The London Cycling Campaign backs the pedestrian improvements but wants a bolder redesign of the Great Eastern Street and Curtain Road junction
Cyclists’ Campaign Says TfL’s Shoreditch Junction Plan Is Too Timid: a Score of 10 Out of 40
The London Cycling Campaign backs the pedestrian improvements but wants a bolder redesign of the Great Eastern Street and Curtain Road junction
By Harper-Thames, Shoreditch correspondent
The Response
The London Cycling Campaign submitted its response to TfL’s Shoreditch road safety consultation on 10 February 2025, in a document published on its website. It opposes the Great Eastern Street and Curtain Road junction design as proposed. It supports the pedestrian improvements and the ban on the eastbound left turn from Great Eastern Street into Curtain Road, but considers the scheme too limited to meet the Mayor’s Transport Strategy or net zero goals. It also supports the response submitted by the Hackney Cycling Campaign.
This is a campaigning organisation’s view, and it should be read as one. It is also a detailed technical response with data, which is worth setting beside TfL’s own account.
The Criticisms
The LCC says the design would lock in hostile conditions for decades and does not meet Vision Zero or mode-share targets. It argues that advanced stop lines and early release signals are inadequate for this location, that the scheme appears to prioritise keeping buses and private motor traffic moving over safety and cycling amenity, and that it falls short of standards TfL and some boroughs have delivered elsewhere.
It also lists specific movements that it says would be impossible or present critical safety risks, including right turns out of the southern arm of Curtain Road and the eastern arm of Great Eastern Street, and a left turn from New Inn Yard into Great Eastern Street.
The Data
The LCC cites its Junction Assessment Tool, which scores the junction 25 percent, or 10 out of 40. In its analysis of dangerous junctions, it ranks the junction second for cycling and sixth for pedestrians in London. It notes that a man cycling at the junction died in August 2023, more than 30 days after the collision, so its ranking excludes him, although TfL lists the death among London fatalities.
It also cites TfL’s Strategic Cycling Analysis of 2022, which identifies the Shoreditch High Street north-south alignment as top cycling potential, and Bethnal Green Road as a medium-potential corridor. On the LCC’s dangerous junctions list, Shoreditch High Street ranks 34th and Bethnal Green Road 24th.
What They Want
The campaign asks for dramatic, strategic changes to the junction rather than incremental ones, and a review of the network across the wider area, including where private motor traffic should and should not go. It suggests making at least one east-west route in the Shoreditch triangle bus and cycle only, and reconsidering whether Old Street and Great Eastern Street should remain open to private motor traffic.
It also asks TfL to study safer designs used by boroughs and authorities outside London and to lobby government to enable further innovation in junction design. It wants strategic consideration of the Shoreditch High Street and Bethnal Green Road junctions.
The Other Side
The LCC’s response does not represent every user of the area. Bus operators, taxi drivers, delivery firms and local businesses have interests in how traffic moves, and TfL’s own proposal tries to balance them. Hackney’s cabinet member said the proposals support the council’s goals, and the Walking and Cycling Commissioner said the junctions are among the most dangerous in London.
A bolder scheme would cost more, take longer and affect more people. A timid one would be built sooner. The honest question is which risk is worse.
What the Score Means
The Junction Assessment Tool is the campaign’s own method, not TfL’s. A score of 10 out of 40 means the junction meets a quarter of the criteria the campaign applies, such as protection from motor traffic, crossing provision and turning conflicts. The tool is useful for comparing junctions on a consistent basis, and critics can reasonably say that a campaign’s tool reflects the campaign’s priorities.
TfL uses different measures, among them collision data and modelled traffic flows. The two approaches are not contradictory. They answer different questions: how safe is it now, and how well does the design match a standard the campaign believes in.
What Happens Next
TfL’s page says the project is at the final report stage and that a further consultation on the Shoreditch High Street junction will follow. The LCC and Hackney Cycling Campaign will no doubt respond again. Residents who care can sign up for TfL updates and respond when the next consultation opens.
The mayoral change in Hackney in May adds another voice. A new administration may push for a bolder junction, though I have no evidence yet that it will.
Reading the Funny Page Alongside the Data
Readers meet comedy and reporting in the same feed, so it helps to know the difference. On one overseas property story, see Manila News, the London Prat (see https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and Bohiney: each starts from a recognisable market fact and signals its tone through exaggeration. More material sits at prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, there is always NewsBiscuit.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/
