This month, read about our June protest cycle – successful in terms of turnout and we wait to see if it will be equally successful in achieving our goals. Also, calls from both us and the Council to let us have your views – you know you love filling in those surveys! And for those of you wanting to pack in pedalling, more news on the e-bike/e-scooter front.
Terrific turnout for our mass cycle ride for cleaner air!
We were delighted with the turnout – and the weather – for our Clean Air Day protest ride on 16 June. At its peak we had over 85 riders with us. We cycled from Clifton Green down Bootham, did a city centre loop then headed out over Lendal Bridge and Bishopthorpe Road, finishing at the Millennium Bridge. You can find coverage in YorkMix and an article in The Press, and the protest was also mentioned on BBC Radio York, Greatest Hits and That’s York.
Whether or not you attended our mass ride, we’re interested in your views about the effectiveness of such action. Please fill in our very short survey.
City centre cycling route
We’ve been working with other organisations and stakeholders to put together a proposal for a city centre cycle route which we released to coincide with the City of York Council consultations on the future of the city centre.
We’re still discussing the route with stakeholders, but we’d love to hear what cycle campaign members think too so please let us know your thoughts on our proposal.
“Big conversation” on key themes: have your say.
The Council has launched a consultation on core strategies for carbon reduction, transport, and York’s economy. It’s really important that people respond to this and highlight concerns about cycling. The council says it can take up to 30 minutes to fill in, but you can leave it partway through and complete later if necessary – please make the time to ensure all views are heard.
News from York City Council
Julian Ridge provides his regular update from the council. This month, he introduces us to two new staff members: Shoaib Mahmood and Hannah Chivers, who will be working on various aspects of the Active Travel Fund schemes. Julian is also keen to hear from users of Tadcaster Road to feed into improvements to the pedestrian crossings and cycle routes (having spent long periods waiting at the crossing to/from Little Hob Moor I say not before time).
Ward rep scheme
We’re looking for members who might be willing to be cycle campaign representatives for city council wards across York. It could be the ward you live in, the ward you work in, or the ward you regularly cycle through! We’d like to try and have representatives covering every ward in the city, helping us keep an eye on planning applications within their ward and maintaining a link with ward councillors. Could this be you? If you’re interested please let us know by registering your ward on the member’s hub.
Autumn manifesto
This autumn we’ll be publishing our manifesto. We’re excited about the potential for cycling in York and looking forward to sharing our ideas for how we make that happen!
“Try before you buy” e-cycle scheme
Congratulations to the city council for being awarded government funding for an e-cycle “try before you buy” scheme. The cycle campaign wrote a letter of support to accompany this bid and we are delighted that the council was successful.
Tiers of Joy?
Intrepid member Rob Ainsley tries out the Tier scooter and e-bike, and chats to Tier representative Jess about how the trial – now extended till 2022 – could change the face of travel in York.
Book review: Bike Nation
Our reviewer describes this book as excellent – and its subtitle is “how cycling can save the world”.
And in other activity …
This month we’ve also:
- met with the developers to discuss cycle access across the Bootham Park development,
- had a zoom discussion with the developers for the Mecca bingo site on Fishergate (take a look at the plans for Rialto House and add your thoughts
- taken part in the City Centre consultation walk-about
- met with Cllr Hook and representatives from the council and Manor School to look at how cycle access around Manor School can be improved
- written to our MPs (Julian Sturdy and Rachael Maskell) to ask them to use their influence to ensure that 24/7 accessible walk/cycle access is maintained along the route of Leeman Road when the NRM builds its extension
- campaigned for late access to the rail station from Scarborough Bridge
- talked to David Dunning on YorkMix Radio about York’s latest shameful cycling statistics
- met with staff at McDonalds on Blake St to discuss a city centre cycle route.
Road closures
Wellington Row remains closed with diversion routes via Lendal gyratory.
Marygate: https://twitter.com/EnvAgencyYNE/status/1397499458959589376?s=20
Terry Avenue: https://yorkcyclecampaign.bike/2021/05/15/terry-avenue-closure-17th-may/
Terry Avenue closure: access update
The road closure on Terry Avenue will be extended southwards, past Clementhorpe Junction, on Monday, 5 July 2021. This will mean that all traffic, including motor vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians, will be unable to access Clementhorpe Road via Terry Avenue, from Monday onwards. The Environment Agency plans to have some personnel on site on the day to talk to pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles that are affected by the road closure and who may be unaware of the extension to the road closure.
Please do continue to report any problems you spot. You can contact the community liaison officer, Aimee Ramsden, (Aimee.Ramsden@jnbentley.co.uk) or drop in and see her at the site. Also copy in the Environment Agency (yorkfloodplan@environment-agency.gov.uk), York Cycle Campaign (YorkCycleCampaign@gmail.com) and if it is a breach of planning conditions then please report it to the Planning Enforcement team (planning.enforcement@york.gov.uk).
National Petition
A national petition is being run on the governments petitions website to ‘Run a public awareness campaign to address driver aggression toward cyclists’. The petition has already gained 18,000 signatures triggering a written response from the Government. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures the subject will be considered for debate in Parliament.
The petition states that ‘The Department of Transport should run a national public awareness campaign to educate motorists about dangerous, inappropriate and aggressive behaviours that can lead to the injury and even death of cyclists. The attitude that cyclists should not be on roads needs to end.’
If you would like to sign the petition, or read the written response, you can do so on the petitions webpage.
Increase Your Chance of Getting Your Cycle Back If It’s Stolen
Are your cycles registered with Bike Register? Bike Register is the UKs largest database of cycles and is used by police forces, including North Yorkshire Police, to help return stolen cycles to their owners. A new update to the database now lets users to publicly mark their bike as stolen, and the general public report that they’ve seen it for sale. If you’re buying a bike second hand, you can also check the frame number or Bike Register ID to make sure it’s not been previously stolen.
York Cycle Campaign 