News

Cycling Champion appointed

Monday, 30th June 2008

Hertfordshire have followed a suggestion from Cycling England and appointed a "Cycling Champion". He is Herts County Councillor Roy Clements (Conservative), a councillor since 2001 for the Three Rivers district. Roy attended the recent St Albans Cycling Campaign AGM and the Herts Cycle Forum. He is also a member of the Highways Transport Panel.

Cllr Roy Clements
119 Oaklands Avenue,
Oxhey Hall,
Watford,
Herts
WD19 4TN

He has asked Herts County Councillor John Metcalf (Labour), to assist him. John has been a councillor since 1980 for Borehamwood North (Hertsmere). Also on the Highways Transport Panel, he is a keen and regular utilitarian cyclist. John is always at the Herts Cycling Forum.

Cllr John Metcalf
53 Cunningham Road,
St Albans,
Hertfordshire
AL1 5BX

Discount at Mountain Mania Revived

Saturday, 29th March 2008

Mountain Mania in Miswell Lane, Tring, have agreed to reintroduce a 10% discount to Tring Cycling Campaign members. This discount applies to parts and accessories, but not to complete bikes and special offers. To obtain this useful concession membership cards must be produced.

The shop has a new manager but is still owned by Balfa, a Canadian manufacturer of high end mountain bikes. However the Tring shop stock a wide range of equipment and road bikes including Trek so are able to meet all cyclists needs.

Review of 2007 presented at the AGM

Thursday, 6th March 2008

500% Increase in Government Cash for Cycling

Friday, 25th January 2008

On Monday (20 Jan.) Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly announced that the Government will give Cycling England £140 million. The cash will be allocated over the next three years, £20m in 2008/9 and £60m in the following two years, and used primarily to give half a million more 10-year-olds across England cycle training. CTC’s Director Kevin Mayne welcomed the news as they have been calling for a serious increase in investment in cycling ever since the National Cycling Strategy was announced 12 years ago.

This new funding is very close to the £70m annual budget which Cycling England had called for in its business plan “bike for the future 11”. For information on this programme visit www.cyclingengland.org.uk.

British Waterways Code for Cyclists

Monday, 10th December 2007

An item of particular interest to towpath cyclists.

BWB have updated their good behaviour code for cyclists. They no longer say there should be no riding at night, but to take care and recommend lights.

This is the full code:

DfT Cycling Policy

Monday, 1st December 2007

In June the DfT issued a new document of interest to individual cyclists and cycling groups. Titled Cycling Policy:an overview it contains information on the Government's cycling aims, defines responsibilities, training objectives and FAQ sections.

The full document can be seen on www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/cycling/.

New Highway Code Now In Force

Monday, 1st October 2007

The Government has just published an updated version of the Highway Code.

Following a sustained and high-profile campaign by CTC, over 40 rules have been changed to the benefit of cyclists.

The new version makes clear that cyclists have every right to cycle on the road.

Rules 61 and 63 state that cycle lanes and cycle facilities, are "not compulsory" and the decision to use them "will depend on your experience and skills".

For details see www.direct.gov.uk/highwaycode/.

Dacorum Cycling Strategy

Monday, 10th September 2007

A new updated draft strategy document has been sent to TCC by Dacorum Borough Council.

They have not asked us for detailed comments, just our general thoughts as to "is it on the right lines".

The new document includes most of the recommendations made last year by the Dacorum Cycling Forum and detailed in our newssheet number 60. There is however very little insight into when improvements will happen and how they will be funded.

John Boielle will reply on behalf of TCC.

If anybody would like to see this document, which has not yet been posted on Dacorum's website, please contact John who will be happy to pass it on.

New Data Reaffirms Increased Cycle Use In 2006

Monday, 3rd September 2007

The Government's newly-released National Travel Survey (NTS) for 2006 shows a significant increase in cycle trips in 2006 compared with 2005 - up from an average of 14 to 16 trips per person per year , and from 36 to 39 miles per person per year. This data, drawn from travel surveys, tallies with other data based on vehicle counts. This showed that the amount of cycling had increased from 4.4 billion-km in 2005 to 4.6 bn-km in 2006. It remains to be seen whether this is a positive trend emerging, or simply a result of last years' good weather - that will be apparent when the figures for 2007 come out in a year's time!

New Ministers and Shadows

Thursday, 5th July 2007

As a result of Gordon Brown's ministerial reshuffle there is an almost completely new team at the Department for Transport. Ruth Kelly takes over as Transport Secretary, supported by junior Minister Rosie Winterton (whose roles include "walking, cycling and sustainable transport" as well as "local roads and traffic") and Under-Secretary Jim Fitzpatrick (whose portfolio includes road safety). Tom Harris stays as an Under-Secretary, still responsible for rail but no longer for cycling - instead he takes on strategic roads and the Highways Agency.

The two opposition parties have also conducted reshuffles. Theresa Villiers becomes Shadow Transport Secretary for the Conservatives, and Susan Kramer takes on this role for the LibDems. John Leech stays on as junior LibDem shadow minister - he has recently spoken up for cycling and specifically for a 20mph default speed limit for most urban streets.

Battle Continues For Cyclist-friendly Highway Code

Monday, 14th May 2007

The following item is from the latest CTC newsletter and is of interest to all cyclists who wish to make a choice as to whether they travel on the road or on a nearby cycle route.

A revised draft of the Highway Code has not properly addressed the concerns of 11,000 cyclists who last year joined a CTC campaign to have the Code re-worded.

The original draft of the Highway Code included a seemingly innocuous addition, which told cyclists to 'use cycle facilities...where provided'. Following the campaigning efforts of 11,000 cyclists, the revised wording, issued on 28th March, reads: Use cycle routes and cycle facilities... wherever possible, as they can make your journey safer.

According to CTC, the new wording does not address its original concern that insurance companies will use the wording of the new Code as an excuse to reduce the amount of compensation they pay if a motorist hits a cyclist that has chosen to use a road rather than a nearby cycle facility.

CTC Campaigns & Policy Manager, Roger Geffen, said: "We are working hard behind the scenes and very much hope that the Government will see sense and amend the wording to say "use cycle facilities where they help with your journey" - thus leaving the decision at the cyclist's discretion. If it does not, we will seek to persuade the Lords to vote it out, or may ultimately initiate a Judicial Review against it."

CTC would like to hear about incidents where a cyclist has been injured while using a cycle facility, or has suffered verbal or physical abuse, or hassle from the police, as a result of using the road rather than a nearby cycle facility. Please email adam.coffman@ctc.org.uk

For updates, visit www.ctc.org.uk/campaigns

West Herts Area Transport Plan

Monday, 26th March 2007

This new Transport Plan just issued by HCC provides a framework setting out the direction for transportation improvements over the next 15-20 years. It covers Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring and is based largely on meeting LTP (Local Transport Plan) objectives and targets. In discussion with local urban Authorities improvements will be identified and then prioritised. This information along with supporting background information will be recorded in local Urban Transport Plans produced to a new format developed by HCC without local consultation. These Urban Plans will be reviewed every 5 years. It is notable that rural authorities have had these ideas imposed on them and are excluded from future consultation.

Details of the current Tring Transport Plan (not to the new format) are given. There are no proposals to improve cycle infrastructure. This Plan will not be reviewed and updated into the new Urban format until 2011/12.

The final Heading in the West Herts. Area Transport Plan is Finance. This section outlines how identified schemes may be funded, namely from the LTP, developers contributions (Section 106 agreements), and local Authorities own budgets. No details on the amounts of money available are given.

The Plan can be seen in full on the HCC website www.hertsdirect.org or you can borrow the TCC copy that is held by our Secretary John Boielle. (01442 822575)

Notes on TCC's 12th AGM held on 28th February 2007 in the Baptist Church Hall, Tring

Friday, 16th March 2007

Minutes of the 11th AGM and statements of the accounts were available for attendees.

In opening the meeting the chairman referred to the absence of two people, Bridget Brown and the guest speaker, Emma Norrington of Groundwork. Bridget, a founder member of TCC, died suddenly and unexpectedly in September. She was an influential force within the campaign and is much missed. Emma Norrington could not attend for personal reasons and despite last minute efforts it was not possible to find an alternative speaker.

In his review the chairman drew attention to the newssheets as a source of information on the year's activities. However four items were singled out for mention, namely:

As always, maintaining contact with local authorities had been important. TCC had commented in detail on:

Tring Town Council has recently approved the Tring Urban Transport Plan. This plan, prepared by HCC, is one of 21 urban plans that take a five-year view. All together these plans make up the West Herts Local Transport Plan. The Tring plan does not propose any improvement to cycle infrastructure and because it takes a five-year view it will not be reviewed until 2011/12.

Against this background it was suggested that there was an opportunity for TCC to change direction and focus on getting more people cycling using the present infrastructure. A first move is the training event on April 29th in the Tring Market Place. (For details see Events and Rides page).

In reply to questions it was confirmed that TCC had during the year maintained contact with the CTC, Sustrans, Countryside Management Services and similar cycling related organisations.

The Treasurer drew attention to the accounts that showed the financial position of the Campaign to be sound. Funds would be available during the year to produce a more professional and attractive membership leaflet and consideration will be given to the production of a cycleability map for the Tring area. For this joint sponsorship would be sought.

As the current acting chair was not prepared to continue in this role and there was no nomination to fill the vacancy TCC is now without a chair. John Harrison will continue as treasurer, Brian Bostock as Membership Secretary and John Boielle as Secretary. The chair thanked John for his continued dedication and input without which the Campaign would not be able to function in its present form.

Full minutes of the meeting will be issued in due course. If you would like a copy please let John Boielle know.

New Scheme for Reporting Defects

Friday, 9th March 2007

Potholes and hazards are a constant problem but reporting them to the appropriate authority is not always easy. However new schemes recently introduced can help in this process.

The CTC now have two online services that will automatically inform the relavent local authority of any problem that is reported. On-road potholes and defects can be reported at www.fillthathole.org.uk and obstructions on rights of way can be sorted at www.clearthattrail.org.uk. Both systems work in a similar fashion; you complete a form giving as much information as possible about the problem, locate it on a map, send it off and the local authority responsible for fixing it will automatically be notified. Each authority has it's own criteria for judging whether a pothole or hazard is serious or not so the CTC will monitor reports to check on how they are dealt with and be looking for examples of best practice. If a report is not actioned it will be investigated to establish the reason why not. For future reference details of these schemes will be added to our Defects website page.

Cycling & the Local Transport Plan

Friday, 2nd March 2007

The Local Transport Plan for the year 2006/07 was reviewed at a recent meeting of HCC's Highways Transport Panel. The good news is that for this year nearly £900,000 has been allocated for cycling and 11 projects identified. The bad news is that none of the projects are in Dacorum. So no change there then. Anticipated expenditure on cycling schemes in year 2007/08 is £730,000.

The situation is unlikely to improve as long as Dacorum do not have a cycling strategy that clearly identifies the work required in the Borough. The necessary document has been at the draft stage for some considerable time and Dacorum have now stated that a "final document should be ready during the early part of 2006 to commence the formal adoption process by the Council". Publication of this document has already taken a long time so we are not holding our breath.