Cycling and Transport News January 2013
First, few dates for your diary:
The next Transport Group meeting is on Thursday 17th January, at 7:30pm in the Plough on Fish Street, all welcome!
Just Leisure Rides – the next ride is 20th January, from The Pumphouse as usual, about 14miles along lanes through Fernhill Heath and Hadley. For more details, take a look at their new blog page at Worcester Leisure Rides. Congratulations to Mike Cooper for being awarded Sustrans Volunteer of the Year 2012, in part for his work running this fun and friendly leisure ride group!
There is a campaign for changes to the new layout of Whittington Roundabout and the group are holding meetings to discuss the problems and hear people’s views. Look at the campaign’s facebook page for more information -”Campaign to change the road layout at Whittington roundabout Worcester.”
OK, on to the rest!
Sustrans presentation 8th December– Henry Harbord from Sustrans gave a presentation on the achievements of the Connect 2 scheme in Worcester, which included the building of the Diglis Bridge, and improvements to other cycle links. Visitor counts on Bromwich Parade showed an estimated increase from 31,400 per year in the year before the bridge was completed in 2010, to a staggering 465,000 in 2011! Henry reported a very positive response from local businesses and users of the new routes, as you might expect. Also present was Ed Dursley of Worcestershire County Council’s Sustainable Schemes Team -he was able to give updates about various project around the County, including the Worcester to Malvern Pedway link via Powick. He reported that no objections were received for the routes from residents, and that things are looking positive for the first phase starting in the near future, funding allowing. If you have any comments on this or any other projects contact the Team at schemes@worcestershire.gov.uk.
Bikeability – Do you want to increase your road confidence? Three levels of Bikeability cycle training are being offered by the County Council, from an introduction to cycling aimed at ages 8 up, to skills for tricky roundabouts and main roads aimed at 14 years to adult. For more details, visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/bikeability.
Recently, a couple of us from the Transition Worcester Transport Group attended the South Worcestershire Cycle Group – this is attended by various cycling and sustainable transport interest groups: Sustrans volunteers, Cycle Touring Club (CTC), Local Access Forum, St. John’s Worcester Cycle Club, Evesham Cycling Forum, and Just Leisure Rides. This group is hopefully able to act as a hub of cycling information to pass out to all interested parties, and it often makes representations on planning matters.
If you have any cycling concerns or ideas, or want to be involved in future meetings (roughly quarterly), contact them at swcg@hotmail.co.uk. There’s lots more to report from this meeting, but not enough room here!
