Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Cost of cycle racks in Green Lanes
HOL readers may be interested in the formal answer from the Council to my question about the cost of the bicycle racks in Green Lanes (I have reproduced the Council's written answer to my question in full, but have omitted other Members' earlier seven questions):
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FULL COUNCIL: 21 JULY 2014
WRITTEN ANSWERS TO ORAL QUESTIONS
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ORAL QUESTION 8 - TO THE CABINET MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT FROM COUNCILLOR CARTER:
How much did the new cycling racks on Green Lanes cost to buy and install?
ANSWER
The Green Lanes major scheme includes the provision and installation of 72 new cycle racks at a cost of £17,000.
However, it became evident to officers following the receipt of the racks in May this year, that they were not fit for purpose with manufacturing and design flaws. The suppliers have agreed to replace all the racks at no additional cost to the Council.
Officers will shortly be consulting Ward Councillors and the Haringey Cycling Campaign to find a suitable alternative design.
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P.S. I have now added all the eight Answers to Oral Questions (in PDF form)
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Councillor
Highgate Ward
Liberal Democrat Party
Tags for Forum Posts: bicycle, design, flaw, management, money, public, racks, supervision, waste
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Evening Eddie!
The [particular style of the ] stands installed ... was always the intention of the architect.
I don't think any of us would want a plumber performing vascular surgery on us, or the surgeon attempting plumbing. And yet the council appears content to have left the choice of cycle stands to an architect. As I've suspected all along, the architect's choice was based largely if not entirely on aesthetic grounds.
What kind of dingbat sense does this make?!
The job of specifying bicycle stands should not have been left to an architect, no matter how professional an architect they might be. It should have been left to a professional in the relevant field ... just possibly, an experienced council officer.
(for the avoidance of doubt, I agree with the point that Lydia made (above)
Earlier this evening: local resident and recent Councillor Karen Alexander, me and the sharp-cornered, hazardous, minimalistic bike racks. Taken at the foot of Hewitt Road. In the background, outside the Salisbury Pub, is the re-enactment of a war protest rally, 100 years ago ... today.
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Emina Ibrahim on
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The picture suggests that that's the first time the former Cllr has seen them! Although no pointing and scowling is a slight tactic change :) You have come rather late to this issue Clive the racks are being replaced. Your belated interest is welcome though. I do understand however that residents in Highgate are priority and can only hope that you are a bit quicker than this on issues there. However if you come across issues that we have not dealt with over 1 month ago do feel free to email me Gina Adamou or James Ryan and we will return the courtesy for issues in Highgate.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Emine, one of Richard Nixon's team made the insightful comment that for the first couple of years in post you can blame the previous lot. After then, it's your own decisions being judged.
So, for the time being just relax, smile, and enjoy being able to say you had nothing to do with the Schmuck Factor 99 decisions made before you were elected.
And if the LibDems have stopped pointing and scowling and are now using photos and video and Freedom of Information Act requests more intelligently and imaginatively, all the better for Haringey's residents.
Tomorrow I shall post the photos of the blocked drain we saw in Clive's ward. Hands across ward boundaries!
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Actually Alan I was wrong I must show more attention - Clive is pointing but not at the Cycle racks
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Morning Alan!
I think that last night's photo shows well just how sharp are those corners. A friend pointed out that these corners are at knee height (well, perhaps for my higher knees). Last night, another suggested there may be too many stands (72 in Green Lanes).
In the photo, I would also draw attention to the similarity in colour and reflectivity, between the bars and the background.
For anyone with poor eyesight or just not paying attention, this is a further hazard. But apparently, with these architecturally styled bars, the blending into the background is a deliberate feature!
- The Council claimed that "the finish (welding) is below standard". I suspect this is a canard. I'm no expert, but I think the welding job to be neat and fine for the design: it is the styling of the corners that is dangerous, as the Ward Councillor has said
- The deficiencies have been recognized long and widely: but the Council has not acted.
- The recently-elected Harringay Councillors cannot be blamed for the selection (in 2013) of the hazardous bars; nor for the poor management of the Major Scheme earlier in 2014. Indeed, we learn that local Ward Councillors have made forthright criticism of the stands.
- Now, we need a fast replacement before members of the public are injured.
- Also in the photo are the premises of a firm of solicitors who deal in Personal Injury. I hope the Council will replace the bike racks before someone engages their services in this matter.
It will be the devil's own job to establish who at the Council approved these pedestrian-traps.
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Alex, individual private citizens make mistakes.
Here, we're talking about a council spending public money: surely a higher standard of accountability is in order?
You say that it "sounds like its being sorted". "Sounds like" is the operative clause.
By the council's account, the unsatisfactory nature of these stands was noticed in May (unfortunately, the Council seems remarkably detached from the process). Since then, the claim has been repeated that these hazardous stands will be replaced.
At some point, the announcing and re-announcing of the corrective action needs to be replaced with ... corrective action.
No one at the council will take responsibility for not one mistake, but for a flawed process that goes back to the mistaken selection of these stands in the first place.
As for "milking it", the c. 1,700 views of this thread suggest that the degree of council serious committment to cycling provision, is a matter of (legitimate) public interest.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon Curtis on
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" just possibly, an experienced council officer."
Unfortunately, we see the legacy of experienced council officers with poor planning decisions all over London and in fact the UK at large.
I'm not saying that these aren't badly designed, or flawed in fabrication (I'm not sure you've managed to established that either). But God save us from local politicians making design decisions, we'll end up with plodding dull utilitarian uniformity everywhere.
Better to take an opportunity to make something great and fail, rather than accepting the lowest common denominator because "its always been ok".
I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but I'm with OAE on this, one. It does seem as if the concern over the cycle-stands has become more to do with politics than form/function.
(I'm not entirely convinced that they are as dangerous as this thread seems to make out, though like much of what has been said on the subject, this is opinion rather than factually based analysis.)
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Has anybody got a photograph of any of the 72 stands actually being used to secure a bike ?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I think you've hit on the crux on the matter there John
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Michael, I was thinking the same thing.
I have seen some bikes tied to the stands, but they are a small minority, even weeks after their having been installed. The stands that are actually used, manage to avoid most of the objections that have been raised. John's insight got me thinking further:
- Too many stands
- Too many unused
- Too many left dangerous (as well-described by the Ward Councillor), because they're empty
The stands are too low and too short, meaning bike wheels stick out at either end. The stands are minimalistic (presumably, the architect's intention) and they don't look substantial or feel protective.
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You're right. The possible explanations are that there is no need for them (which seeing the amount of cycling on GL is unlikely), people are not aware that they are there (given the cunning way the are camouflaged to blend in with the pavement, this is a possibility) or they are so unfit for purpose that people would rather chain their bike to a passing dog.
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Permalink Reply by William Booth on
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I really didn't think they were bike racks. i certainly wouldn't trust them not to be cut through and hence I've never used them.
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