Meeting with Councillors

Published by Tim Thorne in Campaigning · 29 July 2021

The IWC is now run by the Alliance group of 18 members. TT, MWh, GW have talked to Councillors Joe Lever, Phil Jordan, John Medland and Chris Quirk over the last couple of weeks. They discussed how cycling/walking projects will be planned, funded and delivered, and how the current network is maintained or not as the case may be. Cllr John Medland will lead on cycling and walking for the Alliance Group. He asked for our input on a Cycling Strategy. We have previously provided this to the council and it was submitted to Hants CC for the re-writing of the new Local Transport Plan, which they are going to undertake on behalf of IWC. There is some acceptance that the IWC is short on cycling expertise and is keen to use local people within local groups. Cllr Jordan suggested that the Alliance group believe that IWC do not receive value for money from the PFI contract and are seeking for a more pragmatic approach with more emphasis on the spirit of cooperation and common sense. It was noted that the IWC ROW personnel contribute a lot but are working within limits of funding and remit. IWC, through the expertise of Chris Gregory, has knowledge of how to succeed in budget applications, although current schemes to support cycling are mostly revenue schemes not capital funded projects.