Dates for your diary

2nd May – 7am-10pm York and North Yorkshire combined authority mayoral elections (remember to take photo ID)

YCC is planning to have a presence at the following. Please let us know if you can help:

22nd April – YCC railway recruitment stall/free security marking (4:30pm-6:30pm, short stay car park) 

18th May – Acaster Malbis Festival

29th May – YCC railway recruitment stall/free security marking (4:30pm-6:30pm, short stay car park) 

1st June – York Pride (Knavesmire)

21st-23rd June – Festival of Cycling (Knavesmire)

Kidical goes to Acomb

This Sunday (21st April) saw our mass family-friendly ride breaking new ground in terms of the starting point and it being in spring. We set off from West Bank Park in Holgate, cycled through Acomb then across Hob Moor before crossing South Bank and Millennium Bridge to finish at Cycle Heaven. Around 70 riders including many children joined in. A fuller blog will be with you shortly.

Railway recruitment stalls

Our recruitment team continues to hold campaign stalls every month or so at the station. A variety of cyclists has stopped to engage in conversation, including several commuters to Leeds and a student who travels in the opposite direction, picking up his bike at the station to cycle to York college. The free cycle marking service provided by the police is proving popular, with people sometimes queuing for the service. The British Transport Police told us about an attempted theft they spotted on CCTV – sparks flying from someone using an angle grinder, whilst people just walked past ignoring what was going on in the middle of the afternoon! Next stalls are 22nd April and 29th May, 4.30pm to 6.30pm, in the short-term car park area. Please let us know if you can help. 

Ward reps get active

YCC now has volunteer ward reps in several areas – Acomb, Bishopthorpe, Copmanthorpe, Fishergate/Fulford, Guildhall (city centre), Huntington + New Earswick, Rawcliffe, South Bank (Micklegate). The reps are working to identify issues relevant to their area, including potholes, cycle lane markings and physical barriers. If you want to help, especially as a rep in a ward not yet covered, please let Andy D’Agorne know.

Flooding Findings

Thanks to all the people who took the time to complete the survey on flooding that the YCC ran recently, as well as to those who designed it and produced a two-part blog looking at safety and solutions respectively. With no sign of the climate crisis abating, the floods are only likely to get worse. One small glimmer of hope: the plan for work to raise the path at the Millennium Bridge has now been submitted to the Environment Agency. 

Station cycling update

The York Station Gateway project continues. Queen Street will be closed for the second weekend running, from 8pm on Friday 26 April to 6am on Monday 29 April, to construct a new temporary road through the station car park whilst the Queen Street bridge is demolished. In March, LNER announced that they were closing the Lowther Terrace entrance until late 2025, cutting off a safe route for cyclists and pedestrians wanting to reach the station from the Holgate direction. YCC has been prominent in campaigning against the closure, and the gates are now open again until, we’re told, at least August this year.  

Tadcaster Road cycle lane is missing

We reported in the March newsletter that the Council had agreed to reinstate 200m of cycle lane missing from the end of Tadcaster Lane near the Moor Lane roundabout. Unfortunately, only about 10m has been painted back in – not quite a complete success. However, the council officer involved has explained that there are some technical issues to sort out and that he hopes it will be replaced in the next few weeks.

Transport hustings

The mayoral hustings co-hosted by YCC took place on 8th April with all 6 candidates engaging in the debate. Remember to vote on 2nd May!

Big Transport Conversation initial findings

The Council has published some headline figures from its recent public survey on transport, with more detailed analysis promised over the coming weeks.

Castle Gateway update

The council has issued an update to plans for the Castle Gateway project in the York Eye/Castle area.

Progress on potholes

We have heard that potholes are being repaired as a result of reporting them on either  York Council’s own tool or the one supplied by Cycling UK who undertake to forward them to the correct Council. Although York Council undertakes to inform you of the outcome, they seem more inclined to tell you when no follow up work is required than when action has been taken. Bizarre when you’d expect the Council to want credit for its work. 

Residents support Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

A review of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) commissioned by the Department for Transport concludes that the schemes reduce traffic within the affected areas without much negative impact on the bordering roads. Surveys in four sample schemes (including Navigation Road, York) showed that about twice as many LTN residents supported the schemes as opposed them. However, over half weren’t even aware they lived in an LTN (61% in York, where the scheme has been in place since 2021).

Health boosted by Low Traffic schemes

Further research implies that LTNs can have a positive impact on health. The London-based study showed that the positive impacts in terms of increasing active travel took one or two years to establish, underlining the importance of not evaluating a scheme too quickly. Ironically, the publication coincided with Lambeth council scrapping an LTN scheme after complaints it had led to slower bus journeys.

Pavement parking

In early March, Liz Twist MP initiated a discussion in Parliament about pavement parking, proposing adopting the prohibition that applies already in London across the country. As well as pointing out the challenges it poses for some disabled people, the debate outlined how banning such parking would also facilitate active travel.

Guy Opperman (Minister for Active Transport amongst other things) refused to be drawn on when the Government would publish a response to a 2020 public consultation on the matter that drew 15000 responses. (Yes, you read that correctly – 2020 is not a typo). However, he was not encouraging about the prospect of an outright ban, emphasising instead the personal responsibility of drivers to park considerately (something we all know doesn’t always happen).

And Finally … Pedalling in Paris

It’s unlikely that the French capital would spring to mind if you were asked to name a city with ambitious plans for cycling, but the group Open Plans, which advocates for people-first street culture in New York, is holding it up as an enviable example. They have posted a series of videos demonstrating the kind of innovations that Paris has introduced. Amongst the measures they aim to introduce 112 more miles of segregated cycle lanes between 2022-2026.