Southampton Cycling Campaign

Welcome to the website for Southampton Cycling Campaign. Here you will find information about us and our strategy as well as information about cycling in Southampton. Members of the campaign range enormously from occasional cyclists to daily cycle-commuters and their views can vary accordingly. However, all are committed to ensuring that cycling is a viable option for transport and leisure throughout the city. If you are interested in finding out more about these campaigns or can offer some support, please contact us. We meet on the second Monday of every month (except August) upstairs at the Friends Meeting House, Ordnance Road (map). Enter through the side door. Meet at 19:30 for tea and biscuits, with business from 20:00. Everyone is welcome.

Title: Special meeting to discuss Southampton Local Transport Plan
Location: Malvern pub, Winchester Road, Southampton
Description: Southampton City Council has asked Southampton Cycling Campaign, as a “stakeholder”, to respond to the new Lcal Transport Plan by 31st December. As there will not be time at the Dec meeting it has been decided to have an informal meeting to discuss the LTP and draw up a response which ensures that cycling is prioritised as the means of meeting the LTP targets – health, access, sustainability, economy etc. As the LTP will be in place for 15 years it is important to get it right.
Start Time: 19:30
Date: 2009-12-07
End Time: 22:00

This path has been used since time immemorial by cyclists to travel between the A27 and Warsash. It gives access to Sustrans Route 2 east to the Gosport ferry and Pompei and west via the Hamble ferry to Southampton. Recently NO CYCLING signs have been placed along the path and a very aggressively-worded sign prominently placed by the ferry landing saying that the land is privately owned (by HCC), cycling is not allowed on the path and the police intend to monitor the situation, challenge cyclists and take action. Walkers are encouraged to challenge cyclists as well!

I am sure some members of SCC will be familiar with this path and will not be aware of the new restriction. The path has never been a designated shared use path but local custom has always accepted cycling.

After investigations by Portsmouth Cycle Forum it transpires that Hampshire County Council will take into account evidence of continued cycle use of this path, and may adopt this as a shared use path:

I am happy to clarify that anyone is free to make an application to demonstrate that rights exist over a route other than those that are already recorded. In this instance I believe that you are seeking to demonstrate that the route is wrongly recorded as a Footpath as you believe that the path has been used by the public at large on bicycles for a long period and therefore ‘higher’ rights have been acquired. As I explained on the phone, this use needs to be for an uninterrupted period of 20 years or more before the use was called into question.

Applications should be made in the correct way to the County Council, supported by the relevant evidence. It is our job to assess the evidence and to decide whether it is sufficient to warrant the making of an Order to change the status of the route (to show higher rights than just Footpath).

It is therefore imperative that all those who have cycled the path during the last 20 years, and who feel it should remain open to cyclists, should complete a “user evidence form”.

Joanne Newell has kindly agreed to collate responses and submit them to HCC. Here are the instructions from Joanne:

Please find attached the 5 page User Evidence form (Questions 1 – 19 plus map)

Please complete the form, and also highlight on the map the route you have cycled (The map is not terribly clear so I have included an attachment which shows a map with the highlighted route)

If you can forward the form on to anyone else who can provide evidence of use, then that would be helpful.

Please return completed forms to:- 9 Gray Close, Warsash, Southampton, SO31 9TB.

I have put my name forward to collate these forms, as there is another section which needs completing before they can be submitted, and it may be off-putting for some people, as notices have to be served on landowners etc. Therefore if you wish me to collate your forms into one pack, then please return to me. If you wish to submit your own full application, you need to contact Sylvia at Hampshire County Council on 01962 841841 for the full pack.

From the Daily Telegraph:

Geoffrey Williams

A British adventurer who used the same bike to travel more than 30,000 miles through over 30 countries has had the cycle stolen from his backgarden.

Geoffrey Williams, 53, pedalled across the vast Sahara Desert and escaped from a Hungarian jail during his epic travels on the 1949 touring bike.

He also narrowly avoided being shot by border guards as he travelled from Hungary to the old Yugoslavia with nephew Philip ‘Phizzy’ Middleton, 42.

The cycle has survived numerous crashes including one which was so serious that Mr Williams had to undergo surgery on his back.

But now the yellow bike, nicknamed Celia, has gone missing after thieves managed to negotiate 7ft-high gates, a metal chain and two padlocks.

If you have any information about the stolen bike, please contact Hampshire Police.

Change4Life is here to help families eat well, move more and live longer. A great way to keep active and stay healthy – and spend time together as a family – is getting out and about on a bike.

Nearly anyone, at any age, can learn to ride a bike. Bike4Life offers useful cycling tips and information, from advice on buying a bike to fun ways to make a trip even more enjoyable.

For ideas to help families in your area get on their bikes, visit www.nhs.uk/change4life and click on ‘partners and supporters’ to download the Bike4Life toolkit (or follow our link on this page).

SIMPLY FABULOUS
Location: BELLEMOOR RD ENTRANCE TO SOUTHAMPTON COMMON
Description: SIMPLY FABULOUS this SATURDAY Oct 24 sees the launch of a new group aimed at ladies who would cycle more if only . . . . . . . . .

* the roads were safer and
* motorists didn’t terrorise them
* they didn’t feel self conscious and
* it didn’t rain so often
* they didn’t get sweaty or
* have to dress in lycra
* they didn’t have to wear a helmet and
* they were a bit fitter
* they had more time and
* more people did it and
* it was NORMAL . . . .

MEET US 1015 AT BELLEMOOR RD ENTRANCE TO SOUTHAMPTON COMMON AND LET US DISPEL THESE MYTHS and show you how to be simply fabulous. JOIN US FOR A GENTLE RIDE WITH A COFFEE STOP PERHAPS AND WE’LL BE BACK BY NOON.
NO CHARGE (EXCEPT MAYBE A CAKE WITH MY COFFEE?)

Dilys Gartside
CycleWise ‘change your travel habits’
t. 023 8077 7472
e. CycleWise@aol.com
Start Time: 10:15
Date: 2010-10-24
End Time: 12:00

Are you are sick and tired of vehicles blocking cycle lanes? Mybikelane.com is a website where you can upload photos and have a bit of a rant, without getting into an altercation with an angry driver. There are already sites for http://london.mybikelane.com/ and Oxford, many containing pictures of ice cream vans.

I have created Southampton as a new city on the site, so if cars parked in cycle lanes are getting you down, photograph them and post anonymously here: http://southampton.mybikelane.com/post/add

‘Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You’ is often the excuse drivers use after a collision with a cyclist, and such incidents are sometimes not taken seriously by the police and legal system. To try and put an end to this culture, CTC has launched a new campaign called Stop SMIDSY – because sometimes sorry just isn’t enough. We are calling on all cyclists to add their voices to the new campaign by encouraging them to report crashes and near misses on the Stop SMIDSY website, in order to build up a picture of how cyclists are treated by other road users, with the ultimate aim of transforming attitudes to bad driving. The website also enables you to report dangerous and threatening behaviour, as well as find information on the law, get practical tips on dealing with bad driving and seek legal support via CTC’s Accident Line.

The latest newsletter (October 09) is available for download in [pdf] or [MS Word] formats. Highlights of this issue include:

• Forthcoming Events
• Cycling in Above Bar
• Members discount
• Cycle Forum
• Southampton Rights of Way
• Cycle lanes can make roads more dangerous for cyclists
• Going against the flow
• Sustrans “motion for women” petition
• Stop ‘Smidsy’
• Car free day
• Bikes on trains
• Contact Information and Membership application

Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighbourhood blocks to remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated society.

But we do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to “normal” life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities, and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists, and other people who do not drive cars.

Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars…365 days a year.

As the climate heats up, World Carfree Day is the perfect time to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport, instead of to the automobile.

So take the time, browse the links and resources provided, and join in on the celebrations!

http://www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd/

Many of you will know Gerry of Toppers the hairdresser in Shirley as someone with a lovely smile, a kind word and a readiness always to help. For many months Gerry and his pal have been busy planning a sponsored bike ride of the South Downs Way to raise funds for Eastleigh Friends of People with Learning Disabilities Regd Charity No 1040278. However, sometime between last Tues night and Fri morning 2-3 Sept, Gerry was the victim of a mean burglar who entered his home and took all of his three bicycles just hours before the big day. A lesser man would have been defeated by this but Gerry, unwilling to let down his sponsors, set off on foot at 6.30am and walked – YES, WALKED – the 36 mile route which crosses rough and stony ground for much of its way.

Just maybe Bike Burglar or someone in the know will see this letter and have their conscience touched. As with most cyclists, Gerry’s bikes mean much more to him than the money they may fetch – they are an extension of him and his means of transport.

A full description of the bikes can be seen at www.southamptoncyclingcampaign.org.uk but please look out for them.

• Bike 1 is a ‘Fort’ black road bike
• Bike 2 is a ‘Scott’ red, black & silver mountain bike
• Bike 3 is a ‘Trek’ green & silver hybrid bike

You can return the bikes to Gerry directly or to a local Police Station but do tell them the burglary address or the bikes may never get back to him. As a reward for their return, I am offering a National Standard road cycling skills two lessons course with no questions asked.

Dilys Gartside – Nationally Accredited Cycling Instructor
CycleWise ‘change your travel habits’
t. 023 8077 7472
http://www.cyclewisesouthampton.co.uk/