Present
Ian Welsby Public Realm Manager Area North, Lancashire County Council
Alasdair Simpson, Sustainable Travel, Lancashire County Council
Gary Bowker, Regeneration and Projects, Lancaster City Council
Rob Lowe, Dynamo
Dick Follows, Dynamo
Daren Chandisingh, Saltayre Cogset
Paul Andrews, Saltayre Cogset
Peter Edge, CTC, Sustrans Ranger, Wray Parish Council
David Bedding, Sustrans Ranger
Sergeant Tristan Heawood, Lancashire Police
Philip Longton, Lancaster University
Rachel Scott,
Damian Bonsall, CTC Bike Club
Simeon Orme, Rough Stuff Fellowship
Peter Kenner, Rough Stuff Fellowship
Nick Hewitt
Jenn Hutton, Cumbria University
Annie Cousins, Sustrans Bike it
Kathy Bashford, Sustrans Bike it
Kate Usher, Bike it Supporter
1) Apologies (received after the meeting)
Stuart Glover Sport and Leisure, Lancaster City Council
2) Terms of Reference
Agreed
Aim changed to " to more people cycling more often more safely in Lancaster and Morecambe area"
Slight changes to wording of point 2
3) Current situation
Alasdair Simpson summarised success of cycling demonstration project as
· Increased cycle use
· Opening of Morecambe Promenade to cyclists
· Improved cycle access to Lancaster City Centre
· High levels of cycle use at Lancaster University
· BIke it Project
End of Project Report for Cycling England distributed with minutes
4) What do we need to do next
Suggestions included
· Extend Lune Valley Cycle Path to Wray. Land and funding were issues, though there were large tourism benefits
· Continue 20 mph programme. County Council spending £9m over 3 years on sign only 20 mph speed limits in all residential streets and outside schools
· Do more to restrain car use e.g. closing rat runs, reducing parking spaces, enforcement of traffic regulation orders
5) Capital Programme
General
Lancashire County Council’s Draft Implementation Plan of new transport schemes would be published on the web in late July. There would be six weeks for people to comment, before approval of the plan in September. The plan should be available via the following weblink:
http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/?siteid=5489&pageid=29612&e=e
The Local Sustainable Transport Fund was the Government new £560m fund to. Support sustainable transport over 4 years. Lancashire had made a major.bid of £13.7m details of which were available on. http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/atoz/a_to_z/service.asp?u_id=3488&tab=1
If the bid was successful money would be available from June 2012.
Lancaster City Council were part of a consortium for a separate bid aiming to increase cycling to educational establishments led by Sustrans and Devon.
Individual schemes
Heysham / Westgate School Links
Lancaster City Council had been offered a grant of £ 136,000 by Sustrans for a school links scheme. This was matched by £69,000 developer contribution from Morecambe FC. The proposed scheme included
a) Cycle path at the back of Heysham High School
b) Extension of cycle path on Westgate over the railway bridge to Buckingham Road
c) Signing of an inland route on quiet roads from Morecambe to Heysham
Developer funded schemes
There was developer funding from Sainsburys in Morecambe for cycle facilities and from a new primary care centre in Heysham for a toucan crossing of Middleton Way which would link to St Peter’s Primary School
Lune Aqueduct
British Waterway’s Heritage Lottery scheme to restore the Aqueduct included a ramp from the canal towpath to riverside cycle path
Denny Beck, .Bridge Halton
Work should be complete by the end of July
Crook O’Lune East Bridge
It was hoped to have a temporary solution to reopen the bridge in place in the autumn subject to planning permission. Funding for a long term solution was being investigated
6) Operation Chainguard
Sergeant Tristan Heawood from Lancashire Police gave a talk on a proposed scheme to bar code bikes with registration details to help reduce cycle theft..
Bike theft was a problem both locally and nationally. 7.5 bicycles are stolen a day in Lancashire. 60% of victims of cycle crime stop cycling. Detection rates are very low. Storage of recovered bikes is a problem for the police.
It proposed to introduce a system to bar code bikes in Lancaster and Morecambe which would be linked to a data base where police officers could scan in details.
There would be a £5 fee for the service
Sergeant Heawood was interested in working with partners to promote the scheme e.g. through events
The scheme was also looking at offender rehabilitation and support for victims of cycle crime e.g. training course on recycling bicycles
7) Promotion
Bike it
Sustrans had funding to extend the Bike it project for another 9 months subject to the City Council being able to fund it to another 3 months. This would mean the project would continue till July 2012
Lancaster Schools had done well in Sustrans’ Big Pedal with 9 schools in the top 100 and Silverdale coming third nationally
Bikeability
City Council had been offered funding for 900 Bikeability places by the Department for Transport. This was subject to Cabinet decision to accept the grant on 26 July.
Lancaster University
In 2011 Travel survey cycling to work by staff had grown to 14.1% of all staff.. Female staff cycling to work was up 35%. Of 2000 staff, 22.1% males cycled and 8% females cycled to work
Green Lancaster
Green Lancaster ran a scheme to sell low cost bike to students at Lancaster University. 206 bikes had been sold to students since October 2009, 143 were recycled bikes from Pedal Power. 84% of people purchasing bicycles said they planned to use the bikes to get to university
City Centre
There was enthusiasm for doing a city centre cycling event using outside sponsorship
Action Interested parties to meet before next forum to discuss
Pump Track
Pump Tracks were popular with teenagers. A pump track in Blackpool was very successful attracting large number of teenager
More information: http://bikeclub.org.uk/2011/03/30/mereside-pump-track-comes-to-blackpool/
There was interest in opening a pump track at Ridge Estate Estimated cost £17000
Next Meeting
Gregson Institute, Moor Lane, Lancaster
1800 hours Monday 10th October