Superhighway 11 (CS11), from Swiss Cottage gyratory to the West End, which were released for consultation yesterday, bollards will be installed at four gates around Regent’s Park’s Outer Circle to prevent motor traffic using the route as a North-South rat run, except between 11am and 3pm.

As well as a cycle commuter route, the 4.4km Outer Circle is a popular training circuit for cycling clubs, who formed a coalition to oppose earlier plans by the Royal Parks to install 14 speed humps on the route. However, four remain in the final designs.

Cyclists who train at Regent's Park fighting against planned speed bumps on Outer Circle

Simon Munk, Infrastructure Campaigner at the London Cycling Campaign, told road.cc: “We massively support the closure of the gates and the reduction of traffic through the area, that’s a huge shift in favour of cycling.

“I think the thing to remember is that this is about enabling far more leisure cyclists, sports cyclists and families to cycle, but also people who want to cycle but currently don’t do so.”

Justin Mckie, chair of Regent's Park Cyclists, a coalition of cycling clubs campaigning for better road conditions, is supportive of the plans, but says more can be done to cut East-West rat running, and has concerns over four raised tables in the designs that will act as speed humps.

He says: “I think broadly it’s really positive, I think all the superhighways are moving in the right direction, I think [cycling commissioner Andrew] Gilligan and TfL (Transport for London) should be patted on the back, I don’t think people say that enough.

“I think it is a bold move to close the North and South gates, but I don’t think that goes far enough because I think they are still going to end up with a lot of through traffic East to West.”

Primarily, Regent's Park Cyclists takes issue with the granite setts (cobbles) planned for the inclines to the raised tables. According to consultation material these raised tables are intended to help pedestrians cross and “would be designed to be safe and comfortable to cycle over and to meet the accessibility needs of park visitors, including wheelchair users.”

However, Mckie says he feels the cobbles will prove slippery in wet weather and could come loose. He said: “They fall to bits - all over London they are falling to bits.”

“I worry about the four platforms and the design, because I don’t think they are going to do anything. If they are steep enough to cause a problem [for cyclists] then they are a problem, if they aren’t then what are they doing? As cyclists we will fight those platforms to the death; we are really against them.”

Mckie estimates around 3,000 cyclists use the Outer Circle for training, and says he hopes to see between 500-1000 responses to the consultation from the cycling club community.

Regent’s Park is one of six sections being consulted on as part of CS11. Among improvements for pedestrians are widened pavements at crossing points by up to 2.5m, including outside London Zoo, which has an entrance on the Outer Circle.

London Cycling Commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, told road.cc the Mayor of London was committed to do a cycle superhighway from Swiss Cottage to Central London and the park was an "infinitely more pleasant route" than the alternative, Finchley Road. He said: "What it does is make what is currently a rat run into a nice part of the park."

He said the speed bumps are "quite lo-fi" and that sports cyclists are "happier than they were", since the original 14 humps were reduced to four.

Jono Kenyon, one of the cycle campaigners behind Cycling Works, who  cycles with his children to London Zoo, via the Outer Circle, welcomes the plans.

He says: “At the moment the Outer Circle’s pretty scary in terms of vehicle speed but also at weekends in terms of volume - there seems to be this never ending stream of cars coming through the park - so it would be good to see an attempt made to reduce that.

“Obviously the fundamental thing is the speeding. There was a [police] sting operation there last year and they caught someone doing 88mph; that sort of speed is possible because there’s nothing there to hold drivers back.”

The consultation closes on Sunday 20 March and can be found here.

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13 comments

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hampstead_bandit | 8 years ago
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Does anyone actually know what the speed limit is on the outer circle of regent's park? It's really unclear from doing an Internet search, most regulations refer to vehicle parking

I was told last year by a motorbike cop it was 20mph like the rest of Camden but from a post above it appears this may have been incorrect due to royal park's being their own entity rather than part of a borough.

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Username replied to hampstead_bandit | 8 years ago
1 like
hampstead_bandit wrote:

Does anyone actually know what the speed limit is on the outer circle of regent's park? It's really unclear from doing an Internet search, most regulations refer to vehicle parking I was told last year by a motorbike cop it was 20mph like the rest of Camden but from a post above it appears this may have been incorrect due to royal park's being their own entity rather than part of a borough.

 

There's certainly no way 20 mph is being observed. I do see cops with radar guns enforcing limits at the zoo stretch and the traffic seems to be going much faster than 20.

 

I think, as said above, that it is 30 mph. Camden have a borough-wide limit but it doesn't apply everywhere (contradicting the phrase 'borough-wide'). Hampstead Road is 30 mph (and frequently more!).

 

I believe there will be a London-wide 20 mph limit in the not too distant future. That will obviously apply in parks too.

 

What I'm not looking forward to is the associated over-zealous policing against cyclists which is bound to occur. I seldom exceed 20 mph, but it has been known, especially on stretches like past the mosque where 30 mph can be comfortably reached for even unfit old-timers like me.

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TimB | 8 years ago
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Overall I think the proposal from TfL is extremely progressive and should be welcomed by all users of the park (apart from motorists using it as a rat-run). My personal view is that the four ramps are very small concession in exchange for the other measures being proposed. 

Comments from Mr Mckie claiming to fight the proposals for four ramps to the death are not representative of most cyclists who use the park and frankly discredit us in the discussion/ consultation process (speaking as a member of one of the London clubs he is supposed to represent).

I believe Peter Cutler (also of Regents Park cyclists) is sounding out the views of the clubs before making a response which seems to be the more diplomatic and constructive way of participating in the process. 

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hampstead_bandit | 8 years ago
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anything that slows the speed of motorists can only be a good thing?

its frightening to be cycling at a legal 32km/h (20mph) and have a car past you doing 2-3 times the speed and steadily accelerate away in seconds

many motorists don't seem to have gotten the message that LB Camden introduced a borough wide speed limit of 20mph in August 2012, which certainly includes the park

It would be great to see regular Police enforcement on speeding, as well as 'official' vehicles paying attention to the road markings

//ep1.pinkbike.org/p6pb12955721/p5pb12955721.jpg)

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rct replied to hampstead_bandit | 8 years ago
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hampstead_bandit wrote:

anything that slows the speed of motorists can only be a good thing?

its frightening to be cycling at a legal 32km/h (20mph) and have a car past you doing 2-3 times the speed and steadily accelerate away in seconds

many motorists don't seem to have gotten the message that LB Camden introduced a borough wide speed limit of 20mph in August 2012, which certainly includes the park

 

Regents Park comes under the Royal Parks, not Camden, so borough wide limit does not apply.  Royal Parks do have 20mph limits elsewhere though like Richmond, but this includes bikes, so not sure I'd want to see it implemented in Regents Park.

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sm | 8 years ago
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Will be interesting to see if it will be traffic free (it won't) or if the closed entrances will simply displace traffic (some I imagine). I notice an extra pedestrian crossing near the zoo. Is this just a traffic island or lights or a zebra crossing (edit just noticed it is none of these things)? 

The raised platform on the south east corner will cause the most grief. Turning on wet cobbles won't be pretty. The rest should be fine if they hold their shape (they won't - see Ally Pally). The position of the cobbles is unlikley to slow speeding drivers down - the cobbles are all near the bends and that still leaves the main drags where speeding is most prevalent.

I love cycling in Regents Park but having recently discovered turbo training, I rarely go now. The park may be the best (free) place for central London cyclists but even then it's pretty poor in the grand scheme of things. Says something if I prefer training in my hallway!

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Housecathst | 8 years ago
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I think 4 speed bumps is a small price to pay for a generally traffic free route. 

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kitsunegari replied to Housecathst | 8 years ago
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Housecathst wrote:

I think 4 speed bumps is a small price to pay for a generally traffic free route. 

Indeed, sometimes people do themselves no favours by asking for too much.

The cycling clubs should realise the compromise makes cycling in the area safer for everyone, and as such back such a change.

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youngoldbloke | 8 years ago
1 like

Cobbles are appalling for wheelchairs!

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Dnnnnnn replied to youngoldbloke | 8 years ago
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youngoldbloke wrote:

Cobbles are appalling for wheelchairs!

"the granite setts (cobbles) planned for the inclines to the raised tables". Not the "tables" themselves.

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nightoil replied to youngoldbloke | 8 years ago
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youngoldbloke wrote:

Cobbles are appalling for wheelchairs!

...and Bromptons!

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Edgeley | 8 years ago
6 likes

Nothing better than commuting along that route and seeing the giraffes out early in the morning.  Gives a little lift before hitting the horrors of Camden or Fitzrovia.

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wycombewheeler replied to Edgeley | 8 years ago
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Edgeley wrote:

Nothing better than commuting along that route and seeing the giraffes out early in the morning.  Gives a little lift before hitting the horrors of Camden or Fitzrovia.

I used to ride through the park commuting when I was 17. Don't remember looking at the giraffes. Do remember getting kicked by an army horse.

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