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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