What campaigns does Tower Hamlets Wheelers support?

Updated

Tower Hamlets Wheelers backs street changes that make cycling and walking safer and easier in the East End of London. Its campaign work centres on Liveable Streets schemes, traffic reduction, and the borough's transport strategy — and it has publicly pushed residents to respond to council consultations on those topics. If you want to know what the group is campaigning for right now, its news page and email groups are the places to check, since the list below reflects what was posted on its site.

Liveable Streets schemes

The group has campaigned in support of several Liveable Streets proposals, which are council schemes that use traffic filters and street redesign to cut through-traffic in residential areas. Posts on its site call for action on:

  • Bow Liveable Streets — including a specific post asking for a more ambitious traffic reduction scheme covering Harley Grove and Coborn Street.
  • Barkantine — a post titled "Bring Liveable Streets to Barkantine – Act Now".
  • Bethnal Green — a post titled "Act now to support the Bethnal Green Liveable Streets scheme".

In each case the ask is the same: residents and supporters respond to the council's consultation so the scheme goes ahead or is strengthened. If you live or ride in one of these areas, that is the practical action the group is requesting.

Traffic reduction and street change

Beyond individual schemes, the group's posts show a broader position on how streets should be used:

  • A post titled "Walking & cycling during Covid-19 - our call to change streets for people", linking cycling and walking provision to changes in how road space is allocated.
  • The Harley Grove and Coborn Street post, which asks for a more ambitious traffic reduction scheme in Bow rather than a weaker version.

The pattern is that the group supports measures that reduce motor traffic on residential streets, on the basis that this makes cycling and walking more attractive.

Borough transport strategy and elections

The group engages with formal council processes, not just street-level schemes:

  • It posted a call to support Tower Hamlets' draft Transport Strategy.
  • It posted "What will the new borough administration do for cycling?", raising cycling as an issue around a change in borough leadership.
  • It co-hosted or promoted a Tower Hamlets Walking and Cycling Hustings on Thursday 21 April, an event where candidates are questioned on walking and cycling policy.

These are the points where individual residents can have a say: responding to the transport strategy consultation, attending hustings, and asking candidates and councillors about cycling.

Recognition

The group's news list includes "Tower Hamlets Wheelers wins LCC awards" — recognition from the London Cycling Campaign, the organisation it is affiliated with as a borough group.

How to follow or take part in the campaigns

The site lists these channels for campaign updates and calls to action:

  • Email groups — subscribe to one of the group's email groups to keep in touch with cycling issues, rides and events in Tower Hamlets.
  • Twitter — follow @thwheelers.
  • Facebook — the group has a Facebook page.
  • YouTube — the group has a channel.

Consultation responses themselves go through the council, not the group: the site directs people to Tower Hamlets council's online Report It forms for reporting potholes and other road defects, and the Liveable Streets posts link to council consultations.

What this means if you want to act

If you agree with the group's direction, the concrete steps its posts point to are: respond to the relevant Liveable Streets consultation for your area, respond to the borough transport strategy consultation, report road defects through the council's Report It forms, and join an email group to hear about the next call to action. The group's own news page is the authoritative and most current list — campaign status changes as consultations open and close.