Cycling Issues to Be Aired at Neston Community Forum

Local cyclists are encouraged to attend the next Neston Community Forum meeting which takes place at the Neston Cricket Club on Station Road from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on Wednesday, 22 September 2010.

Richard Nickson, Network Strategy Manager for Highways and Transport for Cheshire West and Chester Council will be present. He will be talking about the development of a proposed cycle route from Neston to Chester.  The Chester Cycling Campaign hopes to also use the meeting as an opportunity to discuss safety issues on the A540.

A good turnout from cyclists would help to indicate the strength of feeling about theA540 road safety issue.

Further information about the meeting is contained in the flyer below.

Neston Community Forum Flyer

Another Greenway Closure For 10 Weeks

Sections of Chester’s Millennium Greenway and Victoria Road are to close for around 10 weeks to allow strengthening work to be carried out on the Victoria Road Bridge.

Starting on Monday, September 6th, the work will close the Millennium Greenway between the Brook Lane access – opposite Newry Court – to the access path near to the Total Fitness Gym. Victoria Road will be closed for the same period, preventing all vehicles and pedestrians from using Victoria Road Bridge at the intersection with Brook Lane.

The closure comes soon after another major Greenway closure which was required to enable the Deva Link and Shropshire Union Canal cycle connections to be built. Cyclists and pedestrians who use the route for daily commuting will once again be inconvenienced, and will need to use a diversion along Brook Lane.

Cheshire West and Chester Council told the Chester Cycling Campaign that the work could not have been carried out at the same time as the closure for Deva Link works, due to the need to maintain access to the Deva Link site for construction machinery. The Victoria Road Bridge was originally scheduled for earlier in the year but was delayed as Deva Link was regarded as a priority by the council.

Below is a map showing the area of the closure and the suggested alternative route for cyclists and pedestrians.

For further information, please contact Cheshire West and Chester Council on 0300 123 7036.

Latest Cycle Demonstration Town Update

The Chester Cycling Campaign is a member of the Cycle Demonstration Town Project Steering Group, representing the interests of local cyclists. This has required us to strike a balance between the need to cooperate constructively with official bodies and the need to maintain our independence as a campaigning organisation.

The CDT project is responsible for managing millions of pounds of public money for the benefit of the local cycling community. This demands that project decision making and other activities are carried out with openness and with accountability to the local cycling community. We have been pressing the council to publish regular communications regarding the project so that local people can understand what has been achieved so far and how their money is being spent.

The Campaign will use this web page to keep the local cycling community updated, and will publish documents here which may be of interest to cyclists.

Cheshire West and Chester Council CDT Newsletters

Cheshire West and Cheshire Council (CWAC) has begun publishing CDT newsletters aimed at city cyclists. The new publication provides a brief snapshot of relevant cycling information and activities for all those interested in cycling in Chester.  The newsletters will be available here as they are published by CWAC.

CWAC Cycling Update Newsletter – August 2010

CDT Steering Group Meeting Minutes

The CDT steering group minutes will be published here as meetings take place.

CDT Steering Group Meeting Minutes – June 2010

Take Part in the A540 Safety Improvements Survey

The Chester Cycling Campaign and other local cycling organisations are fighting for improvements to be made on the A540 to protect the safety of the many cyclists who use this route for commuting, training, and leisure cycling. The road is also the only way to access the Eureka Cyclists’ Cafe, exposing customers to the risks associated with the heavy and fast moving traffic on this route.

In order to be able to press for improvements, we need to gather cyclists’ views about what would be their preferred options for any safety improvements that might be made to the road.

Take a few minutes to register your views which will be used in our liaison work with the relevant Highway Authorities and Cheshire West and Chester Council. Please vote only once in order to maintain the integrity of the results. Updated poll results will be posted on this website regularly.

Note that the old road numbering system has been used for this survey, as this is the numbering that most of us will be familiar with.

Click here to view the results of the survey so far

Below is an orientation map of the area which will assist you in answering the questions. Clicking on the map will open a larger version of the map in a new window.

A540 Cyclist Survey Questions

Deva Link > Canal > Greenway Cyclepath Opens

On 14 June 2010 the Millennium Greenway reopened following the completion of another of the four major Cycle Demonstration Town infrastructure projects. 

Cyclists in West Chester now have set of new links between three popular routes, the Deva Link shared use path, the Millennium Greenway, and the canal towpath. The heavily engineered links involved a great deal of earth moving, foundation laying, and reinforcement of the adjoining slopes. The completed project also includes street lighting, railings, and some prominent signage.

The Chester Cycling Campaign understands from Cheshire West and Chester council that no council tax money was involved in the construction of the link which was funded from Connect2 and Cycle Demonstration Town grants.

The new three-way link provides steps for pedestrians and a series of linked tarmac ramps for cyclists, wheelchairs, and buggies. The finished project will be welcomed by cyclists travelling to popular destinations like the Greyhound Retail Park, the Stadium Way allotments, and the University of Chester.

Visit our photo gallery to see some images of the completed project.

Free Bike Racks For Businesses/Organisations

Cheshire West and Chester council is offering free cycle parking stands for organisations in the area.  Community groups, small businesses, shops, offices, churches and voluntary sector groups can apply cycle stands free of charge. Up to four stands – that’s parking for eight bikes – are available per applicant, each holds two bikes neatly and securely.

The recipient is responsible for installing them, on their own premises, in a location agreed with the scheme organiser. Installing secure cycle parking will encourage staff and visitors to arrive by bike and shows that the organisation is doing its bit to reduce its carbon footprint.

Click here for further information and to download an application form.

Cycling Campaign Response to LTP3 Consultation

Cheshire West and Chester council’s next Local Transport Plan (LTP3) covers the 15 year period from 2011 to 2025.  This is in contrast to earlier plans which covered much shorter periods of time.  Consequently, it is important that the plan is bold and ambitious, as it will cover the period of time when the problems of obesity, climate change, peak oil, and increasing car usage combine in a ‘perfect storm’ of transport challenges.

In view of the importance of LTP3, the Chester Cycling Campaign has taken care to produce a very detailed response to the council’s LTP3 consultation.  The growing professional expertise amongst the membership of the Campaign has meant that we have been able to produce an authoritative and critical submission, which we hope may significantly influence the council’s future transport strategy.

Please take the time to read some of the documents published below.  Read the Executive Summary to get an overview of the approach we have taken.  If you have time, read the Main Text so that you can fully appreciate the Campaign’s vision for the role of cycling in Chester’s transport strategy.

Our submission is in five parts:

• LTP3 Chester Cycling Campaign Executive Summary
• LTP3 Chester Cycling Campaign Full Submission
• LTP3 Chester Cycling Campaign Appendix A – BMA Note
• LTP3 Chester Cycling Campaign Appendix B – CTC Guidance
• LTP3 Chester Cycling Campaign Appendix C – Smarter Choices

If you would like to work with us to make these ideas a reality, then please feel free to become involved with the Campaign.

Comments are welcome on our LTP3 submission.

Mickle Trafford Greenway Extension Now Open

The first of the major CDT infrastructure projects is now open.  The long-awaited official opening of the latest section of the Chester Millennium Greenway took place on 25 October 2009.

Residents of Guilden Sutton and Mickle Trafford now have a traffic-free route into the city centre, and Chester residents have better access to the countryside to the east of the city.   The new stretch includes a new pedestrian bridge over the Chester to Manchester railway line as well as a series of links and access points. These are situated in Fairfield Road, Mannings Lane (South), the A41 at Greenfield Lane, an access point near Guilden Sutton, and Station Lane, Mickle Trafford.

To mark the opening, the Chester Cycling Campaign has created a photo gallery providing a good overview of the new Greenway Extension.

Work on the project started in June 2009.  The 16 week scheme was funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) as part of REVIVE – the project which aims to reclaim 170 hectares of brownfield land in Cheshire and Warrington.

A detailed description of the route and the history of the campaign to save the route from the misguided Guided Busway proposals and to get the extension built are included in Steve Howe’s excellent Virtual Stroll website.

An active group of volunteers, Friends of the Millennium Greenway, have worked long and hard campaigning for the building of the extension.  The opening of the extension is a tribute to their hard work.  The group organises periodic planting and maintenance days on the Greenway.  Please support these volunteer days if you can spare a couple of hours.

Merseyrail to Be Flagship ‘Bike ‘n’ Ride’ Provider

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis has launched a major £14m package to transform facilities for cyclists at rail stations and encourage healthier, greener travel. Although Chester will not become one of the new ‘Cycle Hubs’, local cyclists will benefit from Merseyrail’s inclusion in the new ‘Bike ‘n’ Ride’ scheme.

Over the next two years a series of measures, including ‘Cycle Hubs’ at 10 major rail stations and 10,000 extra cycle parking spaces across the country will be introduced by Government, Network Rail, Cycling England and train operators. The new cycle hubs will include extra cycle storage facilities, repair services, hire schemes and improved cycle access to and from the stations.

The projects announced include:

- £5m for fully supervised cycle hubs, offering a range of facilities for cyclists including secure covered parking, cycle hire, information, retail and repair at 10 stations. These include Leeds station (which will be completed by May next year) and London St Pancras, London Victoria, London Waterloo, Grimsby, Hull, Liverpool Lime Street, Scunthorpe, Sheffield and York (all to be opened within the next 2 years).

- £3m for over 4500 additional cycle park spaces at nearly 350 stations across the country, including Nottingham, Stevenage, Cambridge, Exeter, Scarborough, Sunderland, Barrow-in-Furness, Crewe and Middlesbrough.

- £4m from Cycling England for four Train Operating Companies – Merseyrail, Northern Rail, South West Trains and Virgin Trains – to transform the cycling facilities up and down their network to become flagship ‘Bike ‘n’ Ride’ train operating companies.

- £2m which will improve cycle access at rail stations to ensure that bike users can get to and from the station conveniently and safely, and to improve cycle facilities across the rail network as opportunities are identified.

This announcement follows the Government’s commitment in June for £5m to be spent over the next two years to improve cycle storage facilities at up to ten major railway stations nationwide, including in London. Due to the quality of the response to this announcement, the funding has now been doubled to £10m.

The announcement of the ‘Bike ‘n’ Ride’ operating companies takes forward the recommendation from the Cycle Rail Task Force as a way to improve bike and rail integration.

Consultants Developing Cycling Masterplan

Consultants Steer Davies Gleave were appointed by Cheshire West and Chester Council at the end of July to develop a Masterplan to improve cycle permeability into Chester as part of the Cycle Demonstration Town project.

The scope of the plan will include a range of measures from large infrastructure projects to the smaller effective initiatives such as better signage and cycle parking. They will make recommendations for cycling to be incorporated into Council policy and into the Long Term Transport Plan and Local Development framework. The brief includes consultation with the CDT steering Group and Chester cycle Campaign who have already met with the two consultants Kate Gifford and Simon Hollowood.

The Campaign has a wealth of information on where improvements need to be made and where cycle parking is needed that will provide a lot of the data that Kate and Simon need. We will be discussing these ideas in more detail at future Cycle Campaign meetings.

Steer Davies Gleave will deliver the final Masterplan in mid-November 2009. For further information, click the links below.

Cheshire West and Chester Council Cycle Chester Masterplanning Brief

Steer Davies Gleave Cycle Chester Masterplan Project Outline

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