This is a circular to all emailable Spokes members. [If you recently sent us a change of email address, your change may not yet be in our database, so this message may go to your old address or possibly to both]. We hope you'll have the time to read this circular carefully and take action on those points that concern or interest you. If using email addresses shown below, replace AT by @. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** A. VERY URGENT !! - FUTURE OF BIKE/RAIL IN SCOTLAND If you are concerned about the future of bike/rail, or just of rail, in Scotland, consider responding to the Rail 2014 consultation by the Scottish Government. Responses must be in by Monday 20 February. For full details on how to respond, and some suggestions of points you might consider, see the Feb 14th news item on our website... http://www.spokes.org.uk/wordpress/2012/02/bikerail-in-scotland-the-future-urgent/ ** B. BUDGETS, SCOTLAND AND EDINBURGH Last week brought tremendous news on successive days. For fuller details see the Feb 9 and Feb 10 news items at http://www.spokes.org.uk. Edinburgh Council made a ground-breaking budget decision which we hope will also set a pattern for other councils. If you live outside Edinburgh please raise this with your local councillors - our website article gives hints on an approach you might take. This was a big surprise, not even something we had suggested - but it would certainly not have happened without the continuing levels of cycling activity and interest and the constant general lobbying of councillors about all issues relating to getting about by bike in the city. So all members can take some credit for this! On the Scottish budget there was a last minute change of heart which means that although there will still be cuts in active travel spending they will be much less severe than the government had planned in its draft budget. Every person who contacted their MSP can congratulate themselves on the government changes - nothing would have happened without the huge weight of individually-written emails and letters (Jim Eadie MSP told us he had received over 100). ** C. STUDENT ONLINE PROJECTS - PLEASE HELP Two students have contacted us about projects/dissertations, asking for spokes members to complete online surveys. Please note that Spokes is not 'endorsing' the surveys. However both include one or more boxes for open-ended written comments, so if you feel unhappy with any of the content, use that box to say so. a. Stuart Campbell is looking into 'safety aids.' We are a little concerned that this survey implicitly assumes that all safety aids are at all times beneficial, and also it may feed the tendency to deal with road danger by armouring the cyclist rather than by reducing danger at source, through urban 20mph and other road measures. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/edinburghbicyclesurvey b. Roisin Downey is looking into vehicle compliance at ASLs (advance stop lines). We would probably have designed this rather differently, but feel free to use its comment box if you feel the survey may not be dealing with all that concerns you. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/advancedstoplines ** D. Feb 23: POLICE BIKE SECURITY MARKING Gayfield Police Station, 12-2pm. Early arrivals will be free, others charged £5 or £16, depending on whether you want an electronic tag or not. More info - see the link in the Events column on spokes website. ** E. March: BIG SCHOOL PEDAL If you're involved in a school, try and make sure it's involved in this UK-wide sustrans event. More info - see Events column on spokes website. ** F. COUNCIL ELECTIONS, THURS 3 MAY These could be vital for the future of cycling policy in Edinburgh. Not only which party or parties are in control, but also which individuals are elected and which individual becomes Transport Convener. a. March 29 - the Spokes Spring public meeting will be an election hustings. Put the date in your diary! Full details and poster in forthcoming Spring mailout (and soon on our website). b. Are you a Spokes member who is standing as a candidate in the elections? If so, let us know the ward and your party, as we will put a list of all members who are known candidates on the website. c. We have prepared a Spokes manifesto, which has been circulated to all parties in the hope they will take up our ideas in their own manifestos. This came out before the recent council budget decision (B above) so another point you might wish to press for with candidates is to maintain that budget decision in future years. See our manifesto in our Jan 21 website news item... http://www.spokes.org.uk/wordpress/2012/01/council-elections-3-may-2012/ ** G. THE SPOKES BUFF We had excellent sales over Christmas of our 'Original Buff' which features a section of the Spokes Edinburgh cycle map. If you'd still like to buy one, they are £12 by post (cheque to Spokes) or you can collect one for £10 from an address in Merchiston area by contacting Martin.EdelstenATed.ac.uk, phone 228 5830. For pictures of the buff, see our website Dec 7 news item [but the details there about sales points may not yet be updated. If you wish to buy - see the previous paragraph]. ** H. PHOTOS NEEDED FOR YOUNGSTER CYCLING FACTSHEET Our 2011 Weans on Wheels project produced a factsheet geared to getting about by bike with children too young to cycle independently. This year we hope to produce (and use) factsheets about independent cycling for (roughly) 8-14 year old's. One factsheet will be aimed at parents, the other at the young people themselves. Do you have any helpful photos you would be happy for us to use in the factsheet - they should if possible be taken in our area and illustrate cycling to school, shops, etc or for local leisure. Not sport, mountain biking etc, and not far-away holidays. You must be happy for these photos to appear in a publicly-distributed factsheet. If you could provide such pics (or if you are interested in the project in any other way) please email familycycling@spokes.org.uk. ** I. BIKE WEEK WORKSHOPS Bike Week invites anyone interested in organising a Bike Week event in June to come to an Edinburgh workshop. There will be people from Cycling Scotland, plus event management and PR experts. Date: 29 February 2012 Time: Choose either 10:00am - 12:00pm or 1:00pm - 3:30pm Location: Edinburgh 59 - 63 George IV Bridge EH1 1RN West Lothian Room Please RSVP to williamwright@cyclingscotland.org if you'd like to attend. ** J. FEB 23 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE You may have heard of The Times campaign on cycling. This has led to a UK parliament debate on the measures called for by The Times’s campaign, on February 23. For this debate to have real impact as many MPs as possible should attend. Spokes member Mark Lazarowicz MP has already said he intends to go along. Please consider asking your MP (not MSP) to attend - you can do this at the Times's campaign website... thetimes.co.uk/cyclesafe Although it is great that the Times is running this campaign, in terms of getting a great deal of attention to cycling issues, there are also some concerns, for example as illustrated here... www.rdrf.org.uk. ** K. SPOKES SPRING MAILOUT & BULLETIN 112 The mailout meeting will be Sat 25 Feb - helpers are being notified by email as usual. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave du Feu Spokes 16.2.12