Let down by Cycling Strategy

Apologies if it sounds rather cross, but I am.

I do not deny I have a particular interest in cycling, so no apologies about this item.
Basingstoke Borough Council and the cycling body Sustrans have let us down.

The 'Consultations' by the Borough and Sustrans to produce a 'Draft Brorough Cycling Strategy' were carried out mainly behind closed doors, cost many thousands of pounds (£23,000 has been quoted) and has ended up with a document that almost wholly ignores anywhere outside the town of Basingstoke.
Of the 43 Projects suggested, all are Basingstoke town based and other than a few lip-service comments, the rural areas, villages and towns and inter-village/community connections have all been treated as if they don't exist.

Here is my response:
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BASINGSTOKE & DEANE BOROUGH CYCLING STRATEGY

The Basingstoke and Deane Borough Cycling Strategy is anything but.
It focuses almost solely on the town of Basingstoke, despite Sustrans being paid to produce a report for the 'Borough'. Perhaps a refund is in order as we have been short-changed.
Meaningful consultation has been minimal. When I attended a Drop in session in the Carnival Hall I expected to have views and comments listened to and was promised they would be included. I did not hear of any other sessions in other parts of the Borough.

In addition everything on display was about the town. There was not even a Borough map available. Despite raising Borough wide issues and matters relating to my own area of Whitchurch these have not been incorporated.
After the initial draft was seen, this was raised and there were some minor cosmetic references to areas outside the town added overnight, including a reference to use of Neighbourhood Plans – are these volunteer-run avenues really suitable for a Cycling Strategy?

Many of the principles within the Strategy place cycling as being subservient to other road users. This is a wholly wrong approach both on safety and on promotion grounds. I suggest that the Council look at facilitating and creating environments such as in the Netherlands and Denmark where the provision of safe separated cycle routes have seen cycle rates increase, safety for the most vulnerable improved and a better living environment for all.

Importantly for a Borough that prides itself on supporting 'business' the economic benefit of investing in cycling shows enormous returns in increased trade as well as for the health and well-being of its residents, yet this Draft Strategy promotes more of the same - shared-use paths and paint on roads above safe separated facilities.
This Strategy reads as if it has been produced by those following policies and the dated thinking of twenty years ago which have already failed.  We deserve much better.

To enable this, the Council will need to invest by allocating a budget to provide these improvements. It needs to set a specific % of all transport spending on cycling provision, say 10% and have a target of at least 20 – 25% of all journeys by cycle.
A response to a question on how much had been invested in Whitchurch over a ten year period gave an answer of "There are no individual records for cycling projects in Whitchurch since 2005."
It is time that figures were set to re-address that failure.

Finally, I am also concerned that the Strategy does not include proposals to consult on future cycling matters with communities outside of Basingstoke. Instead it calls for liaison with campaign groups of membership organisations such as British Cycling together with its ladies Basingstoke-based sub-group 'Breeze', and the CTC focussed Cycle Basingstoke. With respect to these excellent groups – and I am a CTC member of over 40 years standing – they can only represent their paid up members and follow policies of their own national campaigning bodies.

This is a major oversight – where are the principles of local democracy that engage with everyone?
Please involve all local people and local communities outside of these groups.
Basingstoke and Deane with this Cycling Strategy needs to be far more inclusive in its consultaion.


This is a Big Let Down.


John Buckley

http://www.whitchurchbug.org.uk/
http://www.hampshirecycletraining.org.uk/
http://www.whitchurchcycling.org.uk/

Note: as a Town Councillor I have also been involved in the response from Whitchurch Town Council which has been submitted separately and which I fully support.
However the views expressed here are my own.

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Pavements – a horrific 20 minutes

It was a horrific 20 minutes of putting lives at risk.

Why would any parent or carer, or indeed any human being deliberately through their own choice put children and families at risk of injury or worse? 
Yet that is what is happening daily in our own town.

A concerned parent had posted on social media a picture of a driver using the footpath in Alliston Way – the main route through to the Primary School. It was abysmal driving, not only showing complete disregard for the rules of the road but also for the safety of those walking to school.

It was reported to the police, to the school and to the Councils.

That was nearly a month ago and questions were being raised on what actions had been taken as nothing had changed.

On a visit to the local police 'Surgery' an assurance was given that "patrols in the area have been stepped up."
They don't seem to have had any effect.

The very next school day after that assurance was given I visited the area along with Hampshire County Council's Travel Plan Adviser. The pavement driving seen was horrendous – a regular stream of vehicles mounting the pavement even when children were walking along it.

There is complete disregard for safety – there was parking on corners, dangerous manoeuvres of turning in the road, and driving whilst on a mobile phone.
The pictures here are just a few example of what was seen in that 20 minutes.
Clearly the 'stepping up of patrols' has not had any effect and some prosecutions are urgently required.


The following has since been received from the HCC Travel Plan officer:
"I had a good meeting with the primary school and they are keen to get going with some initiatives to make parents more aware of the problems with poor driver behaviour and parking."

Hopefully those initiatives include the police taking action beyond just "patrols". Action is needed – now.

It is an offence to drive on pavements, yet here in Whitchurch it is endemic, and it is the most vulnerable who suffer the consequences. Whitchurch Primary School is to expand, more housing is planned for the town and traffic will increase, but unless serious action is taken our safety will be further compromised. It is clichéd but it really is "Think of the children".

The community needs to work together on this, but that can only go so far.  Above all those drivers who are flouting the law, putting lives at risk and showing disregard for others' safety should be taken to task for their actions, whether by fines or for persistent offenders, removal of their licences.

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