Southampton Cycling Campaign Newsletter January 2006 Welcome to the January 2006 Southampton Cycling Campaign Newsletter. In this issue we cover national and local news. Firstly the Cycling Demonstration Towns - hopefully Southampton will watch progress on these with interest, and learn some lessons! Also included are details on the London Road scheme, letters from members about local issues, and how to get hold of the revised City Bike Guide. We also send our sympathies to the schoolboy hurt on barbed wire, and hope that he has now made a full recovery. If you have any cycling issues to discuss, or any cycle matters that you would like me to investigate then please let me know. That just leaves me to wish everyone a very happy and prosperous new year, and happy cycling 2006! (Except the b*****d who stole my husband's bike from our shed in November...) debbie.back@bigfoot.com In this issue... Cycling Demonstration Towns Announced page 1 Six towns to received nearly £17 million to promote cycling Road Schemes in Southampton page 2 What are the council doing to London Road? Wanted: House for Cyclists page 3 Izzy vents her frustration! Shared-use path on West side of The Avenue? page 4 Letter from Eva Drinkwater and reply from the Council Bike boy hurt in barbed wire trap page 5 Local boy hurt in "prank" New City Bike Guide page 6 How to get your copy Cycle Training page 6 An update from Hampshire Cycle Training Southampton Cycling Campaign Accounts page 7 Contact Information and Membership application page 8 Press Release, Department for Transport, 20 October 2005 http://www.dft.gov.uk/pns/displaypn.cgi?pn_id=2005_0104 Cycling Demonstration Towns Announced Six towns in England will share in nearly £17 million to promote cycling, Transport Minister Derek Twigg announced today. The new Cycling Demonstration Towns will lead the way in encouraging local people to use pedal power. The funds will be used to make the environment more cyclist friendly, offering safety training and promotion to encourage take up. Under the scheme, the towns will receive a total of £8.4 million Government funding over three years and this investment will be matched by the local authority. The new Cycling Demonstration Towns are: Brighton, Darlington, Derby, Exeter, Lancaster and Aylesbury. They were chosen following recommendations from Cycling England - an independent expert body set up by the Department for Transport last March. Derek Twigg said: "I am delighted to announce the six towns which have been chosen to lead the way in promoting cycling across England and I congratulate Cycling England on the work they have done so far. Cycling is a fun, healthy and environmentally friendly way to travel. Research has shown cycling can improve fitness and reduce obesity which can cause serious health problems. This investment shows Government is committed to encouraging more people to take up cycling in all or part of their journeys." Chairman of Cycling England, Phillip Darnton said: "We want to support towns to work with local schools, hospitals, employers and the wider community to demonstrate the real benefits that cycling can bring: from reducing congestion to increasing levels of physical activity. People want to cycle and we must work together to help them do so more safely and more often." National Cycling Strategy Board Secretariat Tel: 0870 043 4070, tal@dft.gsi.gov.uk As some of you will have noticed, there are in fact six towns that have been selected, although the funding was originally for five towns. Apparently there is a large development programme in Aylesbury, and so this has been included as an opportunity to integrate cycling within the development. The Cycling Demonstration Towns were chosen from a shortlist of 9 local authorities, from 32 that expressed an interest. Each town will receive £500,000 per year for 3 years, with Aylesbury receiving £300,000 per year for 3 years. Road Schemes in Southampton Information from the Southampton City Council website. London Road Improvement Scheme "Work will begin in mid-October on transforming London Road into a people-friendly street. New pedestrian crossings will be installed across Brunswick Place at London Road and across Bedford Place at Cumberland Place. This is due to be finished in November. Because of the new crossing, vehicles will be banned from turning left into Bedford Place from Cumberland Place. This is being implemented under an experimental traffic order. Residents and traders can lodge objections to the order during the six-month trial. There will also be temporary restrictions on all traffic entering and exiting Bedford Place onto Cumberland Place during the roadworks. Diversion routes will be signposted. The next phase, starting in January 2006, will see traffic banned from turning right out of London Road into Cumberland Place. This is also being implemented under an experimental order and objections can be lodged. The main improvements to London Road are due to start in Spring 2006. This is when work will be completed on the section between Ordnance Road and Vernon Walk, as well as the junction with Carlton Crescent and Belle Vue Road. A further phase, to complete work south towards Brunswick Place, is currently programmed for 2007. The start of the roadworks comes just six months after the proposals were unveiled in London Road. Following comments received during the exhibition, the design has been modified and was formally approved in July. Changes from the original proposal include reversing the direction of the angled parking bays, slightly increasing the road width and moving the taxi rank to the end of Carlton Crescent. For more information email nss.team@southampton.gov.uk or telephone 023 8083 4553." http://www.southampton.gov.uk/transport/citycentreimprovements/london_road_exhib.asp#0 (the design map can also be downloaded as a pdf from this page) Southampton Cycling Campaign commented on these proposals at the planning stage. Eric also sent a follow up letter to the council with some further comments as we are concerned about the safety of cyclists due to the narrow carriageway widths, and the bus stops which impede the cycle lane. As this newsletter went to press, Eric received a response from Philip Marshall, Principal Officer Transport Engineering, which we will discuss in the January meeting. Debbie. For up-to-date details of this and other works please see http://www.southampton.gov.uk/transport/citycentreimprovements/default.asp#0 Wanted: House for cyclists Izzy, via email I've recently started looking to buy a house. I've saved up some money (I don't own a car!) and have stepped out eagerly hoping to find something moderately suitable. My needs are simple, I'd like a garden, an reasonable kitchen and somewhere to store my bike. Well, I've visited quite a number of places, even some that I liked. Off-road parking (the cemented ex- front garden) has been eagerly presented to me. But bike storage has not. We did find a house to suit, except for the cycle parking. With the only access to the garden being through the house, we looked into putting a porch on the front. Crazy fools! A porch? You'll have to get planning permission for that! (Its within 2 meters of a public footpath). There is no consideration of the purpose to which we'd put the porch. For years I've cycled for the benefit of the City (yes, I really did think like that), but the City owes me nothing. Its quite loopy when you think about it. If you want to get people cycling, you need to catch them young before they get the habit of using their cars for work and family. Yet these young people are the ones who tend to live in flats and terraces, many of which have no provision for cycle storage. I realise that there are now regulations that new flat developments must have cycle storage, but what about the considerable volume of older housing stock? It seems that everyone demands a space for their car, even if its on the road (look at Malmesbury Road, for instance). But can I demand a space for my bike? Like, duh! It seems that you have to have money to cycle. Yet cycling itself is so wonderfully cheap and available to everyone. Speaking to friends I have heard several times "I would like to cycle, but there's nowhere to store a bike". Does anyone even know the proportion of housing in Southampton that does not have storage for bikes? Do City planners ever consider why there seems to be such a low upper limit to the number of cyclists? Perhaps housing is one of several factors that should be addressed in a joined-up policy on transport? There have been moments, as I've wheezed up another hill into the darkest outreaches of the city in the vain hope of finding somewhere liveable that I've thought, "why don't I just get a car?" ;-) Shared-use path on West side of The Avenue? Eva Drinkwater; via letter "Now that we have pedestrian traffic lights at Bassett Ave - Burgess Road crossroads I feel it would be an asset to cyclists if the footpath on the West side of The Avenue could be a shared pedestrian/cyclist path joining up with the cycle paths at the Cowherds Inn. It would be of great benefit to cyclists who need to ride from the North in and out of Southampton to work etc. instead of battling with the traffic on the morning drag." Response from Dale Bostock, Cycling Development Officer, Southampton City Council; "There are two answers to this one. Currently the routes to "bypass" the Avenue traffic is as follows: I travel in from Chandlers Ford and use the shared cycle facilities on the footway that lead from Chilworth to the Common. This entails the toucan crossing near Chilworth Roundabout then going south on the eastern side as far as Glen Eyre Road. Glen Eyre Road then leads to a Cycle Crossing at Burgess Road. The cycle path is shared through to Highfield Lane, by using the toucan crossing at this location I can cross into Highfield Road. By turning right opposite Khartoum Road the shared path goes under the Avenue and into the main area of the Common. Just before the Lakes I turn right and this path, known as Coronation Drive, leads directly to the Cowherds. On many occasions I have followed cyclists along Highfield Road and as I turn right into the common they have continued straight on - they are then using Lovers Walk illegally, as it is a footpath, so that they arrive at Winn Road opposite the Cowherds. As they have to wait for the Toucan at St Andrews Church I am actually ahead of them as they have waited to cross Winn, Westwood and the Avenue to get to the cycle lane that runs south from Northlands Road! The above route is all very easy and relaxing as it is mostly traffic free, Glen Eyre Road is quite comfortable. Another option to this is to use the shared facility from Chilworth to Winchester Road ( both sides are cycle routes), then use the eastern side shared cycle facility down to Burgess Road. By crossing over in to the Common the cycle routes then go via Coronation drive to the Cowherds. For the future We are currently designing a cycle facility directly from the Cowherds to Burgess Road, this is not as easy as it sounds due to the environmental, ecology, and legal issues that surround this historic piece of common land. It will need to de designed sensitively and balance the needs of all users pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles." From the BBC News website, 22 October 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4365616.stm "Bike boy hurt in barbed wire trap An eight-year-old boy has been left with facial injuries after cycling into barbed wire fencing stretched across a road as part of a "prank", police said. The schoolboy, from Totton, Southampton, suffered several cuts and scratches in the incident as he cycled to school on Friday morning. Police said the wiring narrowly missed one of his eyes. Pc Stuart Tribbec said: "This was a particularly nasty incident and could have resulted in serious injury." He added that someone could have been "messing about" without realising the seriousness of the injuries it could cause. Police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward." New City Bike Guide Southampton City Council have now published a revised Southampton City Bike Guide. Copies are available from Dale Bostock, Cycling Development Officer. Dale.Bostock@Southampton.gov.uk Tel: 023 8083 2366 Cycle Training Hampshire Cycle Training has gone from strength to strength this year and is encouraged by the recent funding initiatives announced by Cycling England to increase training provision. Over the summer months nearly 1000 hours of professional instruction was provided to nearly 300 children and adults, as many more people are seeing the need for good cycling skills. The enjoyable courses commence with cycle control and off-road skill practice, followed by riding on quiet roads before introduction to more specific traffic situations. The cyclists learn how to judge traffic conditions and how to develop that all important 'road sense'. Training is suitable for both children and adults. Training usually finishes with a guided route, such as from home to school, workplace or shopping area, looking at all the various situations encountered. Confidence building and awareness techniques are brought to the fore. In addition, HCT has taught nearly 30 complete beginners to ride from scratch including many adults who have seen the wide range of benefits cycling offers, from reducing the school run to improving health. As well as working with individuals, school groups and businesses, HCT has been training riders with various levels of personal difficulty and handicap, for whom the freedom and sense of achievement is so important. These include riders with such difficulties as cerebral palsy, aspergers and deafness. During School holidays very popular special introductory sessions have also been held throughout the area and these are set to continue. A programme for 2006 will soon appear on the website. Maintenance and refresher courses have been organised as part of Company Travel Plans and sessions have been held for community groups such as cubs in their badgework. Links with other qualified instructors are growing and it is hoped that 2006 will see a much greater take up of training following the CTC and Cycling England initiatives. If anyone would like to assist or work with HCT, please be in touch. Just call us on 07963 237619 or email: enquiries@hampshirecycletraining.org.uk. It is great fun and very satisfying. John Buckley Hampshire Cycle Training Accounts from April 2004 – October 2005 Current Account Income B/fwd from last year £632.54 Membership 521.00 Uncashed cheque (no. 170) 60.00 Balance £1213.54 Expenditure Rent £192.00 Newsletters Printing 222.00 Stationary/stamps 60.00 Website 8.00 Balance £482.00 Income £1213.54 Expenditure 482.00 Balance of account £731.54 Sue Colborne Cycle Events None that I've been notified about! However, please check out the website, www.southamptoncyclingcampaign.org.uk for up-to-date information. Get in touch Chairperson Eric Reed. Tel: 02380 497512 E-mail: ericliz@reed27.wanadoo.co.uk Membership 39 Swift Road, Woolston, Southampton, SO19 9FP. Want something raised at a meeting? Call or e-mail Eric. Or e-mail agenda@southamptoncycling.org.uk. And finally, to keep our meetings on track, how about getting that winge out of your system by emailing winge@southamptoncycling.org.uk Meetings at 19:45 every 2nd Monday of the month (except August) at Friends Meeting House, Ordnance Road. This newsletter is available online at www.southamptoncyclingcampaign.org.uk Membership application Join us and help make a difference! Name Address Telephone Email Annual fee (please circle) £10 Waged / £5 Unwaged Return this form with your fee to SCC Membership Secretary, 39 Swift Road, Woolston, Southampton, SO19 9FP Cheques payable to Southampton Cycling Campaign, please. Southampton Cycling Campaign Newsletter January 2006