Agenda and minutes

·        Two way cycling on one-way streets. CJR informed the group that an initial site meeting had been held with a Highways Engineer looking at the Bateman St area but had been shortened due to the rain. A further meeting was planned the following day and changes to the Adam & Eve Street/Burleigh Street junction would be looked at.

·        Cycle obstruction hanger. These have been distributed among the City Rangers. 

·        Cycling & Walking Promotion Grants. Information had been added to the Grants Page of the City Council website and all Committee Chairs have been made aware of the grant.

·        Cycle projects:

o       Downham’s Lane. This has now been approved, but some landowners still need to sign up to the agreement.

o       Perne Road/Radegund Road Roundabout. The report has been to Environment Scrutiny Committee and would be going to the Area Joint Committee on Monday. Issues raised during the consultation period included the likelihood of increased congestion and potential pinch points for cyclists and it is proposed that the overrun strip is built after which a trial of the proposed layout will take place in early/mid autumn with before and after monitoring and re-consultation.

Cllr Owers expressed the view that the wording in the consultation questionnaire had been too leading, with too much emphasis on safety and that something more neutral would have been more appropriate. Cllr Ward added that a consultation paper that failed to highlight the safety issues would also be wrong.

ACTION: CJR to send a copy of the diagram from the Environment Scrutiny Committee report to Cllr Tucker.

o       Green Dragon Bridge. CJR and the County Cycling Officer met with representatives from the local residents’ association and Friends of Stourbridge Common. Officers are tasked with producing an initial design for a wider ramp on the common side and possible improvements on the Water Street side. All agreed cyclists could not be prohibited from using the bridge, but that safety for pedestrians and the disabled at each end was an issue. All agreed any issues relating to Stourbridge Common would need to be dealt with sensitively. Cllr Rosenstiel added that the issue of how cyclists and pedestrians use the gates etc that lead onto common land is a City-wide issue.

o       EU Electric Bike Hire proposal. This has not been supported by the County and is not being progressed by the City Council. The Travel for Work partnership had set up an electric bike scheme at the Science Park to allow quick access to the City centre and a publicity event has taken place.

o       Theft rate at the Grand Arcade (Station Cycles). Not many thefts have been reported according to CJR. The cycle ramp is covered by CCTV.

These will be amended to include reference to pedestrians. The ToR state that the group should scrutinise planning applications to ensure standards are being adhered to. Recent issues have included the Bene’t Street application for the former Barclay’s Bank according to Cllr Ward. Some cycle parking has been removed leading to the City Council being criticised for not maintaining standards. Although the group cannot comment on every planning application, all agreed that standards should be adhered to. These will be looked at as part of the Local Plan Review according to CJR. In the meantime, the Group will communicate a message to the Planning Committee Chair regarding standards.

ACTION: CJR to amend the group’s Terms of Reference to reflect the agreed changes.  

·        City centre

·        Car bike port

·        Newnham Croft

·        Station 

·        City Centre. Funding is available from the ‘EU Bike-Friendly Cities’ project to provide more cycle racks at various locations around the city. The identified sites include Mill Road, outside Sainsbury’s on Sidney Street and Downing Street and installation should be imminent. Cllr Ward added that there would be additional pressure on cycle parking with the potential loss of Park Street Car Park.  Cllr Rosenstiel added that temporary racks in areas such as outside the Maypole PH could help to relieve parking pressures.

·        Car shaped bike rack. A BFC initiative, this was used as a trial  outside the Kingston Arms PH and has received some press coverage and had some very positive feedback. The County have now purchased the rack and it will be used at events such as the Folk Festival and to trial cycle parking locations. CJR is currently looking at the process involved in order to use the rack on street.  In Cllr Rosenstiel’s view, it should be possible to provide additional cycle parking without the need to sacrifice car park spaces.

ACTION: All to feedback to CJR on any potential trial or permanent locations for on-street cycle parking.

ACTION: CJR to circulate a photograph of a car shaped bike rack with the minutes.

·        Station area. The trial of double-stacking bike racks has begun, involving a number of different styles. A questionnaire will shortly be available via a weblink on the County website. It is planned to have a tryout day when the racks are roped off for people to come and try them as, with the lack of cycle parking in the area, they are currently all full by 9am so people will have difficulty getting access. 

Central Government has awarded £15 million to be spent on cycle safety at junctions outside London. The DfT have yet to set out the criteria however and the funding needs to be spent this financial year. With so little time, the money would probably need to be spent on a project already progressed to some extent according to CJR. The Radegund Road/Perne Road roundabout for example could be enhanced with an off-road option for cyclists.

·        Hyde Park Corner junction. The County Council have funds to carry out signal maintenance and are proposing to make changes to the junction which would improve crossing manoeuvres for pedestrians but not significantly improve the junction for cyclists due to capacity issues.  There had been some discussion regarding the need to look at the whole East Rd corridor with regard to improving the environment for pedestrians and cyclists. Cllr Rosenstiel stressed that radical improvements were needed for the area. NB the report to AJC regarding consultation on the proposals was pulled and so the scope of this scheme may alter considerably.

·        Gilbert Road/Milton Road junction. The addition of more approach lanes has been proposed, as there is conflict between cyclists and pedestrians. The County Council are looking into this. According to Cllr Ward, the City Council would consider removing the tree on the junction corner (if replaced elsewhere), but not if this was to result in cyclists cycling on the pavement.

·        Warwick Road/Histon Road junction. This area is an accident black spot according to Cllr Tucker, particularly for cyclists turning into Histon Road. Local resident would support any improvements.

·        Mowbray Road/Cherry Hinton Road roundabout. Cllr Rosenstiel enquired whether this junction also had a high accident rate. There are various cluster points around the city according to CJR. The County Council would like to examine all of these, but the timescale in terms of the Government funding is an issue.

ACTION: CJR to circulate the plan illustrating accident cluster points around the city.

·        Sainsbury’s, Coldham’s Lane. All agreed cycle parking arrangements and circulation could be improved at the store, as this would make navigating the roundabout easier.

·        Green End Road/Kings Hedges Road junction (crossing Milton Road). This is also a difficult junction for cyclists according to Cllr Abbott. As another example of of a roundabout transformed into a signal junction, Cllr Boyce would advise all to use the pedestrian crossing.

·        Traffic lights. According to Cllr Rosenstiel, there are various sets of traffic lights in and around the city centre that are due for replacement. Some of these could be removed permanently to ease traffic flow such, as on Jesus Lane. This proposal has been raised according to CJR (and may be something considered for the Hyde Park junction). 

·        Cycling Promotion Grants. The City Council plan to update and re-print the pushchair hire leaflets.

·        Minor schemes  - amendments are needed to the railings by the cattle grids on New Bit to prevent cattle escaping.

·        Date of next meeting 17^th October.