News on Railton Neighbourhood

Happy New Year!

This January we would like to take the time to celebrate all that the Big Shift has achieved in 2023. Most of these projects are ongoing so if you would like to get involved head to the Big Shift website for more information or email bigshift@lambeth.gov.uk if you have a question.

For updates on Big Shift projects, you can follow Lambeth’s social media accounts:

X (Formerly Twitter): @lambeth_Council

Instagram: @lambeth_Council

Facebook: Lambeth Council

Community Fund Parklets

The Big Shift launched the Community Fund Parklet scheme in April 2023. Phase 1 will see the installation of 6 parklets in early 2024 and the phase 2 application window is still open.

Community Fund Parklets allow for residents, schools and charities to apply to have a mini park on their street. These can create spaces for rest and socialising and bring some much-needed greenery to the streets.

Watch this space for exciting updates as they come!

Business Parklets

This year has seen the launch of not one but two parklet schemes for Lambeth! The Business Parklet scheme was launched in December 2023 and is open for applications currently.

Business Parklets differ from Community Fund Parklets in that they can be designed by the business to suit their needs. Individual businesses or groups of businesses can apply to have their own space in the kerbside.

Bike the Borough

The Big Shift and Cycle Confident held a mass bike ride of six primary schools in July 2023. The ride allowed the children from years 5 and 6 to show off their Bikeability skills and cap off the year with a bit of fun!

The students rode from Brockwell Park to Clapham Common and ended with a picnic in the park to celebrate.

The Big Shift and Cycle Confident have begun planning for the 2024 ride and hope to make it even bigger and better than last year!

Car Free Days

The Big Shift held three separate Car Free Day events throughout 2023. These events involved closing the streets to traffic and opening it up to the public.

The first was held across two days by Brixton Business Improvement District (BID) on Atlantic Road, in June, coinciding with the Lambeth Country Show and London Festival of Architecture. The street had music and activities for all ages, businesses spilled into the road and the extra space for pedestrians during the busy festival was welcomed by many.

The Hannen Road Car Free Day happened in early September. The event was run by Station to Station B, A Small Studio and University of Greenwich. Hannan Road had been highlighted located as a key site for flood risk reduction. The Big Shift Car Free Day aimed to reimagine the street by getting ideas and feedback from all road users as to how the space can be redesigned to increase greening and reduce vehicle dominance.

The last Big Shift Car Free Days of the year were held throughout September on Voltaire Road, in conjunction with Clapham BID. The street was shut to traffic from Friday evenings to Sunday evenings for four weekends. Businesses filled the streets and worked together to set up a performance space and seating for the public to sit and enjoy the show.

Community Influencers

September 2023 saw the launch of the second cohort of Community Influencers.

So far, the Influencers have received their bikes and have been braving the weather to have their cycle lessons with Peddle My Wheels. The influencers are brushing up on their skills and learning valuable safety tips about cycling in poor weather and darker conditions. As the weather slowly improves in 2024, they will be gearing up for even longer rides and making the most out of Lambeth cycle infrastructure to test out their skills.

Lambeth Council will be sharing their journeys over on our social media channels, follow along to see how anyone can make cycling part of their lifestyle.

OurBike

OurBike is our e-cargo bike sharing scheme that launched in 2022 and had its first full year in 2023. 2023 saw a switch up of one location but still a total of seven bikes throughout the borough.

In total, throughout 2023, there were 854 trips, the bikes were ridden for 2031 hours and travelled 3181 kilometres!

We also introduced a new introductory offer that gives new resident sign ups 60 minutes free and new business sign ups 180 minutes! Peddle My Wheels offer lessons for beginners, so if you haven’t given it a go, why not sign up in the new year and try something different?

Bike Markets

Bike Markets are run by Peddle My Wheels, they offer affordable, second-hand bikes and are a place to donate unwanted or outgrown cycles.

In 2023, 23 Bike Markets were held in Lambeth and total of 163 bikes were sold and 99 were donated.

Bikes that are donated are often serviced by UpCYCLE, a charity who help children learn cycling and bike maintenance skills. The serviced bikes were then sold at Bike Markets and have made £4379 to date! All of the money goes back to UpCYCLE to help them teach more children valuable cycling skills.

Try Before You Bike

Try Before You Bike is a scheme run by Peddle My Wheels that is designed to help people try out cycling before committing to buying a bike.

In 2023 there were 63 applications to Try Before You Bike!

Dr Bike

Our Dr Bike session provide the public with free information on bike maintenance and offers the opportunity for the public to get their bike fixed for free.

Lambeth saw 62 Dr Bike sessions in 2023 and in total 1147 bikes were serviced!

Your Streets Your Way

2023 saw the second round of Lambeth’s Your Streets Your Way competition. We had 9 new locations and 9 new winners.

Work has started to make the winner’s designs a reality and we are excited to share updates with you as the work progresses. The first location to be completed is Chestnut Road, where a mural celebrating the area’s historical connection to the Great North Wood has been painted by Simon Hills. If you are in the area, check it out!