Under the branding “A Green and Sustainable Borough”, Hillingdon Council have proudly announced the completion of works at Stockley Roundabout to provide a shared use footpath for cyclists. The cost was met by Section 106 funds levied on developers, so funding was not provided by council tax payers.
Shared use footpaths are a fairly common feature of Hillingdon’s streets and in some places one of the few practical ways of providing safe routes for cyclists, particularly less experienced cyclists or families. However they do send a mixed message. It is actually illegal to cycle on the footpath unless it is explicitly signposted as being a shared footpath for use by pedestrians and cyclists.
The trouble is, many people don’t notice the signs, or know what they mean. This creates confusion for pedestrians who think that cyclists are using the footpath when they shouldn’t be. When novice cyclists who don’t know what the signs mean see other cyclists using the footpath, they might think “everyone is cycling on the path so it must be ok”. They may not realise that it is not “ok” on every footpath.
The Stockley roundabout is huge and very fast moving traffic joins from the dual carriageway above it in both directions. It is very good news that something has been done here and will be a boon to workers on the Stockley Park Estate. However it would be interesting to know why this area was prioritised over the many highly populated areas in Hillingdon lacking infrastructure that could safely link them to other parts of the borough.
The same item on the Hillingdon website tells us that improvements are coming to links between Brunel and West Drayton – which we highlighted last month on our ride with Brunel students – and to canal towpath access issues which we have also written about before.
What do you think? Is the Stockley roundabout a good example of the sort of cycle infrastructure we need, or a missed opportunity to create something more suitable? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or by email.
https://pre.hillingdon.gov.uk/news/article/265/council-completes-stockley-park-cycle-improvements