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The Lothian Cycle Campaign |
SPOKESWORKER 27 08 03
Spokes, The Lothian Cycle Campaign, St Martins Church, 232 Dalry Road, Edinburgh EH11 2JG 0131.313.2114 http://www.spokes.org.uk/
Spokesworker is an occasional ("roughly monthly") news sheet, with stop-press news of forthcoming events, and of road, traffic and planning matters. It is not automatically sent to all members. A copy is enclosed if we are writing to you anyway, and copies are handed out at working group meetings. You can make sure to get a copy by sending us 10 or so stamped addressed envelopes. Spokesworker also appears on our Internet web site - if you wish to be notified of such updates by email, contact spokes@spokes.org.uk.
SEE ALSO SPOKESWORKER 11.07.03 AND 03.08.03.
Spokes Sunday Rides Meet 10am, Usher Hall, Lothian Rd. See above Spokesworkers for general info about rides. You must ensure your bike is in good order, and ride carefully and considerately. You are entirely responsible for your safety. Children under 14 or unused to roads must come with an adult.
Dates: Sep 7 [picnic at Dave du Feu, Linlithgow. Free tea/coffee; bring own food] Oct 5 Nov 2. stuart@snowcycle.co.uk 445.7073. Note: Stuart has broken his leg playing football. Meantime rides will be led by symondsmark@hotmail.com 662.1635.
Sep 21 Edinburgh Car-Free Festival 11am-5pm. After last year's tremendous inaugural event, with over 12000 participants, the West End of George Street will again be entirely car-free for an even bigger occasion - see enclosed flyer. The council is inviting all councillors, MPSs and MPs. By turning up, you support car-free development and sustainable transport. We compliment the council on sticking to 'car-free' rather than the government's weak and watery 'in-town-without-my-car' label. If you can help at the Spokes stall please see the slip below. We may be running... slogan competition / politicians' sign-up / ideas book / bike-part identification / cycleroute identification.
Sep 25 'The Future of Environmental Justice' FOE Edinburgh public meeting. 8pm, Friends Meeting House, Victoria Terrace. Follows AGM at 6.30. Speaker: Duncan McLaren, new FOE[S] Chief Executive. Info: 466.8329 info@foe-edinburgh.org.uk.
Sep 27 'A Roch Wind Blawin?' FOE Scotland conference, in Edinburgh, on environmental justice and ecological debt. A strong international angle, with speakers from Ecuador and USA. What responsibility does industry have to local communities; and the industrialised world to the South? What can we learn from other countries? Fee £20-£80+vat Evening vegetarian meal and ceilidh [extra cost]. sdemowbray@foe-scotland.org.uk 554.9977.
Oct 11 Congestion Charging Ceilidh 7-11pm, family-friendly / pot-luck buffet / no smoking. By SERA [Labour environment pressure group]. maj@finnsdad.freeserve.co.uk 01368.864717.
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES Meetings set up by the Council for feedback on local issues. 7pm. Open to all. Councillors and senior officials present for questions / discussion.
Sep 3 Central area meeting at City Chambers, High St
Sep 9 East Portobello High Sch Sep 17 Pentlands Firrhill Day Centre
Sep 23 North & Leith New Kirkgate Community Centre
Sep 29 South James Gillespie's High Sch Oct 7 West Rannoch Centre
Wanted: Room for Spokes member in greenie-friendly city-centre flat, not too noisy. Prefer 20/30ish, veggie-friendly, non-smoking. Dave Marsh 07712.184890 or flat2003@viewport.clara.co.uk.
A big ad!: Sustrans is recruiting a full-time Edinburgh-based Active Travel Programme Manager for Scotland, salary up to £30k. You need Scottish policy/planning/transport background + excellent writing/verbal communication skills. Application pack from Pam Mitchell 0117.926.8893 or jobs@sustrans.org.uk, quoting ref NCN203k. Application forms must be in by 12.9.03.
Spokes thanks all members who contacted their councillor and/or Transport supremo Cllr Andrew Burns, following Spokesworker 03.08.03 about threats to the council cycle budget as a result of overspending on other budgets. Cllr Burns persuaded colleagues to allocate extra funds, protecting the cycle budget, safe routes to school, and various carriageway/footway renewal schemes.
The independent public inquiry into plans to ban cars in Princes Street, with associated other traffic management changes, has reported favourably. The report is at 1 Cockburn Street, or online at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/traffic/timetable. The Council now decides what to do next on 18 Sept. Note that the inquiry/ report is mainly on objections to the whole plan, not on cycling matters.
There will be a high-quality George Street Sustrans route. However we are very concerned that Princes St lanes are not mentioned, and the Council apparently told the inquiry Princes St 'would not offer a safe environment' for cyclists [para 5.30]. On the other hand, the proposed legal Order supported by the inquiry report allows cyclists to use Princes Street! We had previously lost the fight for fully segregated lanes, but we have Council letters promising cycle lanes both ways, similar to the existing [i.e. much better than nothing]. We expect these promises to be honoured - indeed the fact that the Council called Princes St 'not safe' is another argument for them. If this concerns you, please contact andrew.burns@edinburgh.gov.uk [Cllr Andrew Burns, City Chambers, High St, EH1 1BL]. Ask him to confirm there will be cycle lanes both ways in Princes Street.
The work of looking after Spokes web site and dealing with email enquiries is increasingly time-consuming, and we need long-term volunteers to help with these tasks. You would work from your own home computer - the Spokes 'office' is really a mailing and meeting address, as we are all volunteers.
Website: we need people with knowledge and experience in website maintenance and design. The existing site has received much praise, but now is not fully updated. We hope to maintain its high standard, if not improve on it. There is also scope to change its design, in consultation with Cathy Scott and Chris Hill who have designed and maintained it so far.
Email: we need people with experience of email and ideally a fair knowledge of Spokes work. Some queries need detailed advice, or referring to other Spokes members. Many are simple, and some rather frustrating as the person could easily have found the answer themselves from our or other websites. Common email enquiries could be answered quickly by a standard reply referring the enquirer to the relevant website page. For example people enquiring about the best route from A to B in Edinburgh or the Lothians could be referred to a web page about buying Spokes maps. One problem is the large amount of spam email received.
Membership: help is needed also with membership database work. Ideally you would be familiar with Ingres at Edinburgh University, though there is a possibility of rewriting in Access.
If you are interested in helping with any of these voluntary tasks, please email Dave.duFeu@ed.ac.uk, with some background about your computing and Spokes/cycling skills and interests, and whether you hope to be a 'long-term' volunteer. We will get back to you within a couple of weeks or so, once we see who - if anyone! - has volunteered, and what they would be able to offer.
WEST EDINBURGH BUSWAYS [WEBS]
Details of the WEBS consultation were included in 13.08.03 Spokesworker, which we sent to members who had sent us a supply of SAEs and those living in immediately-affected areas. The official consultation document is at www.tiedinburgh.co.uk or phone 0800.328.3934. Comments must be in by 5 September, to webs@halcrow.com or WEBS, Freepost SCO2985, EH3 0BR.
The consultation concerns only the on-road measures, but there is no harm adding other comments, for example seeking early implementation of the off-road cycleroute proposed beside the off-road section of the busway. Finally, we have just received the local CTC's comments, and these are below. If any of these points seem important to you, please send them in yourself, even if you don't have time to look up the consultation document.
RURAL WEST EDINBURGH LOCAL PLAN
Land-use and transport plan, covering Balerno to Queensferry, out for formal objections, following consultation last year.
Info: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/CEC/City Development/
Planning and Strategy/RWEL, or Ken Tippen 469.3613.
UPPER FORTH CROSSING
This consultation is on the proposed 2nd Kincardine Bridge and associated roads/paths. Of the many Scottish Executive road plans, this is probably one of the less harmful. There are also considerable cycleroute facilities, including 6 crossings, Sustrans long-distance routes and Round-the-Forth. But on the bridge itself there is only a pedestrian/cycle path in one direction, with underpasses to cross and travel the other way [motor traffic, however, has lanes both ways!]. The 'Environmental Statement' includes a map - see www.upperforthcrossing.co.uk or call at the address below. Comments by 25 Sept to Chief Road Engineer, Scottish Executive, ETLLD dept, Victoria Quay, Leith EH6 6QQ [for attention of Roy Brannen]. Say that your comments are an objection to the A876 Trunk Road (Upper Forth Crossing) Order.
Following are comments by Peter Hawkins on behalf of CTC. He can be contacted at PeterHawk@care4free.net or 443.6712.
"The leaflet states 'the on-street measures are proposed to assist pedestrians and cyclists as well as buses...' and include 'side-road entry treatments, new cycle lanes, and cycle advance areas at signalised junctions'. We welcome the inclusion of pedestrians and cyclists. Our comments fall into four headings:
1 Cycle Lanes While welcoming the inclusion of a number of cycle lanes, these could be extended. For example in the recent measures to improve the A701 corridor, the general principle was applied that bus lanes would be introduced where possible, but where the road width did not permit this, cyclists would be protected with a cycle lane. We would like to see this principle applied to WEBS. Cycle lanes are needed for example at these locations: on S Gyle Broadway westbound; on Cultins Rd in both directions but especially southbound where cyclists are going slowly uphill; on S Gyle Access northbound; on Stenhouse Drive westbound; on Stevenson Drive westbound; on Balgreen Rd; on Stevenson Rd westbound; and on Westfield Road both directions.
2 Advance Stop Lines (ASLs) We welcome the proposed ASLs, but Bankhead Drive eastbound at junction with S Gyle Access lacks one. This is particularly important because some cyclists will be going straight ahead against a strong left-turning flow of other traffic.
3 Pedestrian Crossings We welcome the proposed improvements, but there is a great need for a crossing (which should be a 'toucan' ) at the Water of Leith at Balgreen Rd. This is where the Water of Leith Walkway crosses this busy road, and in addition a crossing would offer access to Saughton Park, including the children's recreation facilities.
4 Facilitating Through Routes
a. a popular route for cyclists uses Whitson Ter (because of the barrier at Whitson Rd) and continues into Saughton Park via an entrance off Stevenson Drive, opposite Whitson Cres. Noting the proposal to widen Stevenson Drive, we have already suggested a cycle lane westbound. To connect to the Park, a dropped kerb is needed opposite the entrance.
b. at the north end of Cultins Rd a ramp and pathway should be provided from the proposed roadway to the railway underpass, to give pedestrians and cyclists direct access to the underpass. The distance between WEBS and the railway should be easily sufficient to accommodate a ramp."
Spokes member Mark Lazarowicz, former Transport Chair at Edinburgh City Council, and now MP for Leith constituency, is keen to hear from Spokes members on any cycling/transport issues relevant to Westminster Parliament. He says...
"As a cyclist both in Edinburgh and London [I am a two-bike one-car household!] you can be assured I continue to have great sympathy for Spokes objectives, and read 'Spokes' with interest.
"Although many of your concerns relate primarily to the local council or Scottish Executive, rather than the UK Parliament, there are UK level issues which reflect Spokes concerns [e.g. road traffic law, and wider UK and European level environmental/transport policies]. I have recently been pushing a private members' bill on Road Safety (mainly on 20mph zones) - you can find more details at www.marklazarowicz.org.uk."
He can also be contacted at LazarowiczM@parliament.uk, or writing to him at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.
Craig Herriott of Roads & Transportation, Policy & Safety Team, [01236.618.121, HerriottC@northlan.gov.uk] has asked us to include the following [abbreviated slightly due to space shortage]...
"North Lanarkshire Council will be entering a team into Pedal for Scotland [PfS] on the 14th September 2003.
"PfS is the annual cycle ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh organised by the Scottish Cycling Development Project (SCDP). Proceeds from the event are donated to two of Scotland's leading children's charities - Children 1ST and Barnardo's Scotland. Over 900 riders took part in PfS last year, raising more than £45,000 to help Scotland's most troubled children. This great event, covering a 50-mile route from George Square in Glasgow to Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh, raises much-needed funds for the charities. It is open to cyclists of all ages and can be completed at your own pace - some take no time at all, others all day!
"The Council has written to its top 50 highest employing companies, asking for sponsorship or prizes for the event and to link to the PfS web site on their Intranet sites. These letters, and others to Local Health Care Co-operatives, help to promote cycling awareness in North Lanarkshire.
"The Council are also advertising the event through their Internet and Intranet sites and using the 'NLC SMARTways Team' entry to the event to highlight a new 'SMARTways' web site due for launch early next year. SMARTways will aim to promote walking, cycling and healthy activity in N. Lanarkshire, and will initially be an information source of best practise for residents, schools, businesses, etc throughout North Lanarkshire. SMARTways will also introduce 'Smartway Plans' - green travel plans for schools and businesses - thus encouraging more cycling and providing much needed cycling facilities through time.
"Further info: Pedal for Scotland - www.pedalforscotland.org SMARTways - www.northlan.gov.uk."
SEPTEMBER 21 CAR-FREE FESTIVAL ... SPOKES STALL HELPER VOLUNTEER SLIP
Please volunteer for the Spokes stall [see Diary]. Please a.s.a.p. post this slip to Spokes or contact jackieh@waitrose.com 664.0526.
Name... Phone... Email...
Address... Postcode...
I can help at the stall at the following times [between 10am and 5pm]...
I can help with transport of goods for the Spokes stall ... Approx 10am / Approx 5pm [circle one or both]
I'm interested in organising a bike-related competition or activity ... YES/NO
If YES, please give details [note - we can't yet promise there will be space] ...
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