AGENDA FOR PEDALS MONTHLY MEETING:  
7.30 p.m. on 
Monday 18 February 2008
in the upper room of the Globe PH, 152 London Road, NG2 3BQ (between London Road and Meadows Way just north of north of Trent Bridge)

AGENDA  

1. Welcome, and apologies for absence

2. Discussion with Helen Ross, Nottingham PCT on the PCT/Cycling England ‘Get Cycling Nottingham’ Project (7.30-8.30 p.m, approx.)

(10-minute break)

3. Minutes of Pedals meeting of 19 November and matters arising:
•	Membership records updating and arrangements for transfer of Membership Secretaryship
•	data projector use for Pedals meetings etc.
•	Bikeability and bike training – exchange of emails involving Cllr. Emma Dewinton and Gary Smerdon-White etc.
•	Monitoring local planning applications to pick up possible implications for cyclists
•	Partial obstruction of cycle gap on Middle Hill
•	City Council online highway defect reporting performance
•	Future meetings - visiting speaker slots
•	Meeting with East Midlands Trains re cycling issues, Derby, 21 Jan: attendance and issues to raise, and lessons from Northern Trains Cycling Strategy and Cyclists’ Consultation Group.

4. (other) cycle facility and traffic matters	
•	My letter of 30 Jan to NEP re “Reckless cyclists”
•	Abbey Bridge (Lenton) cycling improvements
•	A610 / Melbourne Road junction
•	Other City Council consultations: proposed Traffic Regulation Orders etc.
•	Woodside Road approach to roundabout by Nottingham University west entrance. (Robin Phillips)
•	Abbey Road / Wollaton Road / Broughton St. Beeston – phone call from Robin Phillips
•	Conversion of Puffing Crossing to Toucan (ref. TC5001) on Low Wood Rd (Nuthall) and links to the Phoenix Park NET site etc. – copy of my message of 20 Jan to Jarek Bien, Notts CC:
•	Burton Road bus plug (Gedling Integrated Transport Scheme) and cyclists – appeal for support from Notts CC
•	Comments on implications for cyclists of proposed Edwalton extension housing plans south of West Bridgford
•	Possible Tram-Train for the Nottingham area?

5. Finance

6. Winter Newsletter feedback and plans for the Spring / Summer Issue

7. Forthcoming events / meetings
•	Meeting with East Midlands Trains re cycling issues, Derby, 21 Jan: attendance and issues to raise, and lessons from Northern Trains Cycling Strategy and Cyclists’ Consultation Group.
•	Cancelled Cycle Working Group Meeting - Greater Notts, Wednesday 6 January: implications
•	Ruddington Fields Business Park Transport Group Cycle Forum, Monday 10 March
•	Pedals AGM, Monday 17 March – nominations for office, and food arrangements
•	Round Hill Junior School Cycling Events, 12 April – message of 29 Jan from Adrian Pugh
•	Sat. 7 June; 1) Ridewise Cycling Festival and 2) West Bridgford Summer gathering – Pedals stall/display requests:  exchange of emails with Susan Young, Andrew Martin and Karina Wells (22 Jan)
•	GNBR, 22 June: involvement of Perfect Motion in Managing the Event
•	Ruddington Fields Business Park Cycling Fair (proposed)

8. Special sub-group meeting to organise the updating of Pedals displays: Mondays 25 Feb or 3 May

9. Miscellaneous items
•	.Olympic Cycles

10. Any other business

BACKGROUND NOTES
* means feedback especially wanted please
** means help please!

1.	Welcome and apologies

Apologies for absence from
Mara Ozolins, John Wilson.

2. Discussion with Helen Ross, Nottingham PCT on the PCT/Cycling England ‘Get Cycling Nottingham’ Project
 (7.30-8.30 p.m)

3. Minutes of the Pedals Meeting Held 21st January 2008 at The Globe.

Present: Hugh McClintock, Peter Osborne, David Miller, Alison Russell, Jenny Kukan,  Andrew Martin, Susan Young, Terry Scott, Andy Barnes, Gary Smerdon-White, John Bannister, Eve Parker, Rob Murray, Arthur Williams, Karina Wells, Roger Codling, Chris Gardner, Mike Madin (Bike It National Manager) and David Clasby (Bike It Derby Officer).

Apologies for Absence: Mara Ozolins, John Wilson and Ian Cohen. 

Speakers. Mike Madin (Bike It National Manager) gave a Powerpoint presentation on the Bike It scheme. The basic aim of Bike It is to get more youngsters to cycle to school more often. Bike It was originally funded by the cycle industry and employed four officers. The success of the scheme led to Cycle England and then Transport for London funding further officers. (There are now about nineteen officers).

Bike It has the following targets: 15% of 9 to 12 year olds must cycle at least once a week; 20 to 30% of all pupils participating in at least one school cycling event; 10 to 15% of all pupils of all ages cycling to school and increased take up in Bikeability (National Standards Training). 

Bike It delivers positive cycling experiences to up to 2800 children per Bike IT officer per year. Mike and David explained how Bike It officers engage with schools through various events such as safety, maintenance classes and training. David enthusiastically described his work as a Bike It officer for Derby. Much discussion followed the presentations leaving everyone feeling pretty inspired.

Finance. Sue is going to use Community Accounting. Draft accounts will be available for the AGM in  March. 

Membership. Chris Gardner has been sorting out administrative issues following the transfer of the role of membership secretary from Dave Morris to Chris. There are still some difficulties arising from this (e.g. some people have paid for membership, but not received anything) and Sue has drafted a letter to send to Dave to recover money and membership information, asking him to produce the missing information by the end of the month, failing which, with regret, legal action will need to be taken to ensure that we recover the monies owed to Pedals. This information is required to produce accurate and correct accounts. This was agreed.

Newsletter. Andrew Martin offered to proof read the newsletter to prevent mistakes going through to print.

Data Projector. Pedals is borrowing this at £20 to £30 per evening. With the increasing number of speakers, Pedals may need to look into buying its own projector.

Mini-rides: Need to finalise themed rides and send details to Pete Jarman as soon as possible.

Monitoring local planning websites. Andrew Martin and Peter Osborne offered to monitor the City Council Website and Rushcliffe Borough websites respectively for planning issues that may affect cycling. Hugh agreed to help Andrew with the Nottingham site.

Trent Lane/Riverside Crescent Development. John Rhodes is very keen to publicise the aspects of his new developments related to cycling.

New Trinity Square Cycle Lockers. Andrew Martin has checked these out. There is space for ten cycles.

Ideas for future speakers. Lynn Hanna and Ed Ducker have changed jobs, so other speakers need to be found. Possible candidates are: John Lee, Colin Hazeldene and Helen Clayton. Pedals should also consider approaching MEPs and Road Safety Officers.

New Cycle Map. A new map for South Notts has been drafted, a copy of which was shown at the meeting. 

Art on the Big Track. Hugh is attending a meeting about this.

Sandy Lane. Roger Codling is attending a meeting on Feb 5th about upgrading Sandy Lane (between Holme Pierrepont and A52). The CTC has been campaigning for about twenty years to get Sandy Lane upgraded to a by-way.

Campaigns. It was suggested that Pedals should be involved in the Movers and Shakers campaign (see November 2007 minutes) which has been successful in Wandsworth. Pedals should also be campaigning for better respect for cycle lanes (parking etc). Gary Smerdon-White and Ian Cohen are looking into the Cycle/Recycle Scheme.

Update:

Membership records updating and arrangements for transfer of Membership Secretaryship
Still no real progress on sorting out this great mess, despite various further efforts. I have now discovered that Dave is also now regarded as having “disappeared” by his supervisor at Loughborough University where he was due soon to complete his PhD. We have agreed to keep in touch about any further news or hints of news.

Among the problems this mess has created for us is that, for lack of full address details still for about half our membership we are not in a position, as agreed at the AGM last March, to write to all members and get them to amend their standing order details a) to reflect the new subs and b) our new bank account details.

We therefore have a very unsatisfactory limbo situation with new members paying the new rate while old ones continue to carry on paying the old rate!

data projector use for Pedals meetings etc. – copy of my message of 22 Jan to Susan Young
“Susan
When I took back the data projector this morning to the Rushcliffe Council for Voluntary Offices I had a word with Carole Green, their Office Manager, about a possible discount rate for regular borrowing for Pedals meetings saying both that we could well now be needing to use one for about 6 meetings a year and that we could not afford to keep paying even £20 a time (itself a discount from their normal rate of £30). She was quite sympathetic and happy to agree a cut-off of £50 a year on the basis of our borrowing it about 6 times a year, i.e. once we had reached that amount we would then pay no more for the rest of that year.
 
This relieves the pressure on us to consider buying one but I think it is still worth, as agreed at our meeting, exploring the costs of this and possible sources of grant, in case we might still want to take up that option.
 
Although it is useful to have a variety of speakers at meetings, several of whom would like to make use of powerpoint presentations, I also feel that we need a balance so that we don’t have too many evenings which are as long and intense as last night's, however interesting the speakers and however much I try to keep the pace moving and avoid getting bogged down in various details which are of little interest to most people there (and which can be sorted out later if necessary, in smaller huddles!)
 
Even though we have now agreed to have a meeting in August I guess that one is still likely to be fairly sparsely attended and low-key so I still think that the September one, like that in January, will be particularly busy with catching up after a long gap. I therefore suggest, if people agree, that, unless there is someone we want to invite fairly urgently, that we return to our former practice of not having speakers at those two meetings, giving more time for the extra likely business from 'catching up' in those months. 
 
With our new arrangements from April to July we how have more time not just for extra speakers but for spreading them out throughout most of the year, perhaps generally aiming to have speakers at about 1 in 2 or 2 in 3 meetings, if people agree and of course depending on just who can come when we want them. We can still allow some flexibility for inviting people at short notice, and perhaps giving them only a half an hour slot, to avoid intruding too much into the time for regular business and then going on too late or, alternatively, unduly hurrying over some important items (as I think some people last night may have felt we were doing, at times!).
Hugh”

PS. Message of 22 Jan from Chris Gardner re data projector prices:
“On price:
This is what ebuyer have to offer. They tend to offer the best deals online and the service is superb. I have bought monitors etc in the past and not been disappointed.
http://www.ebuyer.com/cat/Projectors/subcat/All-Purpose-Projectors
cheers, Chris

Bikeability and Bike training – exchange of emails involving Cllr. Emma Dewinton and Gary Smerdon-White etc. (13 Feb)
“THIS IS AN EMAIL FROM CLLR EMMA DEWINTON
Hi
Thanks for the information on the NDC/RideWise bike training to remove travel barriers to employment and learning.
 
Interesting information but I would like at least to turn it into an information note for the rest of the Committee so that they are aware of this initiative and the learning point.
 
It might also be useful to include information from the County Council Feasibility Study where you indicate the link and give brief details.
 
Can we expand on this so that it is a one page briefing?
 
I am extremely pleased to hear that the City Council has put in a bid for Bike Ability training with RideWise as partner – as you say Gary, a good step forward.
Best wishes to all, Emma Dewinton
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Chelsea Coleman-Wood [mailto:Chelsea.Coleman-Wood@nottinghamcity.gov.uk] 
Sent: 13 February 2008 10:03
To: emma.dewinton@nottinghamcity.gov.uk; emmadewi@googlemail.com
Subject: FW: Cycling query from RIS Panel. [Scanned]
 
Hi Emma
Please see the e-mail below from Gary Smerdon White. 
How would you like to take this forward? 
Chelsea 

From: gary [garysmerdon-white@supanet.com]
Sent: 12 February 2008 16:32
To: Chelsea Coleman-Wood
Cc: jennie.maybury@nottinghamcity.gov.uk; chris.carter@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
Subject: RE: Cycling query from RIS Panel. [Scanned]
Hi
RideWise did indeed run a project with NDC to help remove a travel barrier to employment and learning by providing bike training, bike and safety equipment. In truth it was not wholly successful as although RideWise attended events all over NDC area and we picked up new cyclists to train we only helped one person who was unemployed and got a job. NDC’s employment people didn’t give us the referrals we expected. The learning point is that these schemes need pro-active people on the employment side to refer the unemployed to RideWise.
 
However the County Council are funding a feasibility study to see if it’s worthwhile extending the Wheels to Work Scheme (mopeds are lent to you learners and employed people) to include bikes. See http://www.nottswheels2work.org.uk/

Presently the W2W scheme excludes young people who need to travel a small distance (a few miles I think) but that would be an ideal gap to fill with bikes. Chris Carter has arranged that the County is going to share this study with the City (Jennie Maybury is involved) and one would expect the practicalities of City travel might prove that such a scheme could be more successful in the City. The study will be available this financial year.
 
On another note I’m not sure whether Councillor Dewinton is aware that The City Council has put in a bid for Bikeability training (training City children) with RideWise as partner – a good step forward
Gary”

partial obstruction of cycle gap on Middle Hill by tram viaduct: message of 29 Jan from Hayden Reed, City Council:
“Hugh,
I'm pleased to advise you that the kerb on Middle Hill has finally been trimmed. It's surprising how such a minor tweak has made such a big improvement. Just a pity it took so long to do.
Regards. Hayden.

Quoting "Hugh McClintock (Dell)" <Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com>:

> Hayden
>
> The intrusion in to the cycle gap on Middle Hill (by the tram viaduct)
> from works on the temporary path in connection with the CCAN development
> that we discussed at a site meeting well over a year and a half ago, I
> recall, has still not been fixed. I know that since then you must have
> been busy with lots of other things, especially on Carrington Street,
> but can you yet please give me any more exact idea when this will at last
> be sorted?
>> Thanks, Hugh

City Council online highway defect reporting performance
Any comments please on whether this is now working better, with reports acknowledged at least, as we have been assured should now be the case?

Future meetings - visiting speaker slots
After two attempts I have still failed to get hold of Colin Hazeldene from BBC East Midlands Today.

I have however got John Lee signed up for the April Pedals meeting, to talk about the City Rights of Way Improvement Plan (final version recently published) and the result of the recent trials with off-road barriers.

Helen Clayton of The Big Wheel / Greater Nottm Transport Partnership has agreed to come in May. She has been very good to us, e.g. in helping us (for free) to organise emergency artwork preparation arrangements for our newsletter a year ago when we suddenly found out that Derrick Hankey could do not do it, and also providing 10 free places for us on the GNBR last year. When I met her recently to discuss general cooperation she seemed keen for them to have some involvement in the Pedals 30th birthday celebrations next year so this is one particular thing to discuss, along with The Big Track plans and various other promotion ideas.

For June I am thinking of inviting Keith Morgan from the City Council to talk about the plans for the Secure Bike Compound at Nottingham Station which should have progressed by then, I hope.

For the July meeting, as the last main one before the summer break, we might possibly want to have no speaker (incidentally, I will probably be away for that meeting, so we will need someone else please to volunteer to chair it – I will however first send out the agenda as normal, 4-5 days earlier, before leaving for a probable 6-week rail trip to Central Asia and back!). We have agreed now to start having a business meeting in August (when I will also be away) but expect that it will be relatively informal and lightly attended.

Later on in the year, perhaps in the autumn, i.e. about one year after he last came, we can invite Chris Carter from the City Council for a further update on the Cycling Action Plan and we might also then invited along Councillor Brian Parbutt, City Council Transport Strategy Portfolio Holder, who we last had at one of our meetings about ten years ago.!  I would suggest the October meeting for this rather than September where we will probably need to focus on general catching up after the summer holiday period.

By then the City Council should hopefully have made a bid for one of the further round of Cycling Demonstration Town Project recently announced by Cycling England, following their award of £140 mn from Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary. (I hope to have more details of this after the next Greater Nottm Cycling Development Group on 13 March).

We can also later in the year decide who to invite from the County Council whether or not by then they have a replacement Cycling Officer!

In general I think it is a good idea to have a wider range of speakers. There are many different people within the City and County Councils, District Councils, Highways Agency, Big Wheel, PCT and others with whom I have regular or occasional contact and it would help Pedals in general and are various campaigns to have a more broadly based dialogue with these people and organisations, to strengthen and sustain the relationships.

Rushcliffe Borough Council cycling commitment – my email of 6 Feb to Allen Graham, Chief Executive Officer, RBC:
I am trying to generate support from various Rushcliffe Borough Councillors to raise the profile of cycling in Rushcliffe again, with several now being supportive.

 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Hugh McClintock (Dell) 
To: Allen Graham (CEO, RBC) 
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 5:35 PM
Subject: The new Rushcliffe Corporate Strategy and Journey to Excellence in 2008 - your letter of 5 Feb - Cycling

“Dear Mr. Graham
 Thank you for your letter of 5th February drawing our attention to the new Rushcliffe Corporate Plan for 2007-2011.
 
We are very pleased to know that you regard Pedals "as one of our key partners who are involved in helping make improvements for Rushcliffe and its residents" and also that, as you say in the first paragraph of your letter "one of our key priorities is ensuring that we remain sustainable.."
 
I have now had a chance to look at your document and we particularly welcome several parts of your 2020 Vision including Point 2 - "Reduce reliance on the private car" and that your Priorities for Improvement for 2007-11 include "1. helping to deliver a sustainable environment" and "4. increased community involvement in decision-making".
 
In view of these very welcome commitments, and your proposed Climate Action Plan we very much hope that you will now respond to our various detailed proposals, including those mentioned in our email of 22 November 2007, to which, incidentally, we do not appear to have had any acknowledgement, let alone substantial reply. I hope very much that this will now soon be addressed, along with consideration of our other proposals for the Borough, included in our other recent local wish lists (covering West Bridgford and wider environs, and Ruddington Fields Business Park) also now attached. The role of the Borough Council as well as of the County Council and Highways Agency is very important in many of these and particularly in terms of getting good quality cycling provision in any new housing and other developments.
Yours sincerely
Hugh McClintock, Chairman, Pedals”

…response of 7 Feb. From Paul Randle, Deputy Chief Executive and my response to him:
“Dear Mr. Randle
Thank you for your response to my message to Mr. Graham.

We do indeed appreciate that the main responsibility for improvements to 
cycling provision in the Borough lies elsewhere but would like to emphasise 
that the Borough Council too has a very important role, both in emphasising 
the need for good provision for cyclists on highways to the other agencies 
(The Highways Agency as well as the County Council) and in ensuring good 
cycle links in all new developments, especially residential areas. Much 
worthwhile work was done by the Borough Council a few years ago to get 
cycling provision in several areas such as Gamston and Compton Acres but 
some important links were not completed and others need upgrading to current 
standards. Making good use of the recent Government advice in the DfT Manual 
for Streets, published last year, is also very important to ensuring that 
priority is given in new housing developments to the needs of cyclists and 
pedestrians.

Rushcliffe Borough Council used to be regularly represented at the quarterly 
meetings of the County Council's Highways South Cycle Working Group but this 
has not been the case in the last few years, we much regret. This is a very 
useful opportunity for the exchange of views, and coordination of efforts by 
different stakeholders, and to review progress generally.

We do also of course very much appreciate that  tackling Climate Change, and 
a Climate Action Plan, has to involve much more than just cycling, or 
sustainable transport in general, but again would emphasise that cycling has 
a key role, along with other measures, in helping to reduce emisssions for 
transport, and to help reduce dependence on the use of cars, particularly 
for shorter trips. It is therefore very important that cycling's role is 
fully recognised in such wider strategies, as also in the case of public 
health promotion and using changes in the built environment to encourage 
walking and cycling, as again recently recommended in several national 
reports, including for example ones from CABE and NICE. Again the Borough 
Council can be very helpful, working in close partnership with various other 
agencies.

We would indeed very much welcome the opportunity to take part in your 
planned consultation on the Climate Action Plan and looking forward very 
much to hearing further from you about this in due course.
Hugh McClintock
Chairman, Pedals

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Randle" <prandle@rushcliffe.gov.uk>
To: <Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com>
Cc: "Cllr RJones" <Cllr.RJones@rushcliffe.gov.uk>; "Jacqueline Segrove" 
<JSegrove@rushcliffe.gov.uk>; "Susan Griffiths" 
<SGriffiths@rushcliffe.gov.uk>; "Susan Harley" <SHarley@rushcliffe.gov.uk>
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 5:49 PM
Subject: The new Rushcliffe Corporate Strategy

> Dear Mr McClintock,
> Thank you for your email to Mr Graham dated 6 February and your earlier
> correspondence.
>
> I am pleased that you found the corporate strategy interesting.
>
> As you will have noted the climate change task is very much a long-term
> commitment and as a result of other short term pressures the timescale
> for developing the action plan has unfortunately slipped. Nevertheless
> we do anticipate making significant progress on this later in the spring
> and summer.
>
> I note that you have attached a very substantial list of desired
> improvements to the cycle routes in and around the Rushcliffe area and I
> know that you understand that responsibility for most of this work lies
> elsewhere than with the Borough Council. Furthermore, I am sure you
> appreciate that there are very many actions that may feature in a
> climate change plan and that sustainable transport and cycling in
> particular, is just one element that needs to be considered.
>
> The Council currently does not have any budget for the upgrading or
> repair of cycle paths. We do however, have a small budget to facilitate
> such as cycle racks in appropriate environmental schemes.
>
> I do not see any value in arranging a meeting to discuss your detailed
> proposals at the present time. However, I will ensure that your interest
> in the climate change action plan is registered and that you are
> included in any consultation exercise that might be organised. If or
> when the Council decides that improving cycling facilities is a priority
> as part of the climate change or any other strategy, we will of course
> contact you.
>
> Thank you very much for your interest in this matter.
> Regards, Paul Randle
> Deputy Chief Executive
> Rushcliffe Borough Council
> 0115 9148331
> prandle@rushcliffe.gov.uk

Meeting with East Midlands Trains re cycling issues, Derby, 21 Jan: attendance and issues to raise, and lessons from Northern Trains Cycling Strategy and Cyclists’ Consultation Group.

I have already sent round the minutes to those interested. Please let me know if anyone else wants them*

4. Cycle facility and traffic management matters

“Reckless cyclists” - My response to the letter in the NEP of 30 Jan
(not published, though 2 others on this topic, both good ones, were)

Dear Editor
The use of cycle tracks is not compulsory, as L. Aldred (NEP, 30 January) seems to think and cyclists in general are very much opposed to any move to make them compulsory because of their widely varying quality.
 
Some cycle facilities can actually make conditions for cyclists more dangerous than cycling on the road, if they are poorly designed, poorly built, poorly maintained and obstructed, e.g. by parked cars. Examples of bad design including narrow cycle paths with sharp bends and poor visibility, and a lack of flush kerbs. Rough surfaces and poor visibility at minor road crossings can also make them more hazardous to use, especially if these crossings are not designed to make approaching drivers slow down and watch out for cyclists or if cyclists have to keep giving way at minor road crossings, slowing their journeys.
 
In general, cycle facilities will be better used the better they are designed and if they give cyclists some real advantages, in terms of safety, comfort and directness, for example. On the Ring Road, to which L. Aldred refers, the quality of the cycle paths tends to deteriorate the further north you go. It is quite good in the Clifton Bridge to Dunkirk flyover area, then gets rather worse as you approach Crown Island and that much worse again as you ride from there towards the City Hospital and Daybrook. When this happens, faster and more confident cyclists, in particular, will therefore tend to ride on the road.
 
This underlines the need for ensuring quality provision of cycle tracks, cycle lanes and other facilities, rather than making token substandard efforts, then often compounded by not maintaining and enforcing them properly, as Pedals as often emphasised. 
 
In the plans being drawn up by the City Council for major changes to the Ring Road we have also stressed the need to see that good cycling provision is given a far higher profile as part of the overall plans rather than just being an afterthought to be somehow added in.
Yours faithfully
Hugh McClintock
Chairman, Pedals”

Abbey Bridge (Lenton) cycling improvements
Any comments please on the new cycle lanes?*

A610 / Melbourne Road junction – message of 30 Jan from “Mansfield Marauder” to the Pedals website contact point:
“Mansfield Marauder sent a message using the contact form at
http://www.pedals.org.uk/contact.

Can anything be done about the junction between Melbourne road and the
A610?. As you are probably aware leading up to this junction the
dual carriageway is split into a parking lane a cycle lane and a lane for
traffic. About 50yds short of the above junction the parking and cycle
lanes disappear which leaves cyclists in the middle of the carriage way in
amongst the motorists. The really annoying thing is there is a cyclists
space at the traffic lights (assuming the motorists have not invaded it
but that is another rant) unfortunately because the cycle lane ceases well
before the lights you can not get near it without risking life and limb the
only (practical) solution I can see is for the cycle lane to take to the
pavement for the short distance to the lights, the pavement is quite wide
here and I can see no problem with this other than the fact the motorists
will get annoyed when the cyclists pop up in front of them at the lights.
Having said this most cyclists I see on this stretch of the 6 are using
the pavement anyway.”

Any comments, please?*

…comments from Andrew Martin (4 Feb)
“Hello All
1 This cyclist has a valid point about a location I regularly use. Only last 
week I rode between two lines of stationary traffic on Melbourne Road, and 
stopped at the ASL adjacent to a car occupying the red box. I gestured to the 
driver by pointing to the ground/cycle logo; she wound down her window and 
apologised after stating she wasn't aware of the purpose of the red box.

2 A similar situation exists at the entry lane in the junction opposite for 
cyclists riding West. Vehicles turning left stop on the ASL feeder lane and the 
red box for the ASL is frequently occupied by pesky drivers. Furthermore, the 
cycle logo at many/all of Nottingham City red boxes/ASL's need checking (and 
repainting). Steve Brewer, if you provide the paint I would happily make it 
happen!!!

3 The building site opposite Sainsbury's (former Commodore) at this junction 
has a perimeter hoarding which obscures the blue Route 6 sign near the 
junction.

Here's to Healthy and Happy Cycling
Andrew”

PS. The general matter of enforcement on cycle facilities, and the prevention of driver abuse of them, is one that I have been trying to raise at meetings of the Greater Nottingham Cycling Development Group though so far pressure of other items has precluded discussion of this. I now hope to raise it at the next meeting, on 13 March.

Having now had a chance to refresh my own knowledge of the junction I would agree with Andrew’s comments. The approach from the cycle lane to the ASL could be much better marked, with an approach cycle lane in the middle, and the worn markings need repainting.

Top Valley Way Improvements for pedestrians and cyclists
I only received details of these, including filling in the subways under the roundabout and providing some cycle lanes, on 28 Jan, when work was just about to start!

Other City Council consultations: proposed Traffic Regulation Orders etc.:
Another handful of TRO consultation letters which I will bring along to the meeting in case anyone wishes to comment on particular ones, e.g. 
•	Stonebridge Park Regeneration – Beacon Hill Rise (by 19 Feb)
•	changes to the taxi rank on Lower Parliament St. outside NG1 Club (response needed by 25 Feb)
•	waiting / loading restrictions on Woodborough Rd (by 25 Feb)
•	King St Environmental Improvement Scheme (off Old Market Square) by 6 March (this is the area where the new Brian Clough Statute is to be sited and also of the proposed Nottingham Speakers’ Corner, I understand). I hope that Cloughie is not going to disturb the cycle stands nearby!
•	Quayside Close (by 7 March)

Woodside Road approach to roundabout by Nottingham University west entrance.
Robin Phillips rang me about problems for cyclists he has had here with approaching drivers not giving way to cyclists on the roundabout. Any comments, please?

Abbey Road / Wollaton Road / Broughton St. Beeston – phone call from Robin Phillips
Robin rang me about problems for cyclists he has had here when turning in to or out of Wollaton Road, Beeston. Any comments, please?

Conversion of Puffing Crossing to Toucan (ref. TC5001) on Low Wood Rd (Nuthall) and links to the Phoenix Park NET site etc. – copy of my message of 20 Jan to Jarek Bien, Notts CC:
“Jarek
Thanks for your letter of 16 January (HB/JB/TC5001) about the conversion of the Low Wood Road (Nuthall) Puffing crossing to a Toucan crossing.
 
Pedals would very much like to support these proposals together with any other proposals, by the County and City Councils in close coordination, to provide better connections for cyclists between the new multi-user path under the M1 between Watnall and Nuthall on the hand, and, on the other, between Low Wood Road and the Phoenix Park NET terminus and park and ride site where, as you may know, serious consideration is now at last being given to the installation of cycle lockers, providing that funding and maintenance issues can be satisfactorily addressed.
 
Enhancements for cyclists on Low Wood Road could also have wider benefit in terms of improving the coherence of cycling provision along the whole of the Low Wood Road /  Woodhouse Way / Bilborough Road / Wollaton Vale route along the west side of the city and the east side of Broxtowe Borough. This is an important 'corridor' for cyclists, linking several major new employment and educational sites and major residential areas, but its various examples of on- and off-road cycling provision, introduced over many years, as part of separate schemes, though of some value in themselves, are very fragmented. 

Pedals believes that they badly need a comprehensive attempt by both the City and County Councils to upgrade them and link them to better much more coherently and satisfactorily. This would also help develop better links for cyclists between the north and south of Broxtowe Borough, including the considerable existing provision in the Beeston area.
Hugh

Cyclists and the Gedling (Burton Road) bus plug – exchange of messages with Paul Hillier, Notts. County Council, including the covering note I included when I forwarded these messages on 6 Feb.
“As you will see from the exchange of messages below, mostly dating from just before Christmas, well after the previous Pedals business meeting and several weeks before the meeting on 21 January, I was asked, at fairly short notice, to provide some Pedals statement in the support of the bus and cycle plug on Burton Road (between Gedling and Burton Joyce) introduced by the County Council last summer as part of their 'GITS' (Gedling Integrated Transport Scheme) which also include a new road to the south of the old A612 east of Netherfield and including new sections of shared footway/cycleway.
 
The scheme has been very controversial with some local residents, especially drivers objecting to the fact that they now have to drive further from Netherfield etc. towards Burton Joyce but of course the scheme has also much benefitted buses (quicker journey times, as confirmed in the email from NCT below) and cyclists since the bus plug on the old A612 is open to cyclists as well and because cyclists now have a much quieter road there to cycle on.
 
In the message I sent just before Christmas, in response to this appeal for support from Paul and Sakis, I made clear our general support on these grounds but Sakis then asked if we could provide a more detailed letter of support, saying more on the particular benefits for cyclists, as NCT had done in the case of improved journey times etc. for buses.
 
With the various diversions over Christmas, and having no more detailed information myself, I rather put the matter to one side and, I now regret, omitted to raise it at the 21 January meeting. However, Paul has now approached me again, reminding me of the request from Sakis, so I am now making a fresh attempt to provide more detailed information on the particular benefits for cyclists. I will make sure this goes on the agenda for our meeting on Monday 18th but it would be helpful before then for anyone with more detailed local knowledge than I have to assist me by giving detailed comments please.
Hugh
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Hugh McClintock (Dell) 
To: Paul Hillier 
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: Service 100 and the Gedling (Burton Road) bus plug

Paul
Thanks for this. I cant say that I have given it much thought since the exchange of messages just before Christmas and indeed I forgot to raise it at the last Pedals meeting on 21 January (when we anyway had a great deal else to discuss). However, if it is not too late to do so, I will make sure that I do raise it at the next meeting, on Monday 18th February.
 
As it is now, I doubt that I could add significantly to my earlier message, with more on the details of the benefits, in the same way as the detailed bus time improvements mentioned in the email from Anthony Carver-Smith of NCT. I will however, if you like see, if I can get a few more comments over the next couple of weeks, bearing in mind that there was no time to do so just before Christmas when you first contacted me about this and when I thought some response was urgently needed.
Hugh
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul Hillier 
To: Hugh McClintock (Dell) 
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: Service 100 and the Gedling (Burton Road) bus plug

Hello Hugh,
Sorry to pester but did you get a chance to look at this for Sakis?
Regards,
Paul Hillier
Local Transport Plan Officer (Greater Nottingham)
Nottinghamshire County Council
Tel: 0115 977 4866  Fax: 0115 977 4054

-----"Hugh McClintock \(Dell\)" <Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com> wrote: -----
To: "Paul Hillier" <paul.hillier@nottscc.gov.uk>
From: "Hugh McClintock \(Dell\)" <Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com>
Date: 20/12/2007 04:29PM
Subject: Re: Service 100 and the Gedling (Burton Road) bus plug
﻿ 
Paul
Thanks for this. I am not sure that I will have much time to think about this in the next few days and it is something that I have not looked at anyway in much detail but if anything does occur to me I will have a go at composing something.
Hugh
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul Hillier 
To: Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com 
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 4:22 PM
Subject: Fw: Service 100 and the Gedling (Burton Road) bus plug

Hugh,
I realise that you will have seen the email from Sakis. If there's any additional supporting evidence you can provide to substantiate the benefits to cyclists of the bus plug Sakis would greatly appreciate it. I realise that Christmas preparations are paramount at the moment (at least they are in my house!) so don't feel pressured into composing something this side of Christmas - that is, presuming you're happy to oblige Sakis's requested.
Regards,

Paul Hillier
Local Transport Plan Officer (Greater Nottingham)
Nottinghamshire County Council
Tel: 0115 977 4866  Fax: 0115 977 4054

-----Forwarded by Paul Hillier/en/nottscc on 20/12/2007 04:17PM -----
To: Paul Hillier/en/nottscc@nottscc
From: Sakis Papadopoulos/en/nottscc
Date: 20/12/2007 03:30PM
cc: Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com
Subject: Fw: Service 100 and the Gedling (Burton Road) bus plug

Hi Paul,
Thank you for forwarding me Hugh McClintock's letter of support for the new A612. I appreciate the support from Pedals and this letter is fine. However, I would have ideally liked to see something more written regarding the actual perceived benefits by cyclists, drawing a clear distinction from the comparison between the pre-existing scenario and now with the new road and the two bus plugs in place.  Also what points of objection could be brought about by Pedals under a proposal to remove the Burton Rd bus plug? etc. and therefore strengthening their support for the current A612 arrangement.
Please see below a good letter of support for the A612 that I recently received from the Nottingham City Transport.
Kind regards

Sakis Papadopoulos
Transport & Environmental Programmes
Communities Department
Nottinghamshire County Council
0115-9774548 (Direct Tel line) & 0115-9774054 (Fax)

----- Forwarded by Sakis Papadopoulos/en/nottscc on 20/12/2007 14:57 -----
		
(message of 26 Nov from Andy Buckland to Sakis Papadopoulos – Burton Rd bus plug)
Hi Andy,
My apologies that this is being sent on the day of the reply. Our formal reply is below:
ACS
  
”The A612 bus plug has enabled NCT to significantly reduce the journey times for passengers travelling on Pathfinder services into Nottingham from the east of the County. 
 
NCT are very appreciative of the supportive work by the County Council to improve bus reliability and punctuality as well as more importantly allowing us to offer quicker journey times to our passengers.
 
Our passenger research indicates that a combination of these three key measures is critical to modal shift and encouraging people to travel by bus for journeys they typically make by car. 
 
This however, is a slow process and it is unrealistic to expect the full effect of the A612 bus plug to have been demonstrated only a few months after it was opened. Some industry research argues that the full effect of any change can take at least 12-18 months to be digested by existing and potential passengers.
 
On the matter of journey times, the scheduled morning peak journey time into the City Centre from Burton Joyce, for example, is now the quickest time since NCT bought Pathfinder in 1998.
 
Under our new timetable of October 2007, the scheduled journey time from Burton Joyce to the City Centre is now only 22 minutes, compared to between 38-40 minutes at the start of the decade, where NCT found itself in the position of putting extra journey time into the route to meet passenger expectations of reliability. 
 
Extra journey time is very expensive to provide and costs additional buses and drivers. These typically cost NCT £70-100k per annum to run. The additional costs are very rarely recouped through extra revenue because on the road passengers do not experience a better frequency of service, but a service that is the same, but provided with by more resource and cost. 
 
Another local bus operator, Trent Barton, found itself in the position a couple of years ago where the extra cost of keeping to time through deploying extra buses on to it’s 18 and 32 routes eventually increased running costs to such a high level that the route became commercially unviable and has since been truncated with sections of route withdrawn. 
 
It is likely that without the A612 bus plug, an additional bus would have had to be deployed onto the 100 route which could have made the entire service uneconomic to continue without financial support from the County Council.
 
The A612 bus plug has therefore benefited passengers by reducing their journey time into Nottingham by almost half. There are no other examples in Nottingham where bus priority measures have seen such a good return on passenger journey times. 
 
Patronage since the A612 bus plug opened has increased by 10% on the Pathfinder 100 route, with just under 40,000 passenger trips now made per 4 week period on the service. 
 
Passenger feedback has indicated that additional capacity is needed on this service and NCT is finalising plans to upgrade the 100 service in Spring 2008 with brand new, high quality vehicles with leather seats, air conditioning, real time passenger information and full accessibility for wheelchairs and pushchairs. 
 
These new buses will demonstrate a stepped improvement in the quality of service for passengers and will be supported by enhancing the frequency at peak times. This frequency enhancement can be provided through the reduced journey times for passengers that allow the bus to cover more route in the same time and is NCT’s commitment to the bus offer for Gedling, Burton Joyce, Lowdham and Southwell following the local authorities commitment to provide bus priority.
 
NCT is concerned that any changes or relaxation of the bus priority measures would result in a slowing down of the Pathfinder 100 service which could potentially jeopardise the full passenger benefit from the investment of £800,000 in the service in 2008.”
 
From: Andy Buckland [mailto:andy.buckland@nottscc.gov.uk] 
Sent: 21 November 2007 16:44
To: Anthony Carver-Smith
Cc: Sakis Papadopoulos
Subject: Service 100 and the Gedling (Burton Road) bus plug
Afternoon Anthony, 

Colleagues are handling a formal complaint urging that the A612 bus plug east of Carlton le Willows school should be removed and access to Burton Road restored to all traffic. In responding I have been asked to contact you for information you may be able to share regarding the impact of the new arrangements. I would envisage that information concerning the effect on reliability and ridership is required. 

Any information you can give is needed by Friday so that a reply can be sent on Monday. Are there any points re Citylink2 due to the new junction arrangements at Victoria Park? 

Thanks for any help you might provide. 
Andy Buckland
Transport Logistics Manager
Nottinghamshire Transport Services 		
	
PS. Comments on Burton Road bus gate of 6 Feb. from Paul Rea:
“Hugh,
I have audited this bus gate as part of my Carlton/Netherfield work and found it to be very beneficial to cyclists.  With recommendations that I am making, it will enable direct routes to be established which could not happen if Burton Road filled up with traffic and pushed cyclists back onto the truncated verge path.  I have written fully to Paul Hillier as well as writing it up in my report.
Best wishes, Paul Rea”

comments on Edwalton Extension proposals from Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign) (my message of 9 Jan to Bovis Homes / David Wilson Homes
“Dear Sir / Madam
Although the relatively sloping nature of the topography for the proposed housing in this area makes cycling somewhat less attractive an option than in flatter areas of West Bridgford such as Gamston, Compton Acres, Ladybay and the town centre etc., there is nevertheless much that could be done to make use of bikes more of a serious option, in line with the aim in the Rushcliffe Corporate Strategy to reduce use of private cars. This is all the more the case now that the latest proposals do not include housing on the steeper west side of the land towards Sharp Wood and do include a flatter area to the east of Melton Road (A606) and south of Edwalton.
 
We note that the transport proposals include the provision of a subway/underpass under the A606, between the two parts of the development, to facilitate motor traffic leaving and entering the site without causing too much disruption to traffic on the A606 itself and that "this should allow the safe passage of pedestrians and cyclists". While we appreciate this specific reference to the safety of cyclists we would like to be reassured that the safety of cyclists and pedestrians will be seriously considered throughout the development, in line with the recent Government advice in the Manual for Street Report from the Department for Transport, published last March.
 
Similarly, while we welcome the proposed inclusion of 'Green Infrastructure' proposals including " a network of multi-user paths (footpaths, cycleways and bridleways) which would provide a range of options for non-vehicle needs" we would like to see far more detail on the specific routes this will include and how it is proposed that they link to various important origins and destinations for cyclists, within and outside the development.
 
We regret that no thought seems to have been given, for example, as to how to provide safe, convenient and direct cycle access between the new housing area and Rushcliffe Leisure Centre and Rushcliffe School, avoiding the need to ride on the increasingly busy Melton Road, as well as to and from West Bridgford town centre. If this development is to go ahead it would also seem very important to ensure that it helps to implement the long proposed cycle route between Ruddington and the east (Edwalton and Melton Road) side of West Bridgford via the relatively quiet section of Landmere Lane south of the Ring Road, the agricultural subway under the Ring Road south of Sharp Hill, and direct and convenient links through the new development towards Edwalton and West Bridgford etc. The current proposals show no awareness of this opportunity and important need.
 
We note the intention to provide a bus only link from the southeast corner of the development to the top end of Musters Road, north of Boundary Road and would like to know if this is proposed to be available for cyclists as well. Despite the particularly hilly topography at this corner of the site we are sure that some cyclists will want to use it, as a convenient short cut.
 
While we can see the case for including this direct bus link, and the Fastrack proposal, to help boost public transport use in the new development (along with the free bus pass for residents) we are seriously concerned as to the implications of this for the rest of its proposed route through West Bridgford, away from the new development. If the intention is to make major changes to the series of junctions along Musters Road and towards Trent Bridge, to provide a faster service, just what will these entail, given the limited space available? Will they for example involve the removal of cycle facilities along the route such as those at the Musters Road / Melton Road junction and on the Bridgford Road approach to Trent Bridge? If so, Pedals would strongly oppose such proposals, especially the well-designed and well-used approach cycle lane and advance stop line on the southern approach to the Musters Road / Melton Road junction. We would please like to see detailed drawings of the proposed junction layouts along this route.
 
Like other groups and local residents we have major concerns about the likely increased motor traffic in the West Bridgford area arising from the proposed development (including increase rat running on minor roads) and particularly the implications for the safety of cyclists, should planning permission for any of the development be granted.
 
We look forward to receiving further information from you
Yours sincerely
Hugh McClintock
Chairman, Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign)
162 Musters Road
West Bridgford
Nottingham
NG2 7AA”

Tram Trains for the Nottingham area? – message of 1 Feb from Steve Barber:
“Work is ongoing in the background nationally on the concept of tram-trains.
The first time this was mentioned for Nottingham was last autumn when
Network Rail suggested it as an option for the Trowell chord at a meeting in
Westminster organised by Nick Palmer MP. Since then Tom Harris, the
transport minister announced to an All Party Parliamentary Group on light
rail that the government is to trial them this year for a year and after
that he has suggested that local authorities should look at possible
schemes. 

An announcement is expected next week, see http://tinyurl.
<http://tinyurl.com/yu7ltj> com/yu7ltj for a video on the Halle system and
hopes for Yorkshire (thanks David Cockle and the LRTA). Manchester are
pushing very hard for a Chester to Manchester Piccadilly via Altrincham and
St Peters square service. Thoughts are being given to an Ilkeston to the
Forest via Trowell, Wollaton, Jubilee Campus, NG2 Midland station and the
market square service for Nottingham. The report in the Post yesterday
http://tinyurl.com/26wc6h shows this to potentially be a runner if we want
to cut congestion.

And what, I wonder are the implications of this for cyclists?**

5. Finance

Susan Young to report.

Not least of the problems arising from the mess-up over our membership records has been that we have still done nothing to implement the decisions at the AGM last March to increase the subscription for all members (not just new ones) and to transfer our bank account to the Coop. These of course require writing to all members to ask them to amend their Standing Orders (unless they do not pay by SO, now only a minority).

It would appear very unjust that new members are being charged the new rate while older ones (for whom we now have no contact details, and who pay by SO) still pay at the old one! What can we do to sort this out?**

6. Winter newsletter feedback.

Comments, please! All being well, quite a few of you at least should have received copies by Monday. Very embarrassingly, that will of course however not be the case for about half our members (all standing order payers) for whom we still lack mail addresses.

Very many thanks to Chris and Lynne Gardner for their heroic feats in reconstituting the membership records, as far as they could from our patchy and dated records, and producing the labels on time.

Many thanks once again to John Wilson (now nearly 80!) for help with the stuffing and dispatch session!

7. Forthcoming meetings / events:

Cancelled - Cycle Working Group Meeting - Greater Notts, Wednesday 6 January – message of 4 Jan. from Caroline Hollingsworth, Notts CC:
“Dear all,
please accept my apologies for not contacting you sooner with the message that the Cycle Working Group meeting arranged for Wednesday has been cancelled. 
Once a new cycling officer is in post you will be contacted to arrange the next meeting.
Kind regards,
Caroline Hollingsworth
Policies & Standards Team
Highways Division
0115 9773544

…my comments:
“Caroline
Thanks for this. I guessed this might be the case.
 
Is there any news please of when a replacement for Ed Ducker is likely to be in place? Pedals is very concerned about the prospect of any loss of momentum in the County Council's cycling work.
Hugh”

…and comments from Paul Hillier, Notts CC:
“Hugh,
I hope there won't be much loss of momentum. Our programme of schemes for 08/09 has already been identified and the schemes identified during the district "masterplanning" process, along with the outputs from Paul Rea's work, should provide us with enough to populate the following year's programme should the appointment of a new colleague take longer than we'd like.

Paul Hillier
Local Transport Plan Officer (Greater Nottingham)
Nottinghamshire County Council
Tel: 0115 977 4866  Fax: 0115 977 4054”

…and further comments from Caroline Hollingsworth:
“Paul - Thanks for that response to Hugh to reassure pedals on the continuing work in the programme.
Hugh - I can not currently say when the post will be filled. Whilst every effort is being made for this to happen as soon as possible, this appointment might take longer than we'd like due to the recent Job Evaluation process undertaken by the Authority which has impacted this post. I would reassure you however this matter will be resolved as soon as possible and we will let you know once the post has been filled. 
Kind regards,
Caroline Hollingsworth
Policies & Standards Team
Highways Division
0115 9773544

….and my response to these:
“Paul / Caroline
Thanks for this prompt response.
 
There were several things hanging over from the last CWG meeting which I wanted to raise; both some things that we did not get round to discussing at all and others that were only touched on.
 
I also was keen to get some more details of what is coming out of the Gedling and Rushcliffe Master planning exercises at two of the CWG meetings last year, and also the other Pedals consolidated 'wish list' for the Ruddington Fields Business Park and preparation for the special meeting on the cycling ideas for that, which, I hope, is still going ahead on 10th March, and including a coordinated approach to Jeremy Dixon of AMScott about the vital importance of getting the Highway Agency to get to grips with some of the key cycling schemes needed in this area, along and across the A52T etc. This is also very important in view of the recent interest in better cycling links from various people and organisations in Ruddington (village), Keyworth and Tollerton who have approached Pedals in the last few months.
 
I also wanted to raise the question of what consideration there has been of the ideas for cycling improvements in Beeston town centre which Pedals raised during the consultation last autumn on the Beeston Town Centre Action Plan.
Hugh

…and Paul Hillier’s response of 5 Feb:
“Morning Hugh,
just a quick update:
 
1. Very little by way of scheme ideas came out of the Gedling meetings because of the unfriendly nature of the terrain. It was felt that facilities should be more focused on local facilities that address specific problems rather than trying to develop a coherent strategic network. This is especially true of previous attempts to connect Arnold to Carlton. There are, of course, other schemes taking place in the south of the borough, specifically along the A612.
 
2. I wasn't aware that a meeting was scheduled for 10th March concerning Ruddington Fields. I wasn't at the last meeting and haven't had any feedback. Currently, there are no proposals for schemes in the area but that doesn't mean there won't be in the future. It would be useful to get some feedback about specific requests/ideas that come from those meetings. I'll speak to Claire Fleming.
 
3. I'm not sure of the status of the Beeston town centre masterplan. I'm aware that a number of proposals were drawn up but I don't believe that the plan has been formally approved by the borough nor that the County has agreed to take forward the schemes under its jurisdiction. Furthermore, much of the plan is developer-led (or, if not, linked to the tram) and so I don't expect that anything will want to be started in the short term.
 
That said, we continue to work on the Beeston railway station and Beeston to Stapleford schemes and I'm happy to look at other schemes that aren't likely to be affected by the tram etc.
 
Finally, I'll speak to Caroline about when the next CWG is likely to be held and, if it may be delayed considerably, I'll circulate details of next year's scheme programme.
Regards, Paul Hillier”

…..and my comments on this (to Arthur Williams and Nick Hynes, who compiled the Pedals consolidated wish list for Gedling a year ago):
“I am frankly rather disappointed at Paul's comments about Gedling improvement ideas in the first para of his response since I thought that your consolidated list etc. had generated some useful, if small-scale ideas worth pursuing.
 
I would be interested in your comments before taking this up with him again
best wishes, Hugh”

….response from Arthur Williams (5 Feb):
“Hugh, Nick
I agree. The wording is unfortunate. The idea of finding a suitable Arnold-Carlton route is unlikely to be successful, but I think that the “local facilities that address specific problems” are valid in their own right, as well as improving the general network of routes in the district… despite the terrain.
Arthur

…and my further message to Paul Hillier of 6 Feb:
“Paul
Thanks for your further response on this. A few more comments:-
 
1. Gedling: Surely “local facilities that address specific problems” are valid in their own right, as well as improving the general network of routes in the district… despite the steepish terrain in much of Gedling (except in the A612 corridor, of course)? The comprehensive wish list we produced a year ago, coordinated by Arthur Williams and Nick Hynes, certainly had lots of ideas for addressing specific problems, including for example signing relatively quiet and less steep routes.
 
2. Ruddington Fields. Now that Claire Fleming has reassured me that the 10 March special cycling meeting is definitely still on I hope we can still make some progress there, even in the absence of a cycling officer, and also make a renewed attempt to get the involvement of the Highways Agency/AMScott, since improved cycling facilities along and across the Ring Road (A52T) are so particularly important in this area, and also to the efforts to promote cycling in the Keyworth and BGS areas etc.
 
3. Beeston town centre cycling. I should be at the next meeting of the Broxtowe Transport Partnership on 29 Feb and hope that these ideas can be discussed then
 
I very much hope that it will not be too long until a new date for the next Cycling Working Group can be arranged, especially given the new interest in cycling in much of Rushcliffe, including TASC, Keyworth Parish Council, BGS Keyworth and the Ruddington Fields Transport Group etc.
Hugh”

…comments (on Gedling cycling) from Nick Hyne, 8 Feb:
“Hello Hugh
It feels like we've scarcely left the starting grid here, doesn't it?  Bearing in mind our starting point of there being almost no dedicated facilities for cyclists in the borough, and indeed recent developments which continue to disregard cyclists' needs (I'm thinking in particular here of the major works presently underway but on Arnold's main thoroughfare, Front Street), I think Arthur and I had no alternative but to come up with "local facilities that address specific problems"!  It is curious that, for example, the fact that there is no provision of safe cycling facilities to Arnold's library and sports centre doesn't rate as a specific local problem.
 
On a topographic note, it is indisputably true that the urban part of Gedling Borough is divided by a bloody great hill (don't I know it, working on both sides), yet both Arnold town centre/Daybrook, and on the other side, Colwick/Netherfield/bottom end of Gedling are virtually flat, and both contain schools, shops etc and pretty high population densities.  "The unfriendly nature of the terrain" is scarcely an issue here, I think.
 
Thanks for your continued interest Hugh.  It feels like there's a lot of work needed here.
All best wishes, Nick”

Ruddington Fields Business Park Transport Group Cycle Forum, Monday 10 March
Chris Gardner, Chris Murden and I, representing Pedals, together with Gary Smerdon-White representing RideWise and the Greater Nottm Transport Partnership, will be attending this meeting, organised by Claire Fleming of Notts CC and where the specially prepared Pedals wish list will be very much on the agenda.

Pedals AGM, Monday 17 March
We need to order food for this.

According to our Constitutions nominations for office should be received by the February meeting and officially by the Secretary (although we have not actually had one for several years!). Time at last to put that right perhaps?! **

Round Hill Junior School Cycling Events, 12 April – message of 29 Jan from Adrian Pugh
Hugh,
I wonder if you can help.

We are organising a year of cycling at my children’s school, Round Hill Junior, in Beeston. There are two main events:

A group of parents will ride to Paris (we are paying for ourselves and raising sponsorship)
The children (some 500 of them!) will be asked to ride the equivalent distance on April 12th.

It is the second event we wondered if Pedals had any ideas about. Most of the children’s riding will be around the school playing fields and so it should be a big carnival kind of day. We have some parents ready to do some bike maintenance and refurbishment (for resale) but we wondered if we could get any more stalls/attractions on the theme of encouraging cycling. Any thoughts or contacts?
Adrian”

..and responses from Ian Cohen, Gary Smerdon-White and Graham Hubbard, Ridewise (30 Jan):

From: Ian Cohen [mailto:ian.cohen@atem.co.uk] 
Sent: 29 January 2008 18:54
To: info@ridewise.org.uk; garysmerdon-white@supanet.com
Cc: Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com
Subject: FW: Cycle event - Round Hill Junior School Beeston

“Hi Graham and Gary,
I know you’ll already have received this directly but I’d just like to say that it strikes me as an ideal opportunity to market Ridewise to the parents, staff etc both for them and for family cycle training. If you think its worth following up, might it be possible to get some of our loan bikes to the event so that we can give people a taste of our cycle training?
All the best, Ian.”

“Hi
I think you are right and Verna my wife is now onto the job (she’s a TA at Roundhill) it would be good if we did as you suggest on the day and level 1 stuff at well afterwards.
I’ve asked her to get to the organisers tomorrow and I’ll feedback
Gary”

“already contacted them! I fancy a bike ride to Paris though, don't you :-)
Au revoir, Monsieur Graham”

Sat. 7 June; 1) Ridewise Cycling Festival and 2) West Bridgford Summer gathering – Pedals stall/display requests:  exchange of emails with Susan Young, Andrew Martin and Karina Wells (22 Jan)

It is unfortunate that this event clashes with the one that Andrew is organising with Graham Hubbard of Ridewise at the Sumac Centre. I hope that we can have some Pedals presence at both events but we must discuss next month how best to arrange this.
Hugh

“When sorting out the display we could do with ensuring we have some duplication. We have enough display boards. This day it may be best to have the big one at Sumac (indoors) and the smaller one on a table at Karina's.

Due to work commitments, I can't get involved with the Sumac event hence offering to set up and do the first hour or so at WB. Again I'll ask around on Friday at the Ridewise event.
Susan”

We also soon need to organise a subgroup to arrange for our displays to be updated.**

GNBR, Sunday 22 June, – my exchange of messages of 22 April with Melanie Berry of Perfect Motion, now managing the event on behalf of Notts. County Council:
“Hi Hugh,
Great to hear from you and thanks for your positive words. We are looking at ways to grow and enhance this event and we will work with another charity called the Geoff Thomas Foundation www.geoffthomasfoundation.com. I have passed on your email to my colleague Chris Simon and Mark Sandemas as they are both looking after the logistics of the route etc. 
 
We will be adding to other routes to the ride in 2008 and they will be a family lap challenge around Holme PP and a 100 mile sportive ride aimed at the cycling market. Our aim is to grow this event to 12,000 by 2012 and feel this is possible.
Kind Regards, Mel

…and from Helen Clayton, The Big Wheel, 22 Jan:
“Very timely – I’ve just had a meeting with Melanie Berry.  Melanie works for Perfect Motion, which is the company that’s managing the GNBR for the first time this year.  They have some very interesting and exciting plans for routes, logistics and marketing.  Mel should be able to help you with your questions Hugh.
Helen”

8. Updating Pedals display – sub group meeting date

As Andrew Martin urged some months ago we need a special meeting soon to organise the updating of Pedals displays for use this spring and summer.

Who would like to join such a sub-group and when please?**
How about either Mondays 25 Feb or 3 March at my house, 162 Musters Road, West Bridgford, at 7.30 p.m?*

9. Miscellaneous items:

Olympic Cycles
Does anyone know what has happened to Olympic Cycles on Valley Road near the City Hospital. Lawrence Geary tells me that they appear to have closed.

Hugh, 13.2.08