Cheerio Cycling England then

Are you involved in some way also JC?

Yeah, same stuff as a few people here by the sounds of it. Volunteer every week at a Go Ride club at Herne Hill Velodrome, and do the same job as RPM - though drop it into conversations less frequently!

here we go,
you want to know what Hammond priorities are
http://www.bikenews.org.uk/supposedly-green-government-prefers-the-black-stuff/
what really irks me is that the job of transport minister is such a bum deal, not one of them is there for longer than a few months,
Adonis had some vision, although the high speed rail is now just being pushed as a token that U.K PLC is comparable with Europe,
it makes me despair,
we are all doomed, etc etc etc

Feeling quite down. Got an idea or 2 up my sleeve tho for some ventures post-3rd sector employment. Keep positive but not easy. Hammond won't last long with any luck. Interested to see what the new dft active travel strategy will look like tho - the feb 2010 doc is still up on the dft site.

As a general rule the less governments "do for cycling" the better for cyclists. The British policy of neglect for last 40 years has been a winner compared to other North European countries that have had "do something for cyclists" policy for last 40 years.

Have to admit that the Bikeability scheme is a correct policy and thus an exception to the rule above.

^ Interesting. Can you please expand on that, with specific examples showing where neglect has been a winner for cycling, in comparison to the other N.European countries you mention.

Maybe he's thinking of the French - they certainly have some interesting cycle lanes. And their Velib system keeps having bikes nicked unlike our Barcycles / Boris / Ken bikes.

Could it be the Dutch with their huge bicycle trailers, forcing me to hop over a strip of grass onto the opposite carriageway to overtake on a dual carriageway cycle track? (It was here) Or maybe it was those Germans and their dastardly road works, forcing me out of the cycle lane and onto a road lane that was made a temporary cycle lane by using a steel barrier to keep cars out?

Last day for Cycling England tomorrow
Sad and unnecessary demise
This is from Cycling England:

Videos Share the Insights of Cycling Cities and Towns
New Home for Cycling England’s Online Resources A selection of videos sharing best practice from Cycling England’s Cycling City and Towns are now available on YouTube. Cycling England has released the videos to ensure that the latest learning from the 18 cities and towns is shared before the programme ends on 31st March, when Cycling England is abolished.

Each of the 14 short videos is themed, with programme managers providing insights on the topic based on their first-hand experiences. The videos highlight the most successful measures the cities and towns delivered to get more people cycling, providing inspiration and case study examples for practitioners just getting started with their own projects. They also highlight issues critical in the design and delivery of successful cycling programmes, such as collaboration with stakeholders and building political support. This will be extremely useful information for authorities working on the cycling element of their Local Sustainable Transport Fund bids.

The videos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/CyclingEngland#g/u

Starting on 1st April a range of guidance notes, case studies, reports and other resources from Cycling England’s website will start to be available at www.ciltuk.org.uk/pages/cycling hosted by The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport. The content will be uploaded gradually so a formal announcement concerning the facility will be made in due course. It will include all the evidence from the first three years of the Cycling Demonstration Towns programme, as well as the ‘Making a Cycling Town’ report which describes what the towns invested in to get people cycling – a wealth of resources for practitioners inspired by the videos to seek out more in-depth information.

lotta trust to put in L.A, S isnt it? bidding for and getting LSTF spent right.......
I wonder what Mr Darnton will do now...

The CE website is now turned off. Here are the words from his farewell post to the site:
(An appropriate and stern critique of the Governments decision to close cycling England)
Farewell Note from Cycling England

Cycling England is just about to celebrate its sixth anniversary. Set up by the Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling, in March 2005 with a budget of £5 m. pa, and a team of two we have come a long way and achieved much in those six years.

Thanks to the enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment of everyone involved, from the 18 Cycling Towns, to all the Bikeability training and Bike It schemes, as well as the more recent “Finding New Solutions” projects, we have already had a dramatic impact on the culture of cycling in England.

Remember the key statistics from just three years in the Cycling Demonstration Towns:
Cycling trips up by 27%
More people cycling
Cycling to school doubled in Bike It schools
Real health impact on physical activity
Results not seen in the rest of the country
Increase in line with London’s achievement
On track to double cycling trips in a decade
With the backing of the Professional Support Team as well as the crucial involvement of Sustrans and CTC and other partners in their many schemes, cycling was well on track for long- term growth and much positive momentum. From such a great group of committed practitioners – “people who get things done and make a real difference”.

The Government’s decision to abolish Cycling England – as being a “quango” is regrettable, and cost ineffective but it is not the demise of this little group of managers which is to be lamented it is the loss of the nationally extended network of enthusiasts, with their acquired knowledge, skills and engagement which is the real waste. Every one of you who receive this – and many others besides – have worked to bring the idea of a real “Cycling England” to life. To each of you goes the credit and the thanks. You have achieved an amazing amount in a very short time, and already it is beginning to show right across England.

Our core hypothesis, back in 2005, was that with a consistent strategy and continuity of funding at a level equivalent to that of “cycling towns in Europe”, we could reasonably expect to achieve similar rates of growth in everyday cycling. These first six years have already proved us right, and we will all treasure our small part in that success for ever.

Unfortunately, Government has yet to appreciate these key lessons of consistency, continuity and the need for a long term strategy for an integrated transport policy for Britain. Sadly cycling still seems to be a “party political football” to be played with according to fashionable ideology or dogma.

But the challenge facing us – of a real change to behaviour, and of much more cycling especially for short urban trips – is not a “quick fix”. We never thought it was.
So my final message as the Chair of the almost extinct Cycling England is one of determination. Every one of us knows that the challenge is worth all our effort; we all know how relevant and how important it is. In our various ways we will not give up. We know that investment in cycling works; it brings results; it makes a difference to everyone’s life. It’s worth it.
With my sincerest thanks to each and everyone of you and my very best wishes for your future….. and cycling’s.
Phillip Darnton

Good work mate!

The school where my kids go to refuse to put in bike racks/ a bike shed. The reason?
The headmistress believes cycling on the roads is too dangerous, and thinks facilities for bikes will encourage this dangerous practice!

She's a brilliant head teacher in many ways, but this thinking is extremely wrong.

Does my bloody head in! I've had schools do cycle training courses only for them to say it's too dangerous...Whats the point?

there will always be risk aversion with non cyclists, I hear you. keep up the good work and theres a
[B]Farewell get-together[/B]
there will be a farewell get-together in London on Wednesday 20th April, to which everyone is invited. This will take place from 4.30pm onwards at The George Inn, at 77 Borough High Street, Southwark, London (020 7407 2056) (http://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_details.php?pub_id=92). Please do pass this on – it’s an open invite to anyone who’s been involved with Cycling England’s programmes in any way over the past 6 years
also, this is the links info to the content transfer to the daft site:[[
][B]Cycling England website[/B]
If you visit the DfT website and search for Cycling England, you will now find a page at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/cycling/cyclingengland which redirects you to the National Archives site http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/,, and also http://www.ciltuk.org.uk/pages/cycling. Unfortunately, the archive site is a snapshot of the Cycling England website which was taken on 30th January 2011, before we had finished uploading content. Also, most of the links don’t work. The DfT agreed to take a more up-to-date copy of the website yesterday, although it will take 6 weeks for this to be prepared for uploading to the National Archives. To ensure everyone has access to Cycling England’s documents during these weeks leading up to some critical LSTF deadlines, a commitment was made yesterday to keep the Cycling England website live at http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/, which is being followed up today. This address has gone offline for now (apart from the home page), but may come back soon. I would recommend that you bookmark http://www.ciltuk.org.uk/pages/cycling, as CILT have agreed to host and keep live the cycling content that was generated over the past 6 years. As ongoing practitioners in this field, you may well want to contribute to the development of this site in the future

Interesting article by Phillp Darnton

http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/96/article8.html