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news
Father Brown on his bike (picture credit BBC).jpgWest London church urges parishioners to pray against Cycle Superhighway
A church in West London is urging parishioners to pray against a proposed Cycle Superhighway.
Transport for London (TfL) is currently consulting on its plans, unveiled last month, for Cycle Superhighway 9 from Kensington Olympia to Brentford, with a future extension to Hounslow.
The two-way, segregated route would run along Chiswick High Road and past the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Grace & St Edward (the red brick building obscured by trees to the right of centre in this artist's impression).
The call to prayer was spotted by Twitter user Darren Moore.
Gosh. This is very strange. Despite all the suffering in the World @OurLadyChiswick are praying every day against #CS9 #airpollution #safety pic.twitter.com/L1hVNUDUxd
— Darren Moore (@darrenmoore) October 5, 2017
On its website, the parish claims that “the pavement outside of the church will be reduced to about one third of its current size and the Cycle Superhighway would have right of way.”
It asks parishioners to consider the effect it would have on:
Sunday Mass congregations gathering on the pavement, the elderly, and families with children vs speeding cyclists
Funerals: no right of way for carrying the coffin
No right of way for First Holy Communion & other processions
Weddings: no right of way for Brides in their wedding dresses.
However, a map provided by TfL as part of its consultation reveal that there would still be a signal controlled pedestrian crossing on Chiswick High Road immediately outside the church and across the Cycle Superhighway.
Moreover, given its location on the corner of Chiswick High Road and Dukes Avenue, access for vehicles for services such as funerals and weddings should not be an issue.
The church itself comes under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, which in 2011 announced that it was encouraging staff to cycle to its head office in Victoria.
At the time, a spokesman for the diocese said: "The aim is to spread the message that our lifestyles – whether at home, in church or in the wider world – influence the environment, and that our respectful and careful stewardship is vital."
Caspar Hughes, a member of the organising group of Stop Killing Cyclists, told road.cc: “CS9 will reduce pollution and road danger for the congregation of Our Lady of Grace & St Edwards and the surrounding area.
“As we see time and time again speeding and distracted driving is a serious cause of danger to people.
“Creating an environment where cycling and walking are given priority will go some way to removing the dangers drivers present to us all.”
Anyone with an opinion about the proposed route may find it more beneficial to respond to TfL's consultation on it, which remains open until 31 October 2017 and can be found here.
One church in London that is rather more welcoming to people on bikes is St James's Piccadilly, which this Sunday holds its annual Blessing of Cyclists service, with tea and cake in the garden afterwards.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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49 comments
Did you read the article? The last paragraph describes a Christian church holding a blessing for cyclists. Why only take the bad?
Fewer in cars. But I get your sentiment and tend to agree. Chiswick could be so cycle friendly with a bit of effort. Hopefully we'll see the results.
Well everyone knows that cyclists are godless speed maniacs intent on dominating the roadway to the exclusion of all other road users
a few times I've thought "for Jesus sake can't you take some space away from motorised vehicles"
obviously my freelance praying isn't effective as the design above includes a dedicated right turn lane (the Lord tells me that is to meet the heavenly requirement to reduce congestion) - get rid of the right turn lane - maintain the pavement width - build a dedicated cycle facility were it should be in the road space not the pedestrian area Oh and the christians can gather in the side street by the new parking spaces and thank the Lord that they don't cycle to church
Haven't you heard of the theology of prosperity? If you pray hard enough, God will reward you. And if you're successful in life, it proves that you are a good person favoured by God (and if you are unsuccessful, clearly you are not a good person, or didn't pray hard enough, and/or God is punishing you for something (which explains a lot of Americans attitudes toward the poor). Prosperity theology tends to be Protestant and not Catholic, mind...
Nothing to be concerned about, they're paying to "god", and being there's no such entity their action can have no effect on the outcome
As proposed here:
https://twitter.com/RantyHighwayman/status/915998808265261056
Will never happen though - far too sensible.
And Santa must have delivered millions of bikes in his time, so that makes three against one...err..female canines.
Haven't you just done exactly what you are accusing harragn of?
He said: "It's also amazing how un-Christian some Christians can be", this led me to assume that he was referring only to the space-fairy worshippers in Chiswick and not those in Jermyn St.
And their blessings will be just as effective as their prayers...
Much hatred and abuse directed at an out- group here. If only us marginalised oppressed cyclists could practice what we preach, eh?!
It's a lovely church, I'd really rather they kept the pavement, which could be done by reducing the space for motors down to seven meters wide or so. Cars would still have most of the space on the street! This is why we're having arguments about cyclists vs pedestrians, because of the ruckus people getting stuck behind buses or deliveries would cause, when they should probably be on the great west road.
It does narrow quite a lot in front of the church in the plans, especially towards the junction. If it does go ahead as is maybe tfl could close of a bit of the side road next to the church and create a plaza-type thing there?
I personally take the view that if they are happy to dish it out, then I expect it to be understood when thown back. And if they don't like it thrown back, they know what to do.
They don't like it up 'em!
I've just pointed the church twitter account to Ranty HIghwayman's suggestion. Anyone going to the meeting might take a copy of dottigirl 's compilation and ask the churchpeople a) if they've read it (and if not why not, and "let me read it out to you" etc) and b) what objections they might have to this alternative.
Because a 'blessing' is the religious version of a typical council or transport minister's "target" or generic blurb about being entirely in favour of cycling in a general non-specific sense (before going on to do everything they can to suppress it in its real, particular, sense).
Hang on, that sounds like Pat McQuaid. Certainly would explain a lot.
I would imagine he has a R'lyeh bike, which might also conflict with the regs, owing to its non-Euclidian geometry.
Made by a frame builder in Dunwich, no doubt (makes you think about the *real* purpose of the Dunwich Dynamo, doesn't it...?)
Dear Holy Trinity (God, Jesus and… er, is it Robin Hood?)
I know you couldn’t be arsed to intervene to prevent the Holocaust, Black Death, slave trade, rape, disease, famine, paedophilia, murder, suicide etc, but do you think you could help out in shifting a cycle route in London that me and some of my fellow parishioners imagine could be mildly inconvenient for us? Maybe deliver some leaflets or something?
Also, the back steps could do with a bit of a sweep.
Cheers mate
Amen
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