What is Pedals and what does Pedals do?

What is Pedals?

Pedals is the local cycle campaign group for the Nottingham area.

Pedals was launched in 1979 to campaign for safer conditions for cyclists

 

We campaign for cycling to be promoted as a serious means of daily transport, for short trips, especially in urban areas, and not just as a leisure activity

We focus not on the whole county of Nottinghamshire but rather on Greater Nottingham, i.e. the City of Nottingham, Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe Boroughs.

 

What does Pedals do?

Most of our campaigning is directed at the two Local Highway Authorities for the area, i.e. Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council but also important is National Highways which is responsible for trunk roads like the A52, the A453 and the A46. We also try to promote good cycle infrastructure by decisions on planning applications by the Local Planning Authorities in the area, i.e. Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe Boroughs, as well as Nottingham City Council.

Most of our daily campaigning focuses on the need for more and improved cycle infrastructure. To help achieve this much of our work involves responding to a range of consultations, including traffic management schemes, highway proposals and planning applications.

We also engage with the Local Authorities and National Highways through regular meetings, particularly through the quarterly meetings of the Infrastructure subgroup of CAWAG, i.e. the Greater Nottingham Cycling and Walking Advisory Group. These are very useful for providing feedback on proposals and implemented schemes, as well as general highway issues for cyclists.

We work closely with other organisations with a strong interest in promoting Active Travel, including Sustrans (East Midlands), Ridewise, Cycling UK, Notts CTC, and the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local Access Forums.
We have now also established close liaison with Active Travel England (established in 2022 to ensure high standards of new infrastructure provision) and their Regional Manager, Adrian Hill
We have recently started working closely with other Active Travel organisations in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to coordinate lobbying of the East Midlands Combined Authority, established in 2024 following the election of Claire Ward as East Midlands Mayor and her promises to boost spending on Active Travel and to appoint an Active Travel Ambassador

We also work closely with various other local groups on specific campaigns, e.g. NSAT (North-South Active Travelway), the A52 Active Travel Partnership, Notts Ramblers and the Chiwell and Toton Neighbourhood Forum.

We hold regularly monthly meetings to discuss a wide range of items, particularly focusing on cycle infrastructure (including cycle routes and cycle parking) and all Pedals Supporters are welcome to attend these. People can also air their view by subscribing to the Pedals Discussion Group emails, via our website – www.pedals.org.uk

To help publicise our activities we also organise stalls at various events such as the annual Nottingham Green Festival. More volunteers are always welcome to help staff these!

 

Examples of Pedals campaigns include:-

1980-81: Opening of the 6km Clifton to City Centre cycle route, via the rebuilt Wilford Bridge, a scheme with support from the Department for Transport’s Innovative Cycling Projects Fund.

1982: Pedals launched the Great Nottingham(shire) Bike Ride, taken over in 1985 by the County Council which then ran it until 2010, before it was taken over by the City Council and Perfect Motion, until its demise in 2020 with the onset of the Covid 19 Pandemic.

1983: Pedals organised the first Leisure Rides Programme, taken over in 1985 by the County Council as part of their County-wide Guided Cycle Rides Programme, until this was dropped in 2010.

1986-90: Nottingham benefitted from a Department for Transport Funded large-scale Urban Network Project for the Nottingham area which included several routes based on Pedals proposals.

1995-97. Pedals closely involved in the DfT Cycle Challenge Project for Nottingham to promote “Cycle-friendly Employers”, working closely with the City and County Councils and 7 major local employers.

1982-: Pedals much involved with Sustrans, the Railway Path Project and the Friends of Bennerley Viaduct, to convert the historic railway viaduct between Awsworth and Ilkeston into a through route for cyclists and walkers. A further ramp, at the east end of the Viaduct, should be completed in 2025, connecting to the Nottinghamshire leg of the Erewash Valley Trail. Other links are planned.

1990-94: Pedals became closely involved in the detailed plans for Line One of the NET (tram) to campaign for safer crossings of the tram tracks and other cycle facilities in relation to the tram routes. From 2009 we became similarly involved in the detailed plans for Lines Two and Three, to Clifton and Toton including in the development of revised advice for cyclists in minimising their risks in coping with tram tracks.

2008-2010: Pedals, working with several other local groups, lead the campaign to persuade Severn Trent Water plc to repair and reopen the Wilford Suspension Bridge across the Trent between Victoria Embankment

2014- Pedals, working with several other local groups, lead the campaign for a new foot-cycle bridge on the east side of the Nottingham area. This resulted in a successful bid by Nottingham City Council for support from the DfT’s Transforming Cities Fund, resulting in confirmation of plans for the Waterside Bridge, between Trent Basin and Lady Bay (West Bridgford), on which work is now due to start early in 2025. (see below for more information)

2019: Pedals campaign for better provision for cyclists in the redeveloped Broad Marsh area, including a continuous segregated cycle path across the area to connect the recently improved Castle Boulevard cycle path via Canal Street and the London Road (BBC) Island, to connect through the Island Quarter Regeneration site to the Eastern Cycle Corridor (Manvers Street and Daleside Road cycle paths) and the north bank landing of the proposed foot-cycle bridge across the Trent between Trent Basin and Lady Bay.

2021: Pedals became involved with the Notts Ramblers and other local groups in the A52 Active Travel Partnership to campaign for safer crossings as part of National Highways plans for the “A52 Nottingham Major Project” covering all of the A52 between the Dunkirk Flyover roundabout and Radcliffe on Trent, focusing initially in helping to revive the longstanding Pedals campaign for the upgrading of the existing subway-underpass under the A52 south of Sharp Hill (West Bridgford) and its approaches as part of an improved route between Ruddington and the east side of West Bridgford, including improved routes through the new major housing developments at Edwalton Fields and on both sides of the A606 (Melton Road) in the Edwalton area (see below for more information)

 

2023: Pedals made a comprehensive response to the consultation on the draft LCWIP (Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure) Plan for the D2N2 Area (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) carried out by the 2 City Councils and 2 County Councils, with DfT-funded consultancy support from Sustrans and PJA (Phil Jones Associates). The LCWIP is now to be taken forward by the new East Midlands Combined Authority, following the election in May 2024 of Claire Ward as Mayor, and her proposed appointment of an Active Travel Commissioner for the D2N2 Area.

 

2024: Pedals launched a campaign for East Midland Railways to make better provision for carrying bikes on trains, both in their new Aurora trains,
soon to be introduced and in their proposed new Regional rolling stock.

 

Current / Ongoing (major cycle infrastructure) campaigns include:-

  • Completion (due in 2025-2026) of the Nottingham City Council DfT Transforming Cities Fund-supported foot-cycle bridge across the River Trent between Lady Bay and Trent Basin including new and improved high-quality connections on both banks of the Trent, especially to and from the many new and planned major housing areas east of West Bridgford, and the many important leisure and recreation areas nearby, coordinated with improvements to nearby sections of Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 15, especially in the Lady Bay and Holme Pierrepont areas.
    Subject to the approval by the DfT in December 2024 of the final estimated costs of the bridge, the contract with Balfour Beattie to construct it should be approved in January 2025, with construction work starting on site soon afterwards (tbc).

 

  • The proposed North-South Active Travelway between West Bridgford town centre and Sherwood and including high quality segregated cycle paths (to DfT LTN 1/20 standards) for cyclists on Trent Bridge, its approaches to and from Loughborough Road, Bridgford Road and Radcliffe Road, through to Central Avenue and Tudor Square

  • Upgrading of the subway-underpass under the A52 south of Sharp Hill (West Bridgford) and its approaches to provide a much-improved active travel route between Ruddington and (the Edwalton side of) West Bridgford, as well as Rushcliffe School and connecting through the new Edwalton / Sharp Hill housing site to and from Boundary Road and to much improved cycling provision on Melton Road (A606), particularly between Village Street, Edwalton and the Wheatcroft (Lings Bar) roundabout, including improved links to and from Keyworth and Tollerton, etc. This scheme, with wider links, would also greatly improve cycle access to and from Rushcliffe Country Park, a very popular leisure destination. The scheme is the responsibility of National Highways, as the A52 is a trunk road.

  • Extension of the City Council’s Southern Cycle Corridor (City Centre to Clifton via Wilford) to serve the major new housing development at Fairham Pastures (south of Clifton)
    connecting to East Midlands Parkway Station, the redeveloped Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station site, East Midlands Gateway and East Midlands Airport.
    These high-quality links should also include a safe and direct route is provided between Fairham Pastures and East Leake Academy (the designated high school for the Fairham Pastures site) as well as to, from and through Keyworth and Ruddington, including the major new housing developments in and around these important settlements and the major visitor
    attraction of Rushcliffe Country Park.

  • Other bridge (over the River Trent) improvements for cyclists including a cantilevered segregated cycle path on the east side of Lady Bay Bridge (and improved approaches, especially on Radcliffe Road), the Suspension Bridge (improved connections on the A60 and A606 side of the bridge) and (A52) Clifton Bridge (restoration of the good standard segregated cycle path and footway removed in 1993)

  • New foot-cycle bridge over the River Trent between the redeveloped Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station site / Red Hill area (by East Midlands Parkway Station) and the redeveloped Chetwynd Barracks site in Broxtowe Borough, both major regeneration and employment sites which now lack safe direct Active Travel connections. Improved Active Travel connections to and from various local origins and destinations should be developed as an integral part of the comprehensive regeneration proposals for this major site and all of the proposed free trade development zone around East Midlands Airport (Leicestershire).

Improvements to the very rough section of Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 15 on Holme Lane, Holme Pierrepont (and supporting in principle the 2024 proposals by the County Council and Via-East Midlands Ltd. for restricting access for most motor vehicles on this section of the route)

 

  • Other important Links to major redevelopment sites within 5 miles (8km) of major housing areas e.g.
  • housing growth at the old Boots site in Beeston
  • industrial and housing developments in neighbouring parts of Erewash Borough (Derbyshire), especially Ilkeston and Long Eaton
  • routes through Stapleford and Toton between Nottingham and Derby
  • Investigation of potential 15-minute neighbourhoods, a concept which became shunned by the previous government
  • Reviving the longstanding Pedals proposals for a continuous and upgraded riverside path on the north bank of the Trent between  the City / Gedling boundary just east of Colwick Park and Stoke Bardolph including the provision of a new path on the missing link between the east side of the Crossland Meadows Estate and the footpath (very narrow, and often badly overgrown, but signed for cyclists) between Road no 3 (south of Sainsbury’s Netherfield Store) and the existing very substandard path between that point and Stoke Bardolph.

Reviving the idea of using the former railway between Netherfield and Mapperley Top as a multi-user path, helping to serve not just existing residential areas but also Gedling Country Park (east of Colliery Way, A6211) and the major new Chase Farm housing development between Colliery Way and Arnold Lane etc.

  • Complementing the very recent widening of the shared path on the north side of the Colwick Loop Road (A612) by a comprehensive set of improved cycling provision between the City / Gedling boundary north-east of Colwick Park and the east side of the Colwick Loop Road / A612 junction opposite the entrance to the Victoria Retail Park, Netherfield, and with improved connections on the A612 to the east towards the south end of Colliery Way and its east side shared path.  The present layout of this junction is particularly car-oriented!

 

HMcC, 26.8.24, revised 13.1.25

For more information visit www.pedals.org.uk or email contact@pedals.org.uk

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