Cyclenation AGM advance notice
Notice is hereby given to all member groups that the AGM will take place on May 12th 2012 to be held at Carrs Lane Church Centre Birmingham starting at 11am. If any member group has any motion that they wish to be considered by the AGM the secretary must receive it at the latest 28 days before the AGM, ie 21st April.
The board intends to bring forward an amendment to the articles of association to allow for additional members of the board to be coopted to allow for a more representative and balanced board.

After the AGM & Lunch there is an (optional of course) Ride to Leicester via Market Bosworth: About 45 miles with two shorter options:  dropping off at Coles Hill for trains on the Birmingham – Leicester line, or Atherstone ( about 20 miles) for trains between London Euston and Crewe. Leicester is on the Sheffield  - London Midland Mainline as well as having train services between Birmingham and Stansted Airport via Cambridge.

Market Bosworth, close to the Battle of Bosworth site, is an interesting market town with a campsite, pubs, steam railway, canal and estate grounds.

Leicester has been making news with its groundbreaking policy of allowing cycling in the City Centre. Our final stop will be in the historic New Walk area, and the London Rd ‘Golden Mile’ of curry houses isn’t far away. 

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#585.

Transcription of Justine Greening’s Reply to Andre Curtis’ offer to meet and discuss ‘cycling issues’

Dear Andre,

Thank you for your letter of Wednesday 19 October 2011 suggesting a meeting to discuss cycling issues.

The Government is committed to support sustainable travel, including walking and cycling, as set out in the Coalition agreement. We have made available £560m over the next 4 years for projects under the local sustainable transport fund and have committed to support Bikeability cycle training for the remainder of this parliament.

As you know, we have also created a national Cycling Forum, chaired by Norman Baker MP. Thank you for your involvement in this forum, and I hope you will continue to contribute in the future. I believe the group will play and important role in bringing all interested parties together to discuss real action towards our shared goal of promoting cycling as a safe, healthy and green travel choice.

I assure you I will keep touch with Norman Baker on relevant issues from this group and I wish you luck on your on-going work.

Best wishes

Justine Greening

So that’ll be a ‘No thanks’ then?

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#584.

Cyclenation have written a briefing note in response to the recent articles in the Times- please take the time to read it, we think it is worth a read!

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#583.

Parliamentary Briefing from the UK Cycling Alliance read this collaborative document to present a united front at the Cycle Safety Debate:

Thursday 23rd February: 1430-1730:

Westminster Hall

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#582.

We helped see off that billion pound gamble and, to their credit, the Government has been asking people for new ideas in the A14 Challenge. My colleague Sian has put together a great set of ideas with help from local groups in Cambridgeshire which can cut congestion and protect the environment.

A key part of our approach is to avoid pretending that everyone just goes from point A on a road to point B. Instead we think you need a package of measures for the different kinds of trips that people make, which all add to congestion. You can read more about our plan here. We need sustainable solutions to our transport problems – not the simplistic solution of bigger roads

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#581.

Download a poster

Andre has had a reply declining his invitation to meet and talk about cycling with Justine Greening

It says the governement is committed to supporting sustainable travelincluding walking and cycling blah, blah, blah and seems to suggest that all cycling issues will be sorted through the LSTF!

Wow, what will we do when its all been sorted in the next 4 years?

Nevermind we can still have our say through the National Cycling Forum, although the experience of government or local government cycling fora is often that they are talking shops to keep the real campaigning quiet!

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#580.

National Bike Week, the UK’s biggest mass participation cycling event, will be taking place between 16 – 24 June 2012.

Registration for Bike Week events opens at the end of February. Please visit www.bikeweek.org.uk for further information.

Bike Week began as a grass-roots organisation in 1923, and provides a national umbrella for locally organised events and activities up and down the UK. In 2011, almost half a million participants took part in almost 2,000 events across the UK.

In recent years Bike Week has benefited from sponsorship from Nokia, and most recently, been a headline event in EDF Energy’s Team Green Britain campaign. In 2012, the event is currently seeking a sponsor and other commercial partners, but the support from the cycle industry (via Bike Hub) and Transport for London has enabled Bike Week to carry on hosting this nationwide event.

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#579.

The ogre of cycling danger is constantly with us in the media, local authorities and other groups, impeding our efforts to get more people cycling more often.

From Facilities to Helmets, Networks to Cycling Standards you’ll know that the truth gets trampled. But rebutting misinformation and criticisms of cycling is far from easy.

Be under no illusion we are up against increasingly stiff opposition, despite all the pro cycling rhetoric and strategies. Ironically much comes from quarters which claim to promote cycling oblivious to the fact that they’re doing exactly the opposite.

To help you fully understand the issues, get the facts at your fingertips and ready to engage locally with the media, councils and others Cyclenation has arranged a conference. We are bringing together a range of experts, not just from the world of cycling, but also from the likes of the Transport and Health Study Group, mainly epidemiologists and other medical professionals .

The full programme is being finalised but will cover the relative risks associated with cycling together with the health benefits .It’s important to have at least one delegate from each Cyclenation group up to speed . They would probably already have concerns over this aspect of campaigning, but anyone else wanting to gain an understanding would come away far better informed.

It’s free to Cyclenation members and CTC right to ride reps (although you or your local group will have to fund travel and lunch) .

Time and Place Saturday 21st April 2012, 10.30 for an 11.00 start to about 4pm at Carr’s Lane Church Centre Birmingham.

http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/

Originally posted at http://www.cyclenation.org.uk/news.php#578.

The comment was made in response to a deputation from Portsmouth Cycle Forum where the experimental traffic regulation order changing the direction of traffic on this one-way street was made permanent.

Senior Traffic Engineer, Barry Rawlings, advised that a study should be carried out to ensure that two-way cycling would be safe. He said that the road is narrower than most roads in the city where two-way cycling is currently permitted.

Cycle Forum Chairman, John Holland said, “We welcome the decision to consider two-way cycling in Charlotte Street. The road could form part of a vital east-west link for cyclists linking the city centre with Unicorn Gate and routes to Gunwharf Quays. Whilst we acknowledge that the road is narrow, parking is not permitted anywhere along its length. The available carriageway width is no different from most other one-way streets in Portsmouth with two-way cycling where vehicles are parked on both sides of the road.”

Cllr Fazackarley invited members of the Forum to participate in the study which will include a site meeting.

It is the City Council’s policy that two-way cycling should be established on one-way streets where it is safe and sensible to do so. Several one-way roads within the city now have two-way cycling and all have 20mph speed limits in force. A recent Government decision has relaxed the rules on signage for permitting two-way cycling.