Brighton & Hove Clarion Cycling Club  
 

 

Dear fellow members and friends

31 July 2006

Thanks to Jim for organising the last ride – glad it went off so well. Thanks to Neil for volunteering to organise a ride for 3 September, and thanks to Fred for representing us at the new City Cycling Forum and for his very detailed report (see below). [I was in Paris for the end of the TDF but my dope test was negative.]

Otherwise, just a reminder about the next ride

Boots!
Ian

Sunday 6 August   
Pevensey Levels – Eastern Side
   c 20 miles

Apart from very popular rides like the Chichester Harbour one – which I put in the programme every year, I try find routes that are at least a variation on what we have done before – even though many bits of them inevitably cover familiar ground. Here's one.

Heading east after the first 100 yards of the Cuckoo Trail, we head via Shepham Lane and Glynleigh Road to Rickney and soon after take a mile-long track across to Russells in the Marsh and Church Acre Bridge. A stretch of (often) busier road takes us up to Wartling where we can lose any traffic by taking the Horse Bridge lane that brings us out near Hooe.

We liked the Red Lion at Hooe Common last summer, so we'll try it again for lunch. We can return by taking the B2095, crossing the A27 very carefully and staying with it (as far as possible on a  bit of footpath as far as Middle Bridge (about half a mile) and then the traffic free track beside it (but mercifully hidden by trees and shrubs) for about a mile and a half down to Pevensey roundabout. From there we can make our way back via Rickney and the familiar lanes back to the Cuckoo Trail at Summer Hill where a tea-stop at the Old Loom Mill is definitely an option.

Catch the 10.20 at Brighton Station or meet at Polegate Station at 10.49 (direct train). Trains back are at 2 minutes past the hour (with change at Lewes) or 42 minutes (direct).

Inaugural City Cycle Forum meeting
27 July 2006, Hove Town Hall
– Fred's Report

As Ian was off at the Tour de France – no not taking part, that would be a coup for Brighton! [hardly! IB] Fred deputised at this meeting, which brought together the Cycle Reps and City Cycling Groups. It was chaired by Paul Jarvis, Health Promotion Advisor (Active Living) and attended by Adam Pride from Bricycles and reps from other organizations, plus Joyce with her council hat on. The first part of the meeting was a discussion on the draft terms of reference for the Forum, which will have an annual celebration in January, organised by the BHCC Walking and Cycling Team. A working group will be made up of cycling groups (max 4) and other organizations which will meet more frequently, every couple of months (and presumably take over the role of the old cycling reps group?). Communications will also be facilitated by an email forum. Joyce and Mark Strong (of Transport Initiatives) wanted a more forceful top aim or objective of just plain promoting cycling full stop, and also adding climate change to the list of objectives, and Joyce wanted the word 'sustainable' added to the vision: 'A healthier population living in a cleaner and safer city.'

The second half of the meeting was taken up by a detailed look at how the CDT (Cycling Demonstration Town) money has been and will be spent. It was too hot for Dean Spears, Principal Transport Planner and former Walking and cycling officer (a role now taken on by Abby Hone) to give his Powerpoint presentation, so he handed out a detailed list of cycling works, 1 April to 20 October 2006. This was divided into infrastructure and 'softer measures'. First was almost £30,000 spent on manual and automatic monitoring. A manual count took place on 12 July and revealed that the number of cycles on Marine Parade, for example, had increased 79% since 2003.

Just under £14,000 of CDT money will be spent on cycle parking – 245 stands around town and at GP's surgeries – and £6,000 on the Bike It project for cycle parking in schools. Other sums are to be spent on the Hove to Hangleton route (£90,000) and the Undercliff Walk (£10,000). Dean was keen to include other sources of funding, by developers (who paid for the £15,000 York Hill contra-flow lane, for example), and from the Local Transport Plan. A total of nearly £3 million has been spent on infrastructure in this six-month period, of which £160,430 came from CDT funds.

The biggest spend in the 'softer measures' was the Personalised travel planning (PTP) project for the good folks of Portslade. This involved doorstep interviews and a pack including all sorts of goodies, including the above mentioned personalised travel plan for Mr Joe Bloggs and discounts on bikes. A further grand goes towards adult and family training as part of the PTP. Other cash has been allocated to a revision of the city cycling map, a new coastal map and 20 grand towards In Town Without My Car day in September, which includes the Bicycle ballet and a return of Les Cyclistes, on Madeira Drive. Another £7000 was spent on Bike Week. In total £339,570 from CDT will be spent on these softer measures.

In any other business, Adam Pride asked what happened to the cycling strategy and Dean replied that there was one. Next meeting is on Thursday 14 September, 4-6pm.

One unfortunate postscript was that as we left the building, Mark Strong discovered that his Brompton had been stolen in broad daylight from outside Hove Town Hall!

Fred

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