What's your town / city doing?
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
They certainly haven't be spending enough on repairing the roads ... I thought it was impossible to find somewhere which made West Yorkshire road surfaces look good but I was wrong - Coventry does that!
You ungrateful POS!
Seems a little harsh.
jugglingphil
Senior Member
- Location
- Nottingham
Nottingham is spending all it's cash on two tram lines.
So there will be even more roads which are incredibly dangerous to cycle along. It wouldn't be so bad if you could take your bike on a tram, but you can't!!!
However we are going to have a festival of cycling in the summer.
So there will be even more roads which are incredibly dangerous to cycle along. It wouldn't be so bad if you could take your bike on a tram, but you can't!!!
However we are going to have a festival of cycling in the summer.
Didn't the sarcasm travel over the Internet?
Unfortunately internet forums are not great for sarcasm, I assumed you were being sarcastic but you could have been the guy who paints the white lines
mumbo jumbo
Senior Member
- Location
- Birmingham
My MP's researcher has just bcc'd me an email he has from the Birmingham City Council Chief Exec. At face value what he says seems to be encouraging. I know that the devil is in the detail and I might be horrified at the way some of this money is being spent but it seems it's a start. I particulalry like the reference to cycle training for would be cycle commuters.
One thing the BCC guy conspicuously fails to mention is the investment in road infrastructure generally. BCC have contracted AMEY to overhaul and maintain the roads (I think Sheffield have just done a similar deal?). Many of the roads in my neck of the woods and many more on my commute routes have been properly resurfaced which makes the journey so much more pleasant. I can only assume that general road improvement doesn't crosscheck with "cycling" otherwise he should have mentioned it. Anyway, here is a copy-paste of the Chief Exec's letter:
[Edited to remove letter - see Norm's and my further post below]
One thing the BCC guy conspicuously fails to mention is the investment in road infrastructure generally. BCC have contracted AMEY to overhaul and maintain the roads (I think Sheffield have just done a similar deal?). Many of the roads in my neck of the woods and many more on my commute routes have been properly resurfaced which makes the journey so much more pleasant. I can only assume that general road improvement doesn't crosscheck with "cycling" otherwise he should have mentioned it. Anyway, here is a copy-paste of the Chief Exec's letter:
[Edited to remove letter - see Norm's and my further post below]
potsy
Rambler
- Location
- My Armchair
My council have closed a section of cycle lane I use quite a bit, this is due to the Metrolink work going on in the area 
You now have to either cycle on the busy main road which can be quite horrendous traffic wise, or cross the 4 lanes to the other side, walk a bit and then cross back over.
You now have to either cycle on the busy main road which can be quite horrendous traffic wise, or cross the 4 lanes to the other side, walk a bit and then cross back over.
mumbo jumbo
Senior Member
- Location
- Birmingham
Noted re phone number. Anyway, the email arrived unsolicited from (on behalf of) an elected politician and I expect (because of the way it was sent) it was similarly sent to other constituents who have raised cycling issues with him. I was not asked to keep it confidential. I assumed (but confess I did not check) that all the info included was in the public domain. Because I can't be arsed to check every line of detail, I am deleting the letter from my original post pending receipt of an answer to a reply email to the researcher asking if I can promulgate it.
mumbo jumbo
Senior Member
- Location
- Birmingham
I now have permission from the researcher to publish the Birmingham City Council Chief Exec's letter. Here it is (again!):
---------------------------------------------------
Dear Ian
I write in response to your email dated 9 February 2012 regarding Cycling in Birmingham. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you.
The City Council is of the view that cycling has much to offer the city in terms of relieving congestion, carbon reduction, health promotion and overall 'liveability'. To this end the City Council is now committing more funds and staffing resources to cycling than ever before. During 2011/12 and 2012/13 we will be committing in the region of £2.7M per year to cycling. Partly with the advent of the Bike North Birmingham project, there are now in excess of 20 members of city council or partner organisation staff working on City Council led full cycling initiatives.
Last year we published the 'Bike Birmingham' cycling strategy which sets out a wide range of infrastructural and promotional measures to encourage cycling for both daily and leisure purposes. Both the Transportation and Leisure and Sports divisions of the City Council are working with a range of partners such as British Cycling, Sustrans and the health sector to deliver the strategy.
Currently our focus is the Bike North Birmingham (BNB) project in Erdington and Sutton Coldfield that builds upon the routes we have been developing with Sustrans and their Connect2 programme for several years. BNB will be spending in excess of £6M between now and 2015 on new cycling infrastructure and intensive programmes of cycling promotion within schools and workplaces and at local centres and stations. A high profile BNB launch is planned for May this year. Several BNB Cycle Hire and ride 'hubs' are being set up, adding to those being set up in partnership with British Cycling under the BeActive by Bike banner elsewhere in the city.
'Bikeability' cycle training for both children and adults continues to grow; BNB has dedicated Bikeability officers delivering training to schoolchildren, would be commuters and those wanting to cycle for leisure. For the third year running Birmingham will feature a mass Sky Ride this summer, along with its accompanying programme of 70+ smaller rides. On the sports side, we have been successful in bringing the World BMX championships to the NIA in May. An international standard BMX track has been constructed in Perry Barr as the community legacy of this event.
Through the Pedestrian and Cycling Task Force and the Cycling Forum we continue to liaise and consult with cyclists and user groups with the aim of working together to improve cycling in Birmingham.
I trust that this response persuades you of our commitment to improving cycling in Birmingham and encouraging more residents and visitors to take to two wheels.
Yours sincerely
Stephen Hughes
Chief Executive
Birmingham City Council
Ian Hughes
Researcher to Roger Godsiff MP
---------------------------------------------------
Dear Ian
I write in response to your email dated 9 February 2012 regarding Cycling in Birmingham. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you.
The City Council is of the view that cycling has much to offer the city in terms of relieving congestion, carbon reduction, health promotion and overall 'liveability'. To this end the City Council is now committing more funds and staffing resources to cycling than ever before. During 2011/12 and 2012/13 we will be committing in the region of £2.7M per year to cycling. Partly with the advent of the Bike North Birmingham project, there are now in excess of 20 members of city council or partner organisation staff working on City Council led full cycling initiatives.
Last year we published the 'Bike Birmingham' cycling strategy which sets out a wide range of infrastructural and promotional measures to encourage cycling for both daily and leisure purposes. Both the Transportation and Leisure and Sports divisions of the City Council are working with a range of partners such as British Cycling, Sustrans and the health sector to deliver the strategy.
Currently our focus is the Bike North Birmingham (BNB) project in Erdington and Sutton Coldfield that builds upon the routes we have been developing with Sustrans and their Connect2 programme for several years. BNB will be spending in excess of £6M between now and 2015 on new cycling infrastructure and intensive programmes of cycling promotion within schools and workplaces and at local centres and stations. A high profile BNB launch is planned for May this year. Several BNB Cycle Hire and ride 'hubs' are being set up, adding to those being set up in partnership with British Cycling under the BeActive by Bike banner elsewhere in the city.
'Bikeability' cycle training for both children and adults continues to grow; BNB has dedicated Bikeability officers delivering training to schoolchildren, would be commuters and those wanting to cycle for leisure. For the third year running Birmingham will feature a mass Sky Ride this summer, along with its accompanying programme of 70+ smaller rides. On the sports side, we have been successful in bringing the World BMX championships to the NIA in May. An international standard BMX track has been constructed in Perry Barr as the community legacy of this event.
Through the Pedestrian and Cycling Task Force and the Cycling Forum we continue to liaise and consult with cyclists and user groups with the aim of working together to improve cycling in Birmingham.
I trust that this response persuades you of our commitment to improving cycling in Birmingham and encouraging more residents and visitors to take to two wheels.
Yours sincerely
Stephen Hughes
Chief Executive
Birmingham City Council
Ian Hughes
Researcher to Roger Godsiff MP
I went to York this week. And thought 'be careful what you wish for'. An incomprehensible mess of cycle paths incompetently signed, and a town centre permanently choked with traffic. Following little blue signs to York Station I lost one path when it went up and over a footbridge and took another that went down a pedestrian ramp with two 180 degree bends in it and then across a car park. Following (discontinuous) signs to Heslington across some super-expensive bridge and down some wigglywindy paths led me to two cattle grids - I'd have been far better off just taking the A1079 out of town, and would have done if the signs on the roads didn't content themselves with saying A64 Ring Road to the exclusion of all else. (And yes, the map given to me by the Information lot dissolved in the rain within seconds).
Give me London any time - TfL have their failings, but they know how to put up a signpost, and the superhighways are heaven by comparison with York's cycle paths. I blame Sustrans.
Give me London any time - TfL have their failings, but they know how to put up a signpost, and the superhighways are heaven by comparison with York's cycle paths. I blame Sustrans.
