CYCLEWight

The latest Newsletter [Oct 18] is available HERE...

Cycle Forum

Minutes of the Cycle Forum meeting [Oct18]  can be viewed HERE...

CYCLEWight Committee

Minutes of the Committee meeting [Oct 18] can be viewed HERE..

Inspirational

City Infinity was the company CW used for their evaluation of the St Mary's junction works. We did invite them to the AGM but a representative was unable to make it,  Gary Philpotts, from the company, did though make a short video of what is possible with a clear vision of what is needed plus political support. Any thoughts or comments would be most welcome.  You can view it here; https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GdZ4A6Ns0iuFe68sMDnRKX2IdBCh29Js

 

St Mary's junction

The junction changes are to go ahead after the Council's cabinet voted unanimously in favour. This development has been very contentious to say the least. CycleWight were very unhappy at the original plans for the junction at St Mary's. We commented on them and our submission was downloaded nearly 300 times. The new drawings and supporting documents were released just over a week before the cabinet made their decision.  There was no public consultation on the new plans and the Council's own Scrutiny Committee met only two days before the vote by the cabinet. Though the time limit was very tight Cyclewight engaged an independent  consultant to look at the new proposals and information and devise alternative plans which would be more inclusive to all people using the junction and surrounding area. The report, "St Mary's Junction, Active Travel Review", can be downloaded on the Red button above this article. We sent out a covering letter and our review to all of the Cabinet, Scrutiny Committee, Newport Parish Council and some other people who we felt would be interested or have some influence on the decision. After the October Cycle Forum several of the committee attended a meeting at Island Roads to discuss in more detail our proposals. It would be fair to say there was an acceptance of our views on a few small design features but all of our more ambitious ideas, wider paths and the new multi-user path on the east side of Medina Way were thought to be outside of the present designs parameters and so could not be accommodated.

This last sentence seems to committee that the design brief was not detailed enough. At present the design, in our view, does not comply with the Council’s own polices on sustainable transport and may not well fulfil it obligations under the Equalities Act.

We had hoped that this project would be an opportunity for there to be a development that fully embraced all users rather than one that only provides for the car. The Newport traffic scheme is built on a ‘predict and provide’ model. There is going to be more cars in the future so let’s build to accommodate it. It is a shame that the same philosophy is not used for people who choose not to or cannot use a car.

Wider of the Rider

One of our campaigns over the last few years has been "Wider of the rider" You may well remember we did get it onto the back of a couple of buses. This campaign has now received national recognition and there was earlier this year a visit to the Island by Hants please with their "Too close" mat. We decided to  keep this campaign up and devised our own banner with help from Pinkeye Graphics. Much to our surprise, after a cheeky email to West Midlands Police, they allowed us to use the image that has been used all over the country.

Spy Velo were also keen on the idea and have literally taken it to a new level by designing their own banner but life size. As you can see in the picture - very impressive. Dave from Spy Velo and ourselves are keen for our banners to be displayed in prominent places to get the message over. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

SHIFT-IT

This is the name for the Active Travel Schools Programme on the Island. It is part of a government initiative from their Access Fund. ‘Shift-It’ has been in place for 9 months now and is busy delivering a range of activities across primary, secondary and 16-19 provision.

This year they will introduce the new “Shift It Schools Award”, which recognises schools who promote active and sustainable travel within their community.  There will be three levels of award. Successful schools will be able to display awarded a plaque.

A big development is delivering Bikeability in high schools with the aim that more children feel confident to ride their bikes to and from school. It is proposed to run some level 1 and 2 courses in the summer holidays this year for young people who do not have the opportunity to access the course elsewhere. Student Power is a project that is supporting a group of students at Medina College who are acting as ‘Shift-It’ ambassadors for active travel and are meeting with parents and senior leaders of the school to try and push the agenda for upgrading their current bike and scooter storage. Shift it is being delivered by Wight Cycle Training. If you are interested in any of their programmes or know of a youth group who may benefit from their expertise contact Ross Edmunds ross@wightcycle.co.uk

Medina Greenway

The Medina Greenway was very badly damaged  by the Festival promoters using motorised buggies. A CW member provided photographic evidence which we sent to Rights of Way. They contacted the promoters and we are led to believe that all of the path will be reinstated back to its original condition.

Watch that space!

Newport permeability study

CycleWight was awarded a grant from the Awards for All, part of the Lottery, to do a permeability study of Newport. It was intended to be a means of looking at ways to make Newport more walking and cycling friendly.  CW hoped that it would lead to working with IWC and Newport Parish Council to implement the recommendations. It was very much aimed at doing things that would be simple and relatively easy to implement.

 

The report was published in February and has been downloaded over 120 times from our web site. A presentation about it was made at the “Newport Travel Forum” on Saturday 20th Jan. During May members of the CW committee are doing a formal presentation to Newport Town council. Some of the ideas suggested would be contra flow cycle lanes in Crocker Street and Trafalgar Road, raised platforms at junctions so as to slow cars, 20mph zones in all residential areas and to create a joint use path alongside Medina Way.

 

Newport Parish Council has commissioned a town audit in the last few months. It sets out a series of actions that could be taken to make it easier to walk around Newport as well as it make it look more pleasing. This in tandem with our report should provide a powerful set of documents to set out plans for a better Newport. We also sent a copy of the study to all of the other town and parish councils on the Island. This has led to Whippingham and Wootton Parish Council commissioning their own permeability study. CycleWight have also been invited to make a presentation to Cowes Town Council in June. Interestingly Cowes has the highest number of people commuting on the Island so it would appear a great place to make further improvements.

 Far too often the cry is heard, “It can’t be done” It could be, as one only has to go and visit places elsewhere.

Bike Shelters

 These items are becoming more common in places across the UK. They are ideal for areas where the housing does not have an easy place to keep a bike eg flats, terraced houses, houses with little storage.

There are plenty of places on the Island where this is true, mainly in the older parts of the various towns. These shelters could allow people who are put off having a bike somewhere to keep them. They take up approximately one car parking space and so the gain for the community is immense. Can you think of an ideal location or maybe already know of a group of people who may be interested in such a feature? Please contact the group as we are keen to see this get off the ground (well on a street)