Campaigning news in Stevenage and Hitchin

Dear all,

With Christmas coming up I thought that I would send a "Dear Santa" letter to North Herts District and County councillors, suggesting measures that they could implement quickly and easily in the new year to improve conditions for cycling around the district. I had in mind mainly small measures (preferably ones that are already in the Cycle Network Plan), together with a few longer term measures.

I would like your suggestions.

Here are a few of my ideas:

• Put together a delivery programme for the North Herts Cycle Network, including how it will be funded.
• Create a gap through the road closure at the end of Lytton Avenue, Letchworth to allow cycles to enter and exit.
• Cycle training in all North Herts schools.
• Fill all of the pot holes in Ashwell High Street and Ashwell Street.
• Cut back the vegetation and improve maintenance of the path between Coachman's lane in Baldock and Works Road in Letchworth. Build a proper entry onto Works Rd.
• Upgrade all of the paths linking the Burns Road estate to the surrounding areas to shared use, to make this single entry estate more permeable to cyclists.
• Install cycle advanced stop lines at both ends of Hermitage Road, Hitchin.
• Build a segregated cycle path and crossing point from the A505 Little Chef roundabout to the Litlington turning west of Royston.

Your suggestions ?
Contact me at alasdair_massie@LineOne.net
Regards

Alasdair DV Massie CEng MIStructE
CTC Right to Ride Representative, North Herts

People may be interested in supporting the following no 10 petition:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/bikes-on-trains/

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to require the train operators to provide an integrated system for the carriage of bicycles and ensure there is adequate capacity available.

Currently there is no minimum requirement for train operators to carry bicycles and each operator has a different set of rules and booking procedures. This makes the system extremely complex to use, especially where multiple operators are used. Its not possible to book bicycle reservations online and hence one does not know whether there will be room for a bike on a train when a ticket is purchased (note, advanced tickets cannot subsequently be altered to a train with available bicycle carriage space). Some operators have extremely poor provision. The Crosscountry service has reduced the capacity of its trains from 4 bicycles per train to 2 bicycles (so they can provide secure accomodation for their retail trolly). Hence, a maximum of 2 people can travel together with bicycles when you using the crosscountry service (a major element of the national network). Clearly, a national policy is required with a fully integrated booking system (that is available online through the standard ticket retailers) and incentives/requirements for operators to improve capacity.

Alisdair's reply (Jonathan's message is reproduced below this reply):

Dear Jonathan,

It is not my petition, I was just passing it on, so I have no influence on the wording. However I think that the key phrase is 'and ensure there is adequate capacity available.'

When I was a boy trains had guards vans nobody expected people to shove their bikes into a door vestibule jammed with commuters who cannot get a seat. This is a problem of:

a)      Overcrowding - not enough seats/ trains / capacity on busy lines at rush hour. And:

b)      Design - no provision for cycle carriage other than to battle for space in the door vestibules.

Neither is a problem that the hapless traveller who arrives at the station with his bike has any influence over.

The way that the railways have been 'addressing' this over the past 20 years or so is to blame the cyclist and then ban him. From their point of view this is easy and requires no constructive action. Other travellers are only too happy to view the guy with the bike as a scapegoat because few of them will ever put themselves in the same position. People used to be able to avoid all of these problems and hostility by buying a Brompton, but now the overcrowding can be so bad that even these marvels of integrated transport provoke filthy looks and muttered curses. When will boarding a train wearing a wet coat become socially unacceptable ?

There are of course more constructive ways to address this.

The first is of course to address the root problem - overcrowding. The railways probably aren't all that keen on trying to reduce demand by persuading passengers to work closer to home, but that really is the best solution. We don't all need to work in London, we would have a much healthier economy if more people did their business in the towns of North Hertfordshire. Failing that, the trains need to be longer and run more frequently in the rush hour.

Bans should be avoided and replaced by financial deterrents wherever practical. If you have to travel with a bike at peak times (and many of us do from time to time) then there should be provision, but you have to pay for it.

Of course not all trains are packed to bursting, in fact during the day many run near empty, but lack the flexibility to carry bikes and put people off with confusing restrictions and plain bad attitude. That is just plain bad management because it turns away an obvious, off peak market.

The knee jerk 'No way, there isn't enough space to stand, let alone bring a bike' reaction presumes that everything is going to stay as it is now, and that is somehow acceptable. It isn't acceptable and it does need to change. As part of that process we need to address what is strong demand for cycle carriage, demand that has survived all attempts to stamp it out.

Bike-rail is, after all, the only practical alternative to the car for many medium to long distance journeys. If I couldn't put my bike on a train then my own personal car mileage would increase by several orders of magnitude.

Whether or not individuals choose to support this petition is up to them. That is, after all, what petitions are all about. Personally I think that this is an important issue - part of the progressive marginalisation that cycling has suffered in my lifetime - and so I have signed up to it. I hope that other people will join me.

Regards

 

Alasdair DV Massie CEng MIStructE

CTC Right to Ride Representative, North Herts

CTC is Britain?s largest cycling organisation with 70,000 members. Formed in 1878 we have actively campaigned for better, safer roads, locally and nationally since our inception.

We have a large and active section for Stevenage and North Herts.

From: Jonathan
To: Alasdair Massie
Subject: RE: Cycle carriage on trains - petition

I've passed this on to a wide group but so far have had three people respond with a "no chance" as they understood it to be about requiring space in the carriages rather than a proper bike car. Many people dislike a wet bike amongst them in the rush hour, understandably I think.  The wording could be better to get more support.

Cheers

Jonathan

Stevenage news

Here is the presentation that Simon Speller gave at the council meeting.

On behalf of the local CTC Jim has submitted the following question to the next Stevenage Borough Council meeting:

"Cycling has a major contribution to make towards health improvement and reducing the impact of travel on climate change.

A few years ago Stevenage Borough Council, Hertfordshire County Council and many volunteers, including CTC., put a lot of effort into preparing a Stevenage Cycling Strategy.

Please report how much progress has been made with the implementation of the actions in that strategy including the restoration of the Great North Road cycle route (linking the new and old town centres), enhancement of cycle routes into and across the town centre, protection of existing routes, the tackling of some poor route designs that have been introduced in the last few years, and improvements to cycle parking in the town centre.

CTC do, of course, recognise that nearly all cycle journeys will include cycling on roads for at least some of the time.  We are interested to know what measures have been completed in the last five years to improve the road environment for vulnerable road users, such as cyclists, and what are planned for the next five years.  We would be very interested to see recent figures for the use of cycles in Stevenage and how they compare with other towns and cities."

Jim is our local secretary, Right to Ride Representative and one of four CTC charity trustees.

If you want to hear the answer and the rest of the debate "On the move - getting into gear - Stevenage Transport 2020" get along to the Borough Council meeting which will be in the Council Chamber at Daneshill House (SG1 1HN) from 7p.m. on Wednesday 25 June.  Refreshments will be available from 6.30p.m.  Everyone is welcome.  If you want to know more about the arrangements for the meeting please contact Jackie Cansick at SBC on 01438 242992.

Thank you.

JIM

Alisdair's news...

Hitchin Station Forecourt Redevelopment

Update On Thursday (3rd July) morning we met with representatives of the County Council (HCC) and the rail operator, First Capital Connect (FCC) at Hitchin station. Dave Holladay, CTC’s public transport advisor, made the trip all the way down from Glasgow to be there. Susan Dye, a member of Hitchin Cycling group was also present, representing the Residents Association.

In most respects it was a very positive meeting. Larry Heyman from FCC was very keen to come to a solution that would ensure that all users felt happy. FCC have been working hard on improving cycle access and parking on the Thameslink line at Bedford and St Albans, and have seen that investment rewarded by increases in passenger numbers.

Alissa Ede, from HCC’s passenger transport unit (PTU) also came across as refreshingly open minded. Alissa is Dutch, and is new to the post so hopefully will bring a rather more people focused approach to her department. PTU are the “client” on this project so Alissa is a key player.

The villain of the piece was, rather predictably, the representative from Herts Highways. Negative, obstructive, unhelpful, closed minded, unimaginative – Neil Reardon epitomized everything that we have grown to know and “love” in our Highway Engineers. He had clearly only come to justify his very unsatisfactory design and was not willing to contemplate improvements.

Where do we go from here ?

Everybody is keen to resolve this quickly as there is £100,000 of DfT grant on the table that will be lost if not spent soon. That is good and bad. Good in that it will encourage the designers to make concessions, bad in that they are unlikely to do anything radical.

What can you do ?

Write to your MP (feedback@peterlilley.co.uk) and councilors, asking them to intervene and ensure that the:

1. Cycling and walking are given the highest priority, and the forecourt is designed around these two modes FIRST. Cycling and walking are, after all, the only two modes that have no adverse impact on traffic and the environment in the town.
2. Cycling is not marginalized by putting cyclists on the pavement.
3. Cyclists are given a safe and convenient route to and from the cycle parking and the station building.
4. HCC invests in creating safe, attractive cycle routes to and from the station, as was outlined in the Hitchin Transport Plan 10 years ago.

The following is an email and its associated paper that was sent out after the meeting discussed above:

From: Alasdair Massie
Sent: 04 July 2008 10:42
To: 'Alissa Ede'
Cc: 'Dave Holladay'; Bob.Crossfield@firstgroup.com; David Burt;
Larry.Heyman@firstgroup.com; Neil Reardon; Simon.Young@north-herts.gov.uk
Subject: Hitchin Station Forecourt Redevelopment - Technical issues, principles and
guidelines
cid:641481209@04072008-36C9Cyclists Touring Club
Right to Ride Network
  www.ctc.org.uk              www.northhertsctc.org.uk

Dear Alissa,

Notes attached regarding some of the "technical" aspects that were discussed at yesterday's meeting.

It should not be necessary to "debate" the most appropriate forms of cycle infrastructure, the basic widths and geometry of cycle paths and lanes, or the "safety" of bus lanes and contraflow cycling. All of these are issues that have been researched and the findings published by the Department for Transport in the form of national guidelines contained in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. These are not issues that the designers should make up for themselves, particularly as their experience of cycling appears to be very limited.

regards
Alasdair DV Massie
CTC Right to Ride Representative, North Herts
CTC is Britain?s largest cycling organisation with 70,000 members. Formed in 1878
we have actively campaigned for better, safer roads, locally and nationally since our inception.
We have a large and active section for Stevenage and North Herts.

Original item

Ten years ago, Railtrack (as they were then) dug up the tatty forecourt outside Hitchin Station and re-laid it. CTC were involved in the “consultation” process but it was a token gesture – our views were ignored and the result is unusable. A recent survey by Transport 2000 named and shamed Hitchin as one of the country’s worst stations to reach by bike. Now we are planning to do it all again. But has anybody learned by the past mistakes ? Sadly not.

It is unclear who is driving the new proposals. We were passed a copy of the plans in April by NHDC and gave detailed comments on them. We even submitted plans of our own showing a much more pedestrian and cyclist friendly environment.

Plans exhibited at the station this week reflect none of those comments. We have, it seems, been ignored once again. The current proposals are little different to the wholly unsatisfactory proposals that we battled against a decade ago. Regrettably, this is a proposal that is aimed at encouraging people to drive to the station, and as is so often the case, cyclists will be marginalised even further in order to make space. As if Hitchin didn’t already have enough traffic on its roads.

What can you do ?

Write to you Councillor (District and County). Bang on the table and demand to know why public money is being squandered on another pointless and counter-productive re-shuffle. Improving conditions for cycling was the second most popular measure in the 1998 Hitchin Transport Plan, it is about time something constructive was done about it.

We have written to Peter Lilley MP and to Hitchin;s district and county councillors, asking them to assist us. Read the letter here.

North Herts Transport Fundamental Services Review Workshop

We attended a workshop at NHDC Council offices, focused on Road Safety, Car Parking, Streetscapes, Travel Planning and the Environmental impact from transport. It was a busy and productive day, and we had a lot to say on all of those subjects. There is no room to summarise it here, but you can read it all here. Get yourself comfy first, there are 24 pages !

Strange things happening in Baldock

Roadworks suddenly appeared at the junction of Letchworth Road and Weston Way in Baldock. Nobody had thought to consult us about the work, which involves widening the road at the junction, moving the crossing, and putting in traffic lights. HCC are also creating a new "slalom" course for the school kids who make up most of the crossing users. Well, why take the direct route when you can zig-zag across the grass and launch into the road at a blind corner ?

It took a month and a Freedom of Information request to prise the details out of the County Council. Heaven only knows why they are so defensive about it unless they knew we would be critical of what they are proposing. Unfortunately that is precisely what we had to do - all the more reason to have consulted us.

Read our comments here.

Connect 2 and the Royston Underpass

I attended a stakeholder meeting in Royston recently. It must be said that this has not moved forward very far over recent months. I did however have some very productive discussions with Neil Guttridge of the allotment holders committee. Although some of the allotment holders have been strongly opposed to the scheme, we actually share quite a lot of common ground. Security, vandalism, parking, access etc are issues that will affect us all and have to be addressed in a way that leaves us all feeling happy. The underpass will, after all, benefit local residents and allotment holders more than anybody, so if they are not happy then there is something wrong.

Royston Photographs – can you help ?

I have been out taking photographs of some of the problems and opportunities for improvement in Royston. I have uploaded them onto the Cambridge Cycling Campaign’s excellent photomap so that anybody can view and use them. Click on any photograph to see its location. Can you help me ? If you live or work in Royston, please go out and take some photographs of problems and opportunities, particularly those on the proposed cycle routes, and then load them onto the photomap. You will need to register in order to upload photographs, but not to view them.

Royston mapping project

One of the problems with on line maps is that they are covered by OS copyright. Strictly speaking, if you reproduce them without authorisation you are breaking the law. An organisation called “OpenStreetMap.org” has set about producing an entirely new map database from their own, original survey. It is entirely surveyed by volunteers and is free of copyright. Dave Earl, the Membership Secretary for Cambridge Cycling Campaign, has already surveyed Cambridge and the surrounding area. This week he will be starting work on Royston. Want to know more ? Follow this link

North Herts Highway Partnership is about to start drawing up new Urban Transport Plans for Hitchin and Baldock. I was involved in consultation for Hitchin's previous transport plan 10 ears ago, so how have we done in the intervening decade ?

Other news

"As part of establishing the changed order of priorities described above, measures are required to demonstrate the new sense of value given to pedestrians and cyclists. This will mean high quality access routes from most parts of the town and beyond to key destinations... " Hitchin Transport Plan 1998.

Maybe I am missing something, but I haven't noticed much of this "new value" that we were going to experience. Nor have I seen much of the "Cycle Route Network" that we worked on taking shape, or the priority crossings that were promised. In fact, although creation of a cycle network came second from top (town centre pedestrianisation came first) in the public's priority rankings, absolutely no progress seems to have been made.

What use is a plan if there is no will or mechanism to deliver it ? It is just a waste of public money.

So, we have written to the Highway Partnership expressing these concerns, and asking why three quarters of a million pounds worth of "Section 106" developer contributions, intended for the cycle network or other sustainable transport schemes,  are sitting unspent in a vault somewhere. It isn't like we haven't already identified a wealth of badly needed improvements already.

Read our letter here.

Alasdair DV Massie CEng MIStructE
Right to Ride Representative, North Herts

Local and national news

Connect2

For anybody who doesn't already know, Sustrans won the £50 million Big Lottery vote, taking 40% of all votes cast. Who says people aren't interested in cycling ? There are a number of schemes close to us, including Wicken Fen, St Neots and Royston.

The Royston scheme comes under my patch as CTC's North Herts Representative, and I have been in contact with Hertfordshire County Council about the proposals.

Read the HCC proposal and the link to the 1999 NHDC Masterplan.

We have recently received preliminary plans for the Royston cycle network from the County Council. These routes are designed to feed into the new cycle / pedestrian rail underpass and provide routes to the schools and industrial area from the main housing estates in North Royston. They are based on the 1999 plan, but do not exactly match the proposals in that plan and are not as extensive.

We welcome being given the opportunity to comment on them early. It is much more constructive for us to be able to comment now, when problems can be addressed, than when it is all built and paid for.

Our main comments are:

• The plan does nothing about the dreadful severance caused by the A505 and A10. This is the most serious problem faced by anyone wishing to cycle in or around Royston.
• We wish to see appropriate measures, using the published hierarchy of solutions (traffic reduction > speed reduction > junction treatment > carriageway redistribution > cycle tracks away from the carriageway > roadside cycle tracks only as a last resort).
• The very narrow cycle lanes and ill thought out “traffic calming” measures in North Road must be put right as a priority.
• We see the residential streets of Royston as an ideal location for introduction of an area wide 20 mph limit.

Read the full text here. Do you have anything to add ? Is anything missing ? Is there anything that you disagree with ? Contact me at alasdair_massie@LineOne.net

Alasdair DV Massie CEng MIStructE
Right to Ride Representative, North Herts

Live Petitions on the downing street website

It is recognised that many injuries to cyclists are caused by vehicles turning left across the cyclists' path. I have written to the Minister of Transport and basically got the answer "cyclists have to take care of themselves" and "shouldn't ride between the curb and long vehicles". How you stop a long vehicle overtaking you I don't know. Similarly should we always wait behind a long vehicle if it isn't indicating left?

I am less than pleased with this answer and so have created a new petition. I hope you agree with me and will sign the petition.

petitions.pm.gov.uk/Cyclists-lives/

Roy Bradshaw

20's plenty. We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make cycling more popular, with 20mph speeds, cycle training for all, & cycle networks. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/moresafercycling/

Protecting disused rail lines as transport corridors (for use as shared paths etc). We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to instruct Ministers to ensure all former rail corridors are protected for use as transport corridors http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/old-rail-lines/

Hitchin Market Redevelopment

I was recently approached by an Architect who has been commissioned to look at rejuvenating and redeveloping the Churchgate / Market / St Mary's Square area. Interestingly she had come across my name through various cycle planning / campaigning e-groups and wanted to bounce ideas off me from a cyclist's perspective. I can't say too much, since I was approached in confidence, and at present there is actually very little to tell. My own comments were as below:

"Thanks for sending me the info on Northampton Market. This looks very much as I believe Hitchin's market should be - in the heart of the town, focused on the Market square with tentacles extending down the surrounding streets (High Street, Sun Street, around the church and into Bancroft).

An alternative to the trailer mounted stands might be to have a single contractor put up modular stands in the morning and strike them again at the end of the day. That would reduce the numbers of vehicles needed, although stall holders would of course still need vehicle access to set up their wares.

With regard to the existing market site and car park, a mixed use development seems ideal. It would need to be permeable to pedestrians and cyclists and would want to have buildings fronting onto all of the surrounding streets to give them a much more active, inhabited feel. Portmill Lane is currently just a car park access with nothing but back yards off it, and Queens Road is overly wide and hostile.

All the main routes in Hitchin are rather hostile for pedestrians and cyclists - particularly the one way gyratories at Paynes Park and Hollow Lane. They need a serious makeover, losing road space and guard rails.

I am attaching details of the proposed Hitchin cycle network (adopted 1999), as yet virtually no progress has been made on this."

   

Alasdair Massie
CTC RtR North Herts

National News

Subject: [cycle-planning] The Highway Code impact on Cyclists - Opinion poll survey

Dear all,

As you all no doubt know, the Highway Code is currently being revised; the proposed wording of two rules (61 and 63) has caused considerable concern amongst cyclists.

The CTC launched a campaign to get the wording (which threatened to compel cyclists to use "cycle facilities" irrespective of their condition or suitability) changed. 11,000 people signed the original petition and nearly 30,000 people have signed the "roads4bikes" petition on the 10 Downing St website. 70% of all comments received by the Highway Code drafting committee came from concerned cyclists.

The CTC's campaign forced a last minute re-write of the draft of the Highway Code laid before parliament. The CTC have publicly welcomed this last draft, but privately admit that the wording is still "muddled".

I surveyed two groups - active cycle campaigners from the CTC's own "Right to Ride" network, and local authority planners and consultants from Cycling England's "Cycle Planning" discussion group. The question asked was:

"Do you believe this wording [Rules 61 and 63] still leaves injured cyclists vulnerable to unfair claims of contributory negligence if they choose not to use a "cycle facility" for reasons other than immediate safety (eg convenience, comfort, directness, bad past experiences, distrust of the facility etc) ?"

92% of campaigners and 88% of planners who responded thought that the current wording of these two clauses left injured cyclists vulnerable to unfair claims of contributory negligence.

Clearly there is unfinished business to be concluded here. Whatever wording finally makes its way into the Highway Code there is little confidence amongst cyclists that it is fair, or that it will offer them any protection if they are hurt going about their daily business. The campaign has highlighted the dreadful state of what is frequently passed off as "cycle infrastructure", and has raised questions of why the DfT simply ignored such obvious concern and refused to meet with the CTC.

Regards

Alasdair Massie

Background reading:

Current proposed text of rules 61 and 63:

61 Cycle Routes and Other Facilities. Use cycle routes, advanced stop lines, cycle boxes and toucan crossings unless at the time it is unsafe to do so. Use of these facilities is not compulsory and will depend on your experience and skills, but they can make your journey safer.

63 Cycle Lanes. These are marked by a white line (which may be broken) along the carriageway (see Rule 140). When using a cycle lane, keep within the lane when practicable. When leaving a cycle lane check before pulling out that it is safe to do so and signal your intention clearly to other road users. Use of cycle lanes is not compulsory and will depend on your experience and skills, but they can make your journey safer.

Highway Code

- CCN website
- CTC website

The CTC is the UK's largest cycling organisation with 70,000 members. The "Right to Ride" network is made up of local volunteer representatives.

Hertfordshire News

The Hertfordshire Cycle Parking Guide. The authors are Transport Initiative, who double up as consultants to Cycling England. It is an excellent publication, very clear and well laid out.

The draft cycling strategy has been published.

New Cycle Campaigning group for Hitchin

A new cycle campaigning group has been formed in Hitchin, looking to pick up the threads left by initiatives like Hitchin Vision Transport Group. Hitchin has the highest levels of cycling in North Herts, it has a Transport Plan and it has a Cycle Route Network Masterplan, but progress towards making improvements on the ground has been painfully slow.

The new Campaign group is looking to get those initiatives moving, and at the same time look at ways of raising the profile of cycling, making it more popular and more accessible.

If you live or work in or around Hitchin then why not get involved. Whether you have something to say, ideas to share, skills you can offer, concerns to air, or if you just want to listen, come along to one of our meetings or join the online discussion group.

Visit the Campaign group website at www.cyclehitchin.org.uk Join the online discussion group by going to http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Cycle_Hitchin/

For more details contact Dave Borner or Alasdair Massie