Issues

This section lists issues - problems on the street network and related matters.

Issues always relate to some geographical location, whether very local or perhaps city-wide.

You can create a new issue using the button on the right.

Listed issues, most recent first, limited to the area of Cambridge Biomedical Campus Cyclists:

  • Inappropriately timed council activities

    Created by Heather Coleman // 1 thread

    Is there a way of persuading the council that they should not be having bin collections or road sweeping on major roads around the city, which also act as major bike routes, bus routes, car commuter routes so are deeply congested during "rush hour" at silly times, ie during the same "rush hour"?

    Yesterday, it was a bin lorry wending its way down Hills Road at 8.45am; a danger to cyclists and the bin men themselves as well as causing a big queue. Today it was a road sweeper doing Maids Causeway which is a bus route at 8.30am, also causing a big queue. Both these roads will be significantly less busy come 9am.

    It's not just bad for cyclists but everyone. There are plenty of quieter roads in the city that can be attended to between about 8 and 9am, so why choose to do stuff on what I'd call the trunk roads of the city, holding up all the buses and making it horrible for cyclists. It's a lack of joined up thinking in my opinion.

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  • City Changer Cargo Bike

    The county council cycling team are involved in a 3-year project funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research Programme to grow delivery and passengers by bike, cargo bike and e-cargo bike in 100 cities. The project called 'City Changer Cargo Bike' was launched to an audience of EU institutions, national and regional governments, advocacy organisations and business leaders in October 2018.

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  • Planning application responders

    Created by Matthew // 2 threads

    I'm thinking of convening a workshop or possibly simply an informal gathering (possibly at a pub or cafe) to discuss techniques and ideas for responding to planning applications. The timing is right, I think, with the approval of the new Local Plans for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.

    All are welcome, whether you already participate or are just interested in getting involved.

    I would like to gauge interest first and then we can pick a suitable time and place.

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  • Camcycle quarterly magazine

    Created by Anna Williams – Head of Campaigns & Engagement // 5 threads

    The magazine cheanged to a quarterly publication from December 2018 and is published seasonally in Spring (March), Summer (June), Autumn (September) and Winter (December).


    The aims of the magazine are to:
    – Continue to provide an update to our members and supporters on Camcycle's recent work and campaigns
    – Continue to cover all aspects of cycling from planning application to personal stories and build on this foundation to make sure we are giving a voice to people of all ages and backgrounds
    – Continue to strike the balance between a professional-looking magazine with a grassroots feel
    – Proactively set the agenda for decision-makers, clearly communicating our vision through in-depth features on aspects of our policy and manifesto
    – Develop and showcase our work with local partners including businesses and organisations who support our charity's aims and/or provide examples of best practice in working for more, better and safer cycling in and around Cambridge
    – Drive forward bold and successful campaigns for cycling, providing all who read the magazine with clear calls to action so that they can get involved and amplify our voice
    – Provide rewarding and sustainable roles to volunteers; attracting new members to the team and recognising long-term contributors.
    – Appeal to non-members of Camcycle and even non-cyclists; taking them on the journey from awareness to action. Join. Donate. Volunteer. Share our vision. Support our work and help create a vibrant and people-friendly city.

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  • 18/1355/FUL Change of use to Student Accommodation. Hillcross Bells School

    Created by Roxanne (Cycling Campaign Officer) // 1 thread

    Change of use from Office (B1(a)) to Student Accommodation (C2) with associated works.

    Hillcross Bells School Red Cross Lane Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB2 0QU

    https://idox.cambridge.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=PDYJPCDXFPZ00

    Cambridge

    Application reference : 18/1355/FUL

    Space for 20 students to stay there buy only 'up to 11' cycle parking spaces provided.

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  • DfT Policy Paper - Inclusive Transport Strategy

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-transport-strategy

    Lots of interesting stuff about inclusive transport regarding trains, buses, cars, public realm, streets and yes a bit about cycling too. Quotes:

    Shared Space:

    8.11 While we consider CIHT and DPTAC’s recommendations and how to take them
    forward, we are requesting that local authorities pause any shared space schemes
    incorporating a level surface they are considering, and which are at the design stage.
    We are also temporarily suspending Local Transport Note 1/11. This pause will allow
    us to carry out research and produce updated guidance.

    Objectives regarding Cycling:

    • Update Local Transport Note 2/08, which sets out the Department’s guidance to
    local authorities on designing safe and inclusive infrastructure for cyclists, to take
    account of developments in cycling infrastructure since its publication in 2008 and
    the responses to the draft AAP consultation and publish a revised version by early
    2019;
    • By 2020, explore the feasibility of amending legislation to recognise the use of
    cycles as a mobility aid71 in order to increase the number of disabled people
    cycling.

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  • Rate my route - software / app ideas anyone?

    Created by GG // 1 thread

    For a long time I have wondered about a crowd-sourced cycleability map.

    In this, people cycle along a link (accepting the first question of how to define the beginning and end of this) then give it a thumbs up or down. After enough people do this, then others can see how popular it is.
    Some people wonder about subjectivity but I think this should be less of a problem with more voters.

    The reason I am asking is because this method could apply to a potential commercial project for a Council which wants to drive around 100km of rural roads and use a panel of 4 experts to grade meaningful segments on a 1 to 7 scale according to their suitability for HGV movements.

    Any views on whether this is already done within an app I am not aware of, or could be it done by anyone as an add-on to something else, or is it something CamCycle could offer as a commercial package (there may well be more than one local authority looking for this sort of thing)

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  • Cambridge Festival of Cycling

    Camcycle is launching the first ever 'Cambridge Festival of Cycling' which we plan to grow into a recurring festival in September each year.

    Along with a range of events, we also plan to conduct a month long Cambridge Cycling Survey.

    The aims of the festival:
    - Increase awareness of Camcycle leading to more members, volunteers and influence, particularly among new audiences
    - Encourage more, better and safer cycling, for all ages and abilities
    - Increase our income thorough sponsorship opportunities
    - Increase engagement with our campaigning activities
    - Create relationships with other community groups who can partner with us on festival events.

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  • Consultation on Cambridge Air Quality Action Plan

    Air quality in central Cambridge is not as good as it should be. The city is not compliant with EU limit values or UK national air quality objectives for nitrogen dioxide in the city centre and on busy roads – although it is improving slowly. The City Council's Air Quality Action Plan was approved unanimously at Environment Scrutiny Committee on March 13 and they are now opening it out to consultation (21 June - 18 September 2018).

    Many of the proposed actions are of interest to Camcycle, but in particular:

    • Reducing Heavy Goods Vehicles emissions in the city centre by promoting ‘greener’ methods for making deliveries of goods, such as by cycle or electric vehicles

    • Using planning policies to ensure new communities are designed to make it easy for people to use sustainable modes of transport

    • Improving public health by providing information about the health impacts of air quality and encouraging everyone to have a more active lifestyle, including walking and cycling

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  • Cambridgeshire Local Highway Improvement (LHI) Initiative funding

    Created by Daniel Thomas // 1 thread

    Every year there is funding available through Cambridgeshire County Council's Local Highway Improvement (LHI) Initiative to improve county highways. Organisations can submit proposals to improve highways and we should do so to bring about improvements to cycling and walking infrastructure.

    This article describes our successful test case submission for LHI funding:
    https://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/134/article6.html

    This article describes the LHI funding process:
    https://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/137/article15.html

    Each submission must cost less than £11,000 total and while multiple related issues may be included in one submission they should be grouped by county ward (partly to make site visits easier). We should prepare an initial list of ideas by June of each year so that the site visits and liaising with local councillors, council officers, and other organisations can be completed by October. If we want to make more than one submission we will need a different co-sponsoring organisation for each submission as each organisation is only allowed one submission per year.

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  • DEFRA consultation - ends May 8th

    Created by TJ // 1 thread

    Is the Cycling Campaign writing a response to the DEFRA consultation on how to reform the CAP post-Brexit ? Does anyone know if other (national) cycling groups have responded ?

    I was thinking that the public good of opening up private farm tracks would be beneficial to commuter and leisure cyclists. For instance I'm sure there's a farm near Grantchester which allows cyclists through, but you need special permission (live in a specific village ?). There must be other examples, where opening up to all cyclists would help commuters from villages.

    The documentation is here:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-for-food-farming-and-the-environment

    online consultation form here:
    https://consult.defra.gov.uk/farming/future-of-farming/

    It is long winded form, but you can skip pages which you have no interest or knowledge of. However, this is the question which may be of most interest to us:

    1. How can we improve the delivery of the current Countryside Stewardship scheme and increase uptake by farmers and land managers to help achieve valuable environmental outcomes?

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  • DfT Consultation - Reporting road accidents to the police

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/new-ways-to-report-road-accidents-to-the-police

    At the moment if you need to report a road traffic accident you must do so in person at a police station or to a police constable.

    This proposals in this consultation would allow police forces to offer drivers the option of submitting accident reports by other methods.

    The proposals would require changes to Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

    roadacc.stats@dft.gsi.gov.uk
    This consultation closes at 11:45pm on 24 April 2018

    Introduction
    1 Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (“the Act”) requires drivers involved in
    certain traffic accidents which occur on the road or other public place to report the
    accident in person at a police station, or to a constable.
    2 Reporting accidents in person puts burdens on drivers, businesses and police forces.
    Therefore the Government proposes to amend the Act to allow police forces to offer
    drivers the option of submitting accident reports by other methods.
    3 We expect that, as a result of this change, police forces will offer drivers the option of
    reporting accidents online or by telephone. This will make it simpler, quicker and
    cheaper for drivers to fulfil their statutory obligation to report the accident, and for the
    police to record the accident details.

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  • Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) safety review

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/cycling-and-walking-investment-strategy-cwis-safety-review

    QUOTE:

    ``Invites those with an interest in improving safety of cyclists and pedestrians to provide evidence, drawing on experience from the UK or other countries, that can be used to shape future policy decisions.

    Foreword

    Active travel, making journeys by physically active means such as cycling and walking, has huge potential benefits both for individuals and for our wider society. The Government’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, published in April 2017, set out our aim to make cycling and walking the natural choices for shorter journeys or as part of a longer journey.

    We have made good progress to date; Government spending on cycling trebled between 2010 and 2017, and on average people are cycling further than they did ten years ago. In some cities, notably London, there has been a sharp increase in the level of cycling. But there is much more to do, and our ambition in this review goes further still: to make cycling the natural mode of transport even for a 12 year old.

    Since the cycle safety review was announced, the Department has worked closely with cycling, walking and wider road safety organisations to identify the main issues that should be tackled as a priority to improve safety between cyclists and other road users. During that process of engagement, it became clear how many actual and potential policy areas were relevant to cyclists and pedestrians alike.

    Given our strong commitment to cycling and walking, we have therefore decided to use this review to consider safety measures that will bring cycling and walking closer together as part of our overall ambition to increase active travel.

    Cycling, like walking, needs to be universally seen as easy, fun and safe. Safety, and the perception of safety, are vital if we are to create a rapid increase in the use of active travel.

    The truth is that cycling is generally very safe, and serious accidents are rare. But we need to make it safer still, for all road users, so that it becomes a default mode of transport, whatever one’s age or background. But safety does not simply include road safety - it also includes physical health and well-being, in a clean and green environment. The evidence is clear: cycling and walking have the capacity to transform the health and well-being, not only of people who walk and cycle themselves, but of everyone in society.

    We now have a great opportunity: to recast local and national approaches to active travel, and create a new world of genuinely multimodal transport. But to do this we need your help, ideas and evidence. This consultation document summarises some of the key evidence for change, and then highlights key areas in which we are seeking your views.

    We are looking for great ideas, for evidence of what works, for examples of good practice from other countries, for innovative technologies, for imaginative solutions, and for idealism tempered with a sense of the practical. Over to you!

    JESSE NORMAN''

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  • Broxap cycle parking shelters do not meet standards

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    The Broxap 'Cambridge' Cycle Shelter (BXMW/CA/1) is intended and marketed to fit 24 cycle spaces provided by two rows of six Sheffield stands. The shelter is 5,000 mm long, which means that the spacing between Sheffield stands is only 800 mm, with 500 mm spaces on either side of the row:

    500 + 800 + 800 + 800 + 800 + 800 + 500 = 5,000

    https://www.broxap.com/cambridge-cycle-shelter.html

    The Cambridge Local Plan (2006) specifies that spacing between Sheffield stands should be 900 mm and newer advice suggests 1,000 mm.

    Should we write to the manufacturer and ask that they revise their design, especially if they intend to market this as a 'Cambridge' cycle shelter?

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  • Attacks on people along Trumpington busway and DNA path

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    A group of teenagers has been harassing people on the southern busway and DNA path sporadically. This escalated on 4 January when a Sanger institute postdoc was attacked viciously while traveling north:

    http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/attack-cycle-path-cambridge-police-14136717

    A scientist was left with blood dripping from his head after being attacked by a gang of youths as he cycled home.

    Johan Henriksson was heading along the Guided Busway cycle path in Cambridge when he was confronted by the group of teenagers on bikes.

    The gang blocked the 33-year-old's path, spat at him and tried to push him off his bike before knocking him to the ground.

    Violent kicks left Mr Henriksson with a large gash to his forehead that required hospital treatment.

    Cambridgeshire police are investigating the incident, which Mr Henriksson fears is part of a series of attacks by the gang.

    Mr Henriksson, who is completing post-doctoral studies at the Sanger Institute, had been to the gym and was heading back to his home near Cambridge station on January 4.

    At around 5pm he was heading north along the cycle path connecting the station to Addenbrooke's Hospital when he saw a group of teenagers he estimated were 16 to 18 years old wearing dark clothing.

    "Four to five of them were just blocking the route," he said. "They were just looking for trouble from whoever.

    "I slowed down, they had no lights on and they were blocking the path. We had a discussion. One of the guys was spitting at me."

    Another member of the public cycled up to the group and supported Mr Henriksson's efforts to ride past.

    Both men were eventually allowed to carry on their journeys, but while the other cyclist carried on towards Addenbrooke's, Mr Henriksson was followed.

    "We were just cycling away, but these people were still following me and driving into my bike," he explained.

    "They were pushing me around and I was close to hitting some people on the path.

    "At some point things escalated. I don’t really remember what happened. One guy tried to take me down.

    "Somehow I fell over. I might have run into the fence.

    "I recall being surrounded by them. They were kicking me. They most likely went toward the station after that."

    The attack left Mr Henriksson, who is originally from Sweden, with a cut head and swollen hand. His glasses and bike were also broken.

    "I’m not that easy to scare. I’ve never seen that much blood in my life coming out of me," he said.

    Since sharing his experience on Facebook, Mr Henriksson says he has been contacted by several people about other incidents involving a gang of youths on the route that connects Great Shelford and Cambridge and elsewhere in the city. He hopes that by telling his story more victims will come forward.

    He said: "Given they have probably been there for a few weeks, they are clearly amateurs. If something like this happens you don’t do more crime in the same area.

    "They just go there to see how far they can push you but this time it just escalated."

    Cambridgeshire police confirmed they were investigating the attack on Mr Henriksson.

    A spokesman said: "We have had no reports of other incidents if there have been any."

    Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting CF0008590118

    --

    This has been discussed in a path-specific non-Camcycle Facebook group but I will make an issue here for reference.

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  • Perse school head harassing children who cycle

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    The Perse school headmaster is attacking families who don't subscribe to the cult of hiviz and helmets. There's national implications. I think Camcycle is going to have to respond, in correspondence with affected parents. Do we have any as members?

    Quote from road.cc:

    “Everyone who cycles to school must wear high-visibility clothing, correctly fitted cycle helmets, they must have working front and rear lights, brakes and pedal reflectors,” Elliott told the Times.

    From the Times:

    A leading school is getting tough on pupils who cycle dangerously — and urging others to follow its lead

    Ed Elliott, headmaster at the £17,000-a-year Perse School in Cambridge, has drawn up strict rules specifying what pupils must wear while cycling, as well as the condition in which they need to keep their bikes to ensure they are roadworthy.

    Breaking the regulations means a stiff letter home to parents and — for a repeat offence — a one-hour detention.

    Teachers report pupils’ reckless cycling, and Elliott and his staff carry out spot checks on the bikes and clothing.

    Cycling UK has already put out a statement: https://www.cyclinguk.org/press-release/stop-making-cycling-school-difficult-says-cycling-uk

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  • DfT Accessibility Action Plan Consultation

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    'My ambition is to ensure that people with physical and hidden disabilities have the same access to transport and opportunities to travel as everyone else. This consultation seeks to understand what more needs to be done to improve transport accessibility and is my first major action as Accessibility Minister.'

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/638404/accessibility-action-plan-consultation.pdf

    We should respond to this consultation.

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  • New bus stop(s) on Addenbrookes site

    Created by Sam Webster // 1 thread

    A new bus stop has been created on Francis Crick Avenue just south of the junction with the busway on the east side. The problem is that there's a mandatory cycle lane there. Currently buses park in the cycle lane. It's also only 10m from the toucan crossing.

    According to http://www.thebusway.info/pdfs/maps/trumpington.pdf there might also be another stop outside the MRC on the west side, also with a mandatory cycle lane.

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