Darren Johnson, Green Party Member of the London Assembly, today met with cyclists and pedestrians in Richmond to investigate dangers at two busy junctions in the vicinity of the railway station.
In an open letter to coincide with the Green AM’s visit, Richmond’s branch of the London Cycling Campaign told Darren: “It’s a real shame that there’s so little positive news we can offer you.”
The letter criticised both the Conservative-led council’s and TFL’s attitude to cycling: “The recent tragic death of Henry Lang, at Richmond Circus” they said “is a reminder of just how far there is to go.” Darren’s visit included the Kew Foot Road junction with St John’s Road where 40 year old Mr Lang was struck by a dust cart.
Green Assembly member Darren Johnson has called for the Mayor to ensure funding is available to improve dangerous junctions across London, including those in Richmond and Islington, where he is pictured above (third from right) with campaigners.
Darren’s visit also took in a dangerous junction on the A316 at the exit from London Scottish Rugby Club car park between Richmond Circus and Pools on the Park. In their letter, Richmond LCC commented of the road:
“Richmond Council will tell you that the A316 is part of the ‘Transport for London Road Network’ (TLRN) and is therefore not something that can be sorted out by borough engineers. If they say that, you could always ask them why [their failed] Mini-Holland bid money was spent on the A316 rather than – for example – making the two lane highway through the centre of Richmond a nice place for families to arrive by bike.”
“Richmond Cycling has spent enormous effort to try to help councillors and council engineers understand what might encourage cycling, but our appeals have fallen on deaf ears: Twickenham is going to carry on being a great place to drive through, and a terrible place either to arrive by bike, or to get through by bike.”
Darren has repeatedly urged the Mayor as Chair of TfL to increase the cycling budget in TfL’s ten-year plan to ensure that cycle safety and better road design is fully funded across London. He added: “Every year that the Mayor dithers and delays over safety improvements, the more casualties we have at London’s dangerous junctions.”