Hackney Council sticks with Pembury Circus junction redesign

Activists, residents and councillors met on Monday in a scrutiny meeting triggered by opposition members backed by the Hackney branch of the London Cycling Campaign.

Opponents hoped this would force the cabinet to ask Active Travel England to review the plans, but a majority of the scrutiny panel voted to uphold the officers’ decision.

“Obviously we’re disappointed. What we wanted was an independent review by experts, and they wouldn’t grant even it,” a Hackney LCC spokesperson said.

Cyclists and others had warned cyclists would have to share space with fast-moving and heavy motor vehicles.

Hackney LCC had put forward an alternative design, commissioned by a “top” traffic engineer working for another London borough, which added segregated cycle paths.

The group had also analysed the redesign’s safety. Active Travel England states that road schemes must complete a Junction Assessment Tool (JAT) check on certain types of junctions, with a minimum score of 70%. Hackney Council’s design scored just 25 per cent, campaigners said.

Councillors Zoë Garbett (Green) and Claudia Turbet-Delof (Independent Socialist), told the panel the objective was not to weigh the pros and cons of each design, but to evaluate whether the council had “sufficiently” taken on concerns.

Cllr Garbett said: “We’re not expecting members to be an expert in safe road design, but if warnings from experts are ignored, you do share the responsibility for the decision taken."

Mark Philpott, a chartered civil engineer with highway expertise, represented Hackney LCC.

He said: “This is the sort of design we would have seen 20 years ago."

In recent weeks, the campaign gathered support from the parents of Harry Webb, who was killed by a car in Homerton last year.

Claudia Schergna, a 25-year-old woman who was knocked off her bike at the junction and treated for a serious head wound, said the manouevre she made was a known risk, and the council's design did not address it.

Members also heard from supporters of the current plan.

Andrew Hodgson, from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), criticised the campaign’s plans for their complexity, arguing that it would endanger partially-sighted or blind pedestrians and their guide dogs.

Traffic restrictions could be introduced in Amhurst Road (Image: Hackney Council)

Hackney resident and ex-councillor Vincent Stops said restricting general traffic from Amhurst Road East would cut traffic volume by 35%, leading to fewer collisions.

He said a third of the junction's area will become footway, slowing motor traffic, and added that all road layouts should be simple and understandable.

Tyler Linton, assistant director of streetscene for the borough, said consultants had drawn up a scheme that accounted for segregated cycle paths, but that after a “multi-criteria” assessment, officers opted for a “simpler, pedestrian-focused design”.

While he acknowledged the JAT method, he argued that the design had been considered with other tools in line with government guidance.

The panel voted to uphold the council’s original decision by five to one.

But panel chair Margaret Gordon instructed council officers to include a JAT assessment of the design in their upcoming consultation process.

An HCC spokesperson said: “We expect the he result of that assessment in the consultation, as that will show just how poor their design is for cyclists’ safety.”