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Nov 20: Lothians Cycling Development

All the Lothians Councils are gearing up for our public meeting this Thursday!

Click picture to see or download the full pdf

  • East Lothian has been in touch to say they’ll be bringing along a wall map and leaflets, which should be on display during the 6.45-7.30 coffee/chat/socialising period before the meeting proper starts at 7,30.   In addition to speaker Cllr Michael Veitch, cycling officer Iain Reid will be in the audience, so take the opportunity to chat to him.
  • Midlothian has just launched two cycling initiatives – an online survey of views on Midlothian cycling conditions, as a prelude to drawing up a council cycling strategy;  and trial installation of cycle sensors on 4 council HGVs [alerting both the driver and the cyclist].  Doubtless our speaker Cllr Derek Rosie will mention these!
  • West Lothian has a new cycling officer, Deborah Paton, who hopes to be at the meeting in addition to speaker Cllr Tony Boyle.  Deborah gave a very interesting presentation at the recent Cycling Scotland conference, describing the projects to be built with the Council’s big Sustrans funding win, and explaining how she hopes to get cycling (and active travel) much more fully integrated into a range of council policies and initiatives, rather than being seen primarily as a standalone subject.
  • We have asked our Edinburgh speaker, Cllr Adam McVey, to speak only about connections in and out of the city, not about central Edinburgh, to stick with the theme of the meeting.  He will have powerpoint slides to show what is happening.
  • The QA/discussion session will be chaired by Spokes member Alison Johnstone MSP, who we are also asking to pull everything together with a 5 or 10 minute summing up at the end of the meeting.
  • Also in the audience we are expecting several other organisations with a big interest in Lothians cyclind development – an officer from Sestran [the South East Scotland Regional Transport Partnership], possibly also from Sustrans, and possibly from Abellio [the rail company which has just won the ScotRail franchise].  You may (or may not) have a chance to nobble any of them before or after the meeting proper if you have questions.
  • All speakers are being asked to stick to 12 minutes, ideally 10, so we can have up to an hour for the question/discussion time.
  • We are intending the discussion period will concentrate very much on the theme of the meeting, as this is a very rare opportunity with councillors from all the Lothians present – so please don’t bring along questions about topics like George Street or Leith Walk, which normally get plenty coverage at our public meetings.  Of course do feel free to nobble Cllr McVey before or after the meeting on these or any other Edinburgh matters!!

 

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