Broadway Market traders fear ‘race track’ cycling event
Broadway Market traders are protesting over the road closure. Photograph: Berny Torre
Market traders are up in arms over road closures taking place as part of a bicycle-friendly event tomorrow.
Stallholders in Broadway Market assembled there later today to voice their fears that the one day experiment will harm their takings and turn the area into a “race track” for wannabe Bradley Wiggens’es.
Trevor Parsons, coordinator of the London Cycling Campaign in Hackney, said only “absolute fools” would ride through the market itself, adding that this was always closed to traffic in any case.
He said: “I think we should also be focusing on what the purpose of the experiment is, which is to try and look for a solution to the approximately 3,000 private motor vehicles which cut through the area to get from the A10 to the A107 every day. These vehicles bring no prosperity to this immediate area, but they do bring road danger and air pollution to the residents.”
The car-free day is part of Europe wide project aimed at highlighting the problems caused by motor traffic, and two wheelers will be able to pedal across Cat and Mutton Bridge, which crosses the Regent’s Canal just south of Broadway Market, tomorrow (Saturday) without fear of being encroached upon by cars.
But Andrew Veitch of Broadway Market Projects said signs and barriers barring vehicles from roads adjoining Broadway Market might make the area appear off limits to shoppers.
Mr Veitch said: “We have already had extensive road works, the Olympics and the recession. We can’t afford to have barriers discouraging people coming to the market.”
He said there had not been adequate consultation about the move, adding: “They’ve done this without coming along to businesses and saying, this is what we want to do, what do you think about it, guv? They’ve just done it, which I think is immoral.”
Bar owner Stephen Selby said the event was “the thin end of the wedge” and could lead to the street becoming a “race track”.
Some traders have said they were given notice of the event just one week in advance.
They have suggested signage erected in the area may have given passers-by the impression that the market is closed.
Conservative London Assembly Member Andrew Boff, who lives just off Broadway Market, even went so far as to deface the signs with his own notice telling people the market was open.
Athena Duncan, from Rebel Rebel florist, said she supported car-free day, but that little thought had been given to the signage.
Mr Parsons stressed deliveries will be operating as normal, adding that the car-free initiative had been jointly promoted by Hackney Living Streets and supported by residents of the nearby Whiston and Goldsmith Estate.
Though initiated by the London Cycling Campaign in Hackney, the event was rubberstamped by Hackney Council.
Town Hall neighbourhoods chief Councillor Feryal Demirci said: “Hackney Council received an application from the London Cycling Campaign for a temporary traffic order for a one-day event on the Cat and Mutton Bridge, next to Broadway Market, to celebrate European Mobility Week.
“The Council has approved this application. 95% of visitors to the shops and stalls in this area come by public transport, walk or cycle with only 5% of visitors to Broadway Market travelling there by car. Access to the area will still be maintained via routes such as Mare Street, Richmond Road and Queensbridge Road.
The proposed event is not part of a long-term plan to change the access arrangements and traders and market stall holders will be exempted from this weekend’s closure arrangements.”
Related:
Politician plays cheeky stunt in Broadway Market ‘closed road’ row
Andrew Boff is the first person to complain about the “Blairite clique” in Hackney town hall running roughshod over the rights of the citizenry. But what does he do here? He defaces signs when he doesn’t agree with the message. Way to lead by example and show just how intolerant you are, Andrew.
Grow up. You aren’t London Fields or Hackney. You are one person. You have no more right to your opinion than anyone else and you certainly have no right to deface signs.
Try representing all of your constituents for a change, not just yourself or your buddies.
A sign saying ‘market is closed’ probably gives a stronger impression to passers-by that the market is closed!!
Adam. Amending signs that the Council have accepted were wrong is a public duty to ensure that visitors to Broadway were not misled. Incidentally, not sure I’ve ever used the term “Blairite Clique” despite you putting it in quotes.
So what are they actually complaining about? The signage or the fact that cars won’t be able to get to the market?
I really hope it’s the former. Given that only 5% of visitors currently come by car, removing more vehicles form the area is surely going to INCREASE the visitor numbers as it’s more pleasant for the vast majority of people.
Surely there is a better way to resolve the issue than covering the sign yourself – especially with a sign that is taking pains to make a political point.
You are meant to represent all of London (and at least Hackney, we would hope). That includes cyclists, pedestrians and other people who may wish to use the roads around the Market. Not just the few merchants who appear to be upset about this.
I am not saying the sign isn’t potentially misleading – but I think your approach to resolving the issue is completely inappropriate.
And Broadway Market is the name of the street. It is apparently closed to cars that day. The sign is accurate, even if it is potentially misleading. I can think of a number of ways you could’ve approached this differently.
But at the very least, you could’ve shown some real leadership and maybe tried to get the sign changed? Surely as a member of the GLA, someone would be willing to at least entertain a phone call from you.
It would’ve been worth a shot.
There has been no consultation on this matter with local people. I am all for safer roads and a reduction in traffic.
I am assuming the bus 394 will be re-routed, which will be the loss of a vital link.
What are local Elders and People with disabilities going to do for transport?
Broadway Market is already a No Entry Market for a very large number of local people, as the prices exclude one of the poorest populations in London, who live local.
I do not understand the fuss here. Why is a local representative fighting a event which, for a few hours in a year, will turn a tiny – generally speeding car and van ridden – stretch of road into a more relaxed friendlier and nicer place to be and attract even more people to the market – which ironically is anyway itself closed to motor vehicles which means it recognizes how good that is to local trade! It all beggars beleif
@ Terry Stewart –
Stewards will ensure that the 394 bus can continue on its normal route, and that market traders can load and unload as usual. As annual surveys have shown, the vast majority of people visiting the wonderful Saturday market come on foot, cycle and public transport, so a slight temporary inconvenience to private motor traffic is likely to have a negligible, if not beneficial, effect on trade.
See http://www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk/cfd2012.html for details
Ms Tanti: It’s not about the event (which is a good idea) it’s about the lack of consultation with the traders and residents on Broadway. No chance to inform customers who may have to drive, no chance for traders to make alternate arrangements for deliveries, the Police had not been notified until after the signs went up and then, when the signs did go up, they inferred that Broadway Market was closed. The BMTRA has already received calls from potential customers who thought this meant that the market, rather than the road, was closed. Even now the signs are mistaken: Saying that Pritchards Road is closed infers, from Hackney’s own map, that access to the Cat & Mutton bridge is open, which it will not be.
http://www.map.hackney.gov.uk/gisMapGallery/Maps/Street%20Atlas/LB%20Hackney%20Street%20Atlas.pdf
All this is from a Council that bit by bit, regulation by regulation is trying to take over the market from the BMTRA by imposing management decisions and depriving it of its income in order to run it to its own standards. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19622903.
This week the BMTRA continued its commitment to use ALL its proceeds from the market to benefit the local community and has provided £2,000 for Hackney Winter Night shelter to purchase 119 temporary beds for rough sleepers and financed a trip to Southend for local kids some of whom have never been to the seaside before. The BMTRA will carry on using the market to benefit local community while it can even if the Council refuse to consult them.
Perhaps the way forward would be the signage of a suitable alternative cycle route in recognition of the regular Saturday closures?
Regarding this Saturday’s experiment my understanding is that the road closures around the bridge are not to public transport, only to other motorised vehicles.
it is all part of the escalating domination of public and social space in Hackney by a narrow but economically privileged section of the community and it is sad to see Hackney cyclists participating so eagerly
“Bar owner Stephen Selby said the event was “the thin end of the wedge” and could lead to the street becoming a “race track”.”
Hahahaha – did he really say this? He’ll be saying it leads to drug use and terrorism next. How can you cycle there if the market’s on? It’s difficult even to push your bike through the crowds let alone cycle.
Andrew so you want to have ago at the council but please find something else to pick on. This event was organised by local community groups, the kindda thing your government, the Tories support big society and all! We know the conservatives on the assembly dont care about cycling, but seriously, leave cyclist in hackney alone. It’s oone of the best things about hackney.
Lucia: Not one of the people in the picture above is me. They are members of the local community. Do you suggest they all remain silent when ignored?
Andrew I work on broadway Market and know how much you’ve pushing for people to come out against this. Traders have gone from supporting the closure, to being indifferent to coming out against it in a week thanks to all your work.
Ps: plz don’t use your mobile when cycling it’s gives cyclist a bad name
Lucia: Which of the people in the picture above just do what I say? What an insult!
What a load of fuss over nothing. Is there really nothing else to write about?
The small barrier on the road on Saturday surprising didn’t cause a mass pill up of bikes at the butcher’s stall. It did however add an extra ten meters of safe walking tarmac..
move on people
Fact check. This was a case of a single interest group (however laudable the aims of the London Cycling Campaign may be) riding roughshod over the wishes of thousands of people who live and work in and around Broadway Market.
It may have been a case of cock-up rather than conspiracy: the cyclists and their colleagues at Hackney Council simply forgot to ask the people most affected what they thought about installing a modal filter for a day on the Cat and Mutton Bridge.
There clearly was a deal of confusion. There was no mention of “European Mobility Week” or “Car Free Day” until a couple of days before the barriers went up. There was no agreement to preserve deliveries, or to install extra cycle racks, until BMTRA insisted that these issues be dealt with. There was no advance publicity. The times of the closure changed on the day. The council signs declaring that Broadway Market was closed had to be removed, thus giving motorists little warning of the diversions. BMTRA received no communication from the pedestrians’ association, Living Streets.
If the cyclists were acting in the interests of residents in Whiston Road – as they belatedly claim – it makes it even more odd that they failed to consult the people of Broadway Market.
The exercise was described by the cyclists as “an experiment”: if so, the results should be published.
The Hackney chapter of the London Cycling Campaign is now talking to people in Stoke Newington about major traffic changes in Stokey High Street. It is understood that the cyclists are also privately canvassing the possibility of more modal filters on Lansdowne Drive and Westgate Street as part of the redesign of the Broadway Market/London Fields junction.
These are ambitious projects affecting the livelihoods of thousands more people: so, please, no more cock-ups. Communities come first.
The Pipe regime, displaying its usual level of commitment to small, local businesses! 😉
How do you reckon the Blairites will react to the proposed traffic changes (to better accomodate cyclists) on their home turf?