Vote for me - The Harogate Cycling Debate

Cycle Harrogate is not aligned to any political party. However we do want to know what the various political parties plan to do about promoting cycling in the Harrogate area as there is both a County Council Election and a Tour De France coming up.

My views on the current performance of North Yorkshire County Council with regard to cycling are a matter of record. I don't think they are doing enough to promote cycling as a sustainable transport choice, I don't think they are even meeting their own stated objectives and I don't think they are meeting national guidance. In fairness to them they work for elected councillors who are voted for by people like me and you. If we don't have elected officials championing cycling why should council officers?

So if any prospective councillors or representatives of political parties would like to answer any of these following questions I will happily publish their responses and won't add my own commentary to them. At least not until after the elections. In that way if you care about cycling and want a County Councillor that does too, we all have an opportunity to know what they think and plan to do if elected.

A version of these questions I asked the County Council recently. As sometimes happens we got no meaningful response.

Update 5/4/2013

We have had our first responses from Don Mackenzie incumbent conservative councillor for Saltergate Division.

Don's responses are in blue

Update 6/4/2013
Jim Clark incumbent for Rossett Ward has sent his responses which are in a different blue and shown second.


1. How as a councillor would you monitor how the County Council is currently spending the Local Sustainable Transport Fund monies provided by central government and how would your interventions  benefit sustainable transport in Harrogate?

"As an active member of the NYCC Harrogate Area Committee and of the Transport Scrutiny Committee I have been fully supportive of sustainable transport initiatives."

 "I am an active member of the NYCC Harrogate Area Committee and I am fully supportive of sustainable transport initiatives and actively promote cycling in my division."

2. How as a councillor would you make sure that the County Council is working with local cycling groups and other interested parties to help make 2014's tour de France a huge success? Further how would you help guarantee a tour legacy now that central government has pledged £10 million to Yorkshire for Tour delivery?

"Bringing The Tour de France to North Yorkshire, and Harrogate in particular, is great news for cycling, in a town which has a rich heritage in that activity. I will play my part in ensuring that this success raises the profile of cycling even further in the borough, and that the legacy will not be lost as soon as the cyclists depart."

"The input of local groups such as Cycle Harrogate is valuable to the council and even more so at this exciting time as we start preparing for the Tour de France in Harrogate.  The potential legacy from this event is something we must seize upon, especially with the help of £10 million from the Government." 

3. In light of recent research finding Skipton Road to be one of the most congested roads in the country outside of London. How would you work to reduce congestion by encouraging modal shift as current transport policies that favour car use by default, appear to be failing?

"Skipton Road west of New Park roundabout is in my division. I know only too well from residents that congestion, especially at peak times, is already bad. Now more houses are proposed for the area. Certainly, a sustainable transport plan must accompany any large-scale housing development. I have played my own part in ensuring that those who wish to cycle have better facilities in which to do so. As Harrogate's Cabinet Member for Planning and Transport (2007-2010) I introduced cycling on the Stray on six dedicated dual-use paths - in the face of much opposition - and served for all those years on the working party for the Bilton - Ripley cyclepath (now the Nidderdale Greenway)."

"There are similar congestion problems on many of our main roads, including Otley Road, part of which is in my division.  It is clear that sustainable transport will have a major part to play in resolving congestion problems. People need to be encouraged, wherever possible, to consider walking, cycling and using public transport before they get in their car. Having contributed to the work on the Nidderdale Greenway and promoting sustainable transport in schools, I am aware there are many things we as councillors can do to help the cycling lobby work towards this modal shift."

4. How as a  councillor would you  work to fulfil national obligations to promote cycling and walking as specified in recent NICE guidelines  These guidelines cite these activities as ways of improving public health and call on councils to actively work to get more people engaging in these activities.

"I will ensure that the needs of cyclists are borne in mind when any decisions on transport-related matters are taken. Public Health is now a function of the County Council (since this week) and our Director of Public Health will no doubt be mindful of the benefits to public wellbeing of cycling. I am currently the Chairman of the NYCC Care and Independence Scrutiny Committee, and my committee is well aware of the importance of healthy lifestyles to the general public."

"The NICE guidelines are clear and I am sure that, now Public Health is a function of the County Council, the Director of Public Health will be considering how they relate to the work the council does.  As Chairman of the Scrutiny of Health Committee I will be working closely with the Director of Public Health and will ensure this matter is firmly on the council’s agenda."

Lets all be excellent with each other - Safe use of the Nidderdale Greenway

The Nidderdale Greenway has been open nearly a week. Yesterday an older person was knocked down by a bike rider  and air lifted to Harrogate Hospital with a broken hip. Worse yet the rider apparently rode off from the scene of the incident.  More from North Yorkshire Police on the incident here.

I wish her a full and speedy recovery I hope justice finds the cyclist if they really did leave the scene.

How could this happen? Well I have a few ideas even though I know nothing of the circumstances of the incident. I also have a few suggestions about how to stop it happening again.

The Nidderdale Greenway is a shared use facilitiy its not a cycleway as some people believe. Bikes, walkers and horses are welcome. For that to work people have to share the route, this means compromise. These types of transport all operate at different speeds. Walkers take many risks when they use a path like this. Bikes are bigger and going faster, horses pose yet another set of risks to both horse riders and other users. I wonder if people have thought this through? Its still better though than going on a road with things with engines.

I saw some poor/risky behaviour on bank holiday monday as I rode the route. This from both cyclists and walkers. Some bike riders rode like they were about to sprint for the line on a stage of the Tour de France. That's way too fast on a route that was really busy with loads of traffic. Young kids walking and on bikes and lots of dogs wandering around not to mention loads of "ordinary" bikes and walkers. I saw some walkers stopping and chatting in groups. They were blocking the path or walking three and four abreast this was no help. I didn't hear enough bike bells being rung or even bike riders saying excuse me. Someone was throwing a stick for a dog up and down the route that's just daft.

I felt there was overly risky behaviour from too many people. I think this is ignorance not stupidity. I figured what the heck, no one got hurt and then it turned out somebody had. I think people don't know what to do and there are no signs at the moment to tell you what is expected. Signs will go up soon I am told. This will help but I don't want any more avoidable accidents so this post is an attempt to get some guidance out there.

On a positive note nearly everybody seemed to be having a good time and that remains the most important thing. This is a leisure route mainly (apologies if you commute on it), but I think we need to educate users so there are as few injuries going forward as possible.

Some common sense stuff for various types of user that might make everyone's life better and longer.

Bike Riders

Take it steady when you approach groups of walkers or horse riders, ring your bell, slow down or say excuse me. They won't hear you as a bike is virtually silent when approaching from behind. Slow down a bit generally. If you want to go out time trialling this is not the place.  Horses particularly can be spooked by bikes, I spooked one once when riding to fast and as it reared over me its front legs flailing I made a rapid mental decision to be more considerate in the future.

Walkers

There are bikes around look out for them, give them some room don't hog the whole route. You are at risk as bikes can go fast and will hurt if they hit you. Most bike riders wear protective gear most walkers don't. You need to be aware of whats going on around you.

Dog Walkers

You have to control your dog and that might mean putting it on a lead when its a really busy day. There of plenty of videos of dogs losing in collisions with bikes on You Tube. I wouldn't want that to be your dog. Your dog can also unseat a horse rider if it spooks it. Horses riders have a really poor safety record when it come to riders being injured or killed after being thrown, they are that bit higher up.

Horse Riders
Your vulnerable as well, you need to make sure your horse is used to both dogs and bikes before you take it on to what is often a busy route. Equally an out of control horse can be a dangerous weapon to other users, make sure you are confident in your ability to control your horse before you set off.

Now there is nothing to difficult or scary there is there? Off you go and enjoy your wonderful new car free route and please, be excellent with each other.

All hail the Nidderdale Greenway - Traffic free cycling from Harrogate to Ripley

We managed to get out as a family today on the recently opened Nidderdale Greenway, Sustrans's excellent new cycle route from Harrogate to Ripley via the old Railway line.

It was fantastic we rode for about 40 mins steadily zooming along on what was today a very busy cycle way. Its is Sustran's usual quality provision and to be honest they didn't have too much to do for most of the way. As the railway route is pretty good quality. Its lovely as it goes over the Nidd Viaduct. As you get out toward Ripley it bobs and weaves a bit through the trees by the banks of the river and then takes you over the main road and across a field and right into Ripley itself.

I made it around about 4 and half miles from Starbeck. We started at the top of the Avenue and I reckon maybe a shade less if you got on at the bottom end of the Asda car park in Harrogate town.

There were lots of people on bikes and loads of people just out for a stroll or walking with their dogs. Everyone rubbing along together and all getting some exercise in a nice car free environment, genius.

I only got one negative comment from another bike rider who said "There are too many ignorant pedestrians around." I thought there was one to many ignorant cyclists.  I wish I'd had the thought quicker I would have told him.

We stopped for ice cream in Ripley (I still don't know what all the fuss is about Ripley ice cream is? Its nothing special). This was a questionably stupid decision as the east wind was now blowing and it, coupled with the ice cream cooled us all down just enough to make the journey back into the headwind a little bit of an endurance test. My four year old was pretty cold by the time we got back but the eldest had done his longest ever cycle ride starting and finishing at his house, brilliant.

All in all a grand day out. Myself and Mrs Cycle Harrogate were eye-ing up the Boars Head whilst we munched ice cream. The next time we get an evening out, it looks like beer and bikes and if you go to the Gardener's Arms on Bilton Lane a mini pub crawl seems possible.

Here are a couple more sketch maps of the route showing where to get on and off the trail

Reach for the Sky - British Cycling get involved in Harrogate

Sky Rides are coming to Harrogate these are recreational rides to get more people cycling. They are organised by British Cycling the people behind the success of our world beating olympic cyclists, Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins. There will be a lot more news about these over the next year but for now. If you want to get involved with the whole setup and run some rides you can?

I just got this from Jo Armstrong at Harrogate Borough Council...

Sky Ride Local is coming to North Yorkshire in 2013 and we’re looking for confident recreational cyclists to train as Ride Leaders and Route Planners. You don’t need to be a cycling expert, just be confident riding in groups and have heaps of enthusiasm.

Our Ride Leaders are friendly, confident, chatty individuals who love encouraging others and are happy to operate as one member of a team. If this sounds like you then keep reading.
The British Cycling assessed one-day course qualifies you to deliver led rides for groups of beginners and intermediate level adults and accompanied children.

In North Yorkshire we currently have Sky Ride leader training courses scheduled on:
14th April - York
18th May – Harrogate
22nd June - York

To get involved, get in touch with us at skyride@britishcycling.org.uk and tell us where you live, postcode, a little about yourself, why you would make a great Ride Leader and if you hold a valid first aid certificate.

For more information visit: http://www.goskyride.com/News/ShowArticle/Fancy-training-to-be-a-British-Cycling-Ride-Leader?retURL=/News

Jo Armstrong
Sport and Play Development Officer
Harrogate Borough Council
Department of Development Services
Culture, Tourism & Sports
E-mail: joanne.armstrong@harrogate.gov.uk

"On my command unleash the Tour De France Legacy Doves"

An interesting day for Cycling in Harrogate. I was nattering to Radio York this morning after they tracked me down. I talked about Cycling in Harrogate and why it wasn't as big as it is in York.

I think I managed to blame it on poor infrastructure and a lack of any kind of strategic planning on the part of NYCC, if not dear reader I tried. Thing is it was snowing, I was stood outside and I was covered in cold, wet cement. So for some reason I was all jovial and diplomatic which is not like me at all. I hope no one got the impression I thought our county council are doing a good job catering for bike riders in the town.

This evening I was at the first meeting of the Harrogate Cycle Forum where Harrogate Borough Council who do seem interested in talking to local cyclists and listening to their views, met with maybe 20 folk who had all turned up to exchange ideas and compare agendas.

Most of the Harrogate clubs where there, a few activists like myself along with a couple of bike shop owners and people with business interests that involve bikes.

Here is what I learned, Harrogate Borough council have committed to getting more people on a bike (YESSSSS),  Jo Armstrong is the lead on this, she is doing good stuff. Kids are being trained, rides for novice bike riders are being organised, bikes will be available for loan if you fancy a go.

We need some better information to get people riding and there is to be work on this more detail to follow.

There will be money to get some cycle trainers in the area, this is all good stuff and should be celebrated. There is going to be a cycle festival as part of national bike week during the week leading up to and including the weekend of 22nd  and 23rd of June. There will be lots of stuff happening. More  info when things get nailed down.

John McGivern is the council officer tasked with getting the Tour De France delivered in Harrogate District, he looked scared and excited and he looks well capable. He wants to leave a legacy after the Tour behemoth rolls across the Stray and heads south, good man. We are going to see what we can come up with as a group and let John deliver it, more news when we have thrashed out a plan.

Then news rolled in as I got home, that the Government in Westminster have approved 10 million quid to help deliver the Tour in Yorkshire, WOOHOO. Some of this cash should wash across the shores of the district and as the wave breaks, you should see marks on the high tide line to prove it was there. We do indeed live in interesting times. If only NYCC seemed to have noticed that the third biggest sporting event in the world was coming for two days to their backyard. If they were actually committed to sustainable transport and that they had a generational opportunity to make Harrogate a bike town. I would actually believe all my dreams had come true.

Anyway look out for those Legacy Doves in late 2014. They will show when the waters from the tour have receded and we are once more, just a small town, surrounded by countryside with a congestion problem.

Harrogate Hospital begin to cuddle cyclists

A good meeting today with Liz Pugh from Harrogate Hospital Trust. We had a chat about what we could do to help each other get more staff from the hospital cycling. Oh I and I had a mild dig at their relatively unambitious travel plan for cyclists. Here's what we came up with.

• We will work together to make a leaflet to promote cycling to hospital staff. It will contain info about routes, clubs, the cycle to work scheme and other cycling related info.
• We will have some staff members who are points of contact if people who are thinking about cycling to work. This  so that they have someone they can have a chat with if they have an issues that might be putting them off.
• We will do a joint presentation/open day style event to try and promote the cycle to work scheme and increase take up.
• The Hospital will investigate if they can make some suggested improvements to on site cycle storage and lighting.
• The Hospital will give their support to our campaign to improve cycle infrastructure on the Knaresborough Rd. Makes sense they are at one end of it

I have been fairly critical over the last sixth months of the hospital's spectacular  reluctance do to anything tangible to promote cycling. Now they are working with both us and Jo Armstrong from Harrogate Borough Council its  time to lay off them a bit and see if together we can get some staff from Harrogate's biggest employer pedalling.

The Nidderdale Greenway its a wrap

The nice people at Sustrans, North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Cycle Action have been building a cycle route from Bilton to Ripley for a goodly while now. Some people didn't want it. In fact they managed to force two public enquiries where they argued that death and pestilence would result from people cycling on a disused railway line in the open air  through their land. Well the second  public enquiry has reached its conclusion and its now officially go for launch.

Should be open end of March latest, I can't wait. I'm going to cycle with my family from my house to Ripley, eat some overrated Ice Cream and cycle back, it will be great. Thanks to all those people that made it happen and if you were against it I hope you get over yourself and learn to love what is in your backyard. I wish I was lucky enough to have so much land it had a railway across it, just saying.

Here is the report of the public enquiry if you want a read

Small steps rolling forward

So myself and three others from Harrogate Cycle Action met last month to come up with a list of some small improvements we would like made for cycle users in Harrogate over the next year. We know money is tight but we were hopeful that somethings could be done. We have had a response form NYCC recently here are the edited highlights:

The Beryl Burton Cycleway has had a haircut to the foliage overhanging it prior to it getting some love and maintenance. Thank you army foundation college. Thank you NYCC for making this happen. Anyone been down that way recently? I have been working out of town.

Some of the schemes in our small improvement list will be funded out of what is called the LSTF (local sustainable transport fund) money. We should know details of what and when by March. When I know I will let you know.

There will be some cycle lane provision on Hookstone Road running up from Hornbeam Park Station toward Leeds Road. Thank you NYCC.

There will be works to the road network as a result of the Tour De France coming to town. Cycle Harrogate will be lobbying for some of this money to be infrastructure legacy as well as the"black carpet" of asphalt Cavendish will need to have a chance at a stage win.

On the whole a rather more positive picture than of late. Here is hoping for more good news soon

Tour De France news round up, building a cycling legacy for Harrogate

The manic joy is leaving me but I'm still madly excited that the Tour De France is coming to my town and twice in two days, wow. What about Legacy? I had a meeting last night with some local activists we talked a lot about legacy, after the Olympics I think we all get that idea now. There was a suggestion we argue for Cycle Town status like Bristol and others got over the last few years. It worked wonders for the towns were the money was invested. There were other ideas knocking around. I started thinking.

Recently I met with Joanne Armstrong and John Mcgivern at the Hydro. They both work for Harrogate Borough Council. Jo is a sport development officer, John is specifically looking at the legacy the tour can leave.

We talked about what a reasonable legacy from the Tour would be. Greater participation was something we all agreed on. Greater participation being difficult without better infrastructure was another point where our views aligned. John was realistic about legacy being hard to deliver but he also seems committed to making the Tour's visit more than a two day wonder. Jo is interested in anything that gets people riding bikes, she is working with employers, including (hooray) the hospital. So there seems to be some much needed progress, which is great news.

In the short term there is going to be a committee of interested local people who will look in more details about specific legacy aims. Its great to be part of this and I'm delighted to be asked. North Yorkshire County Council will be part of this group too,which is more good news as ultimately they have most of the money.

So a little over two weeks after the Tour announcement it seems like local government is rising to the challenge. It was also good to see Deputy Prime minster Nick Clegg  agreeing to meet with Welcome to Yorkshire and the Cabinet to talk about central government funding for the Grand Depart. We remain hopeful that some money will be invested and that some of it will be spent on infrastructure. Exciting times.

A final thought if you have any specific ideas about what would be a good legacy for Harrogate get in touch, I can put your views forward.

Lancing the boil

So Lance Armstrong has admitted some of his misdemeanour's. The EPO, the steroids, the bullying and the lies. Well done Lance you are now in tune with the rest of the world so your no longer delusional, good work.

Trouble is you helped bring one of the greatest cycling events and a fine sport to its knees. In  an orgy of drug taking and miracle performances that made a mockery of competition.  You and your kind deprived clean athletes of places on podiums and stopped some people making a living from the sport they also loved, but one they chose to play clean.

Professional cycling has some questions to answer especially the UCI and I'm pleased you now appear to want to tell a little more of the truth. Lets get this done and all move on into a more regulated world. One where most athletes ride clean and the governing bodies mercilessly seek out cheats and frauds, hopefully that will be your legacy to cycling.

My problem with the idea that we should forgive or forget because you say your sorry, that's just ridiculous. The notion that you think that you might have a place in any kind of competitive sport going forward makes my skin crawl. Lance some things can't be atoned for however often you say sorry. Some decisions that you make over decades you live with forever and take to the grave.

If you wear and glory in the Jersey's, the fame and the fortune, the celebrity lifestyle, all those heady years when you rule the world. When it then turns out your victories are built on sand and lies, you have to accept that you need to do something else with the rest of your life.

Its not about the bike and its not about Lance the athlete any more.  I'm not interested in anything you have to say about sport going forward, I will now never believe the things you say. So stop seeking a platform and do something with your life, you have years left, use them for some small good and tell no one but the people you help.

The Tour is coming, The Tour is coming, The Tour De France is coming to HARROGATE

Dreamland stuff then, the route of the 2014 Tour De France Grand Depart has just been announced. Stage one finishes with a sprint in Harrogate and stage two appears to be going through Knaresborough and then pretty much past my house. Deep joy all round, a flat'ish stage for Cavendish to have a pop and maybe win a stage in his mum's home town. Thousands of bike fans all spending money in the town and the eyes of the Europe and a fair bit of the rest of the world on Harrogate. Lets make it a good one Harrogate, lets show the world we are a bike friendly town, lets show them we take bikes and activity seriously and lets do Yorkshire proud.

Right I'm off to lie in a darkened room and calm down a bit.

More on the route here

Legacy

What will the tour leave Harrogate when it moves on? Other than some great memories, a few hangovers, some fuller bank accounts and lots of tidying up. If we are not careful the answer could be precious little. If the eyes of the world are to be turned on Harrogate for a few hours, it would be nice to think that like the olympics where legacy was a founding principle. That Harrogate can benefit on the back of the sporting circus having come to town. 

It should come as no surprise then that cycle Harrogate will be banging the drum for mass participation and the infrastructure to bring this participation about over the next 18 months. If Harrogate could get anything lasting out of the tour I would like it to be that it becomes a "biketown".

On Beryl In Peril

News just in on the Beryl Burton Cycleway. It will be partially re-surfaced, hopefully in the not to distant future. Before the resurfacing happens the Army Foundation College are going to do some voluntary work to cut back the overhanging branches, clean out the cattle grid and cut some drainage channels, to try and stop the unrelenting rain making the situation any worse than it already is.

Thanks to North Yorkshire County Council Transport for sharing their plans on this. A pity we don't have a cyclist's forum to discuss these issues. Perhaps a few riders could have helped with the work, perhaps they still could?

The Cycle Harrogate Map APP

So I got to thinking how most of what we had done so far had been fairly negative. We grumbled at the council a lot basically. How about something to support new and prospective cyclists in Harrogate? Harrogate Borough Council used to distribute cycle maps. They weren't the greatest maps ever but I found a few cycle routes using it. Well it went the way of all things when NYCC took over cycle promotion and there was nothing to replace it. There is now  Harrogate cycling has a web map.

I have been putting my mediocre coding talents to use this week, There is now an interactive cycle harrogate map online and as an android app. I will put an iPhone version out soon for you apple fans too. Its early days yet. I have put most of the existing cycle lanes on and a few of the local bike shops. I want to look at adding location sensing so it will show your position on the map. I have got maybe another week adding in some suggested low traffic routes and then its ready for  launch. If you want your favourite routes or bike shops adding email me. I would be open to putting on areas where there is good mountain biking too but I don't nail the trails any more so I need help from locals. If you want something on let me know.

Anyway before a formal launch I'm really after a few people who are Android smart phone users. To test it out, find bugs and suggests changes or improvements. If you feel inclined download it and have a go. If it falls over let me know. I haven't tried using it on a bike yet just over Wifi at home. Hopefully we can make it useful to new cyclists and people who are visiting Harrogate. If you cycle regularly you probably have most of this map in your head already. If a few more people use this perhaps we would get a few more bums on seats and the quality of peoples journey's in Harrogate would be better.

Nice to see you, to see you NICE

We repeatedly lobbied Harrogate hospital this year to ask them to encourage cycling for their staff. We offered our help. They did nothing. In fact they never really answered our letters at all. Indifference would be a fair description of the response we got.

North Yorkshire County Council have no plan in place to develop cycle infrastructure, have no cycle officer, spend no money on adult cycle training and have refused all the offers we have made to work with them to address these issues. They have just removed the only forum for consulting with local cyclists.

Wouldn't it be ironic if a respected and influential national body issued guidance that said the NHS and Local authorities should actively work to promote cycling? That these kinds of exercise are some of the best ways of reducing heart disease. Imagine if they said not exercising enough is as bad for you as smoking? Try and think how it would be if they said that transport planners and health promoters at local level should always consider cycling and walking in the decisions they make?

Just think how it would be if they said that a multi agency integrated approach is required?

...requires action on many fronts – and by many different sectors. A range of issues have to be addressed, including environmental, social, financial and personal factors.

What if they specifically said that better cycling infrastructure is part of the solution?

...measures to reduce road dangers and to reallocate road space to create a more supportive environment.

How would it be If they said that this was urgent and should happen now? That if we reached cycling levels like Denmark and the Netherlands we would save the NHS billions?

Finally if your mind can hold the idea, what if they said that they have multiple pieces of data that show that this action will work and that is why they are making this recommendation?

Well that just happened and a whole lot more. The NICE people who make evidence based recommendations about the safety and effectiveness of drugs and vaccinations, have now issued guidance that says this and more. They have said that we can save lives by getting people to walk and cycle. That 2/3 of the UK adult population are so inactive their health is at risk and that many people die because of their inactivity.

This is dynamite, Local government needs to do more to promote cycling. the NHS needs to do more to promote cycling, people like cycle Harrogate need to do more do promote cycling.

Well look we are trying to do our bit for free and with vigour but we are keen amateurs  We are a few people who speak for a few hundred more. We are asking for change. We are asking to work with local government and local agencies, we want to help, not to spend our time whinging at you, but we need dialogue and discussion not the door slamming in our face. Thus far we have been treated like the disease rather than part of the cure.

Are you doing all you should to promote and make simple daily cycling North Yorkshire County Council transport department? Could we help?

Are you doing all you should to promote and encourage cycling Harrogate District Hospital? Could we Help?

Here is a link to the nice guidance
this is the press release
here is the supporting evidence

What's occurin'?

Its been quiet from us recently here is a mini news round up of what's been going on.

Firstly a plug. If you are near a radio at 2.15 tomorrow put radio 4 on and catch the radio play about local hero Beryl Burton or catch it on the Iplayer afterwards. Its her cycleway we have asked to be repaired over the last year to no avail, beginning to think this might be a DIY job and why not?

Next up is where cycling in Harrogate is at. Firstly the good news. There is about half a million quid to be spent on cycling. At the moment its not clear how, or where that will be spent or even who will decide. I would love to say what and where but nobody knows at the moment, it does look like somebody at the council has been given the job of spending it at least so that's good.

Now the other stuff. The head of transportation at North Yorkshire County Council has now formally said no to a Cycle officer for North Yorkshire. I think he was tired of being asked, his letter that I saw was a "final definitive position". On a more positive note they have changed the way they deal with cycling in the county so that it will be considered in the same structured way as car and pedestrian transport. That won't mean any more infrastructure necessarily but it may be a subtle shift in the right direction or even an acknowledgement that people ride bikes.

Disappointingly and I think wrongly NYCC have decided to stop consulting with the Harrogate Cycling Group on the grounds of cost and they are unwilling to run a forum themselves. This at a stroke removes the main conduit for trying to steer local infrastructure development, this is a bad thing as NYCC don't have a plan.

Related to this we and other local activists have been lobbying Andrew Jones about how NYCC  deal with cycling specifically in Harrogate. It seems he shares some of our concerns, namely that without dialogue progress will be even harder than it has been recently. It looks like he will be meeting with North Yorkshire Council chief Exec Richard Flinton to see if we can get some channels open again.

So in summary the picture is mixed. For what its worth I think North Yorkshire still aren't really that   interested and money is a convenient excuse. They seem keen to trumpet "their" past achievements even though most of these were lobbied for by activists, rather than look forward to a more cycle friendly future. It would be very refreshing to be proved wrong.

Guest post from Simon Williams - Cycling in Harrogate

Harrogate is a lovely place to work and live, it’s not too big, it’s not too small, and it’s virtually crime
free. The citizens of the town are pleasant and law abiding, but put them in a car, and the world
seems to change.

I’ve lived and worked in Harrogate over the last 22 years and for the last few years I’ve taken
advantage of a cycle to work scheme through the company I work for. A fantastic scheme, that I
encourage anyone who has the option, to use it.

Obviously the main aim of the scheme is to encourage people to leave the car at home and use the
bike to get to and from work, and for me a journey of 3.5miles is an easy choice, as long as I can get
organised and have work clothes, towel and shower gel to hand at work once I get there!

You would think that travelling 3.5miles through this lovely town would be stress free, pleasant and
leave me full of life when I get to work, but this is not always the case. On the roads of Harrogate,
and I am sure most towns around the country, car users have changed over the years, and quite
frankly made the journey far from safe.

On my own blog site, I recently posted an article about car drivers and the lack of road sense, mainly
around the fact that traffic lights during rush hour times seem to have become meaningless, with
more and more cars not just jumping an amber/red light but actually choosing to follow two or three
other cars through a red light. Add to this, mounting kerbs to get round stationary traffic and parking
on double yellow lines on the corners of roads near schools, and you can see that it’s not the safest
place to be.

Now put yourself on two wheels, with your only protection being a helmet – something I think
should be made a legal requirement for cyclists, but that is another debate!

I lose count of the number of times on my journey, a car will get impatient, revving the engine
before flying past very close, or as you come to go past a junction and you can see a car edging to
get out before you reach it, wondering if this is the one who will knock you off. The relief when I get
to work or back home is immense some days.

The council have tried to make things a bit easier, you can now cycle legally on the stray paths,
though not all of them, of the cycle routes takes you onto Stray Reign and up to a busy roundabout
instead of across another path, but the cycle lanes don’t seem to be a priority, they aren’t in great
numbers or ideal, take the one on Oatlands Drive, which is used for people to park cars so they can
walk their dogs or fly kites!

In summary, I do think the council should look at its cycling provisions and see if anymore can be
done, and car drivers, please don’t rush, set off earlier, take a bit of time, think about cyclists, but I
encourage everyone to get on their bikes and get out in the fresh air, it has health benefits. But be
careful!!

About the Author

Simon Williams is 44 years old, Married with 4 kids, he has lived in Harrogate for 13 years and worked in IT in Harrogate for nearly 22 years. A Former Triathlon, marathon and Ultra marathon participant, now a regular park runner and not regular enough cyclist.

You can catch up with Simon on his blog swcoachblog.wordpress.com

Why Cycling is less risky than not Cycling

Cycle accidents have been in the news this week. Bradley Wiggins had a lucky escape and so did Shane Sutton. The question for me that follows these high profile accidents has to be is cycling dangerous? Turns out the answer is ermm, no not really, and the benefits of the exercise far outweigh the risks of riding the bike. So that's not what we hear is it?

This is an interesting table   if you like me, like data of course, it shows relative risks of death of a few sports and pastimes. Now its a bit out of date (1986) but I'll bet it hasn't changed that much.

	Climbing	137
	Motor sports	81
	Fishing	41
	Horse riding	29
	Swimming	7.0
	Athletics	5.7
	Football	4.9
	Tennis	4.2
	Cycling	1.0
Safer	Golf	0.83
	Rambling	0.06

I'm a climber. I climb about as often as I cycle and I have done both regularly for over 25 years. To be honest I feel safer when I climb than on a bike. Turns out I'm on average 137 times less safe climbing as I am on a bike. I do a few things to minimise the risks when climbing, I generally wear a helmet and I don't free solo many big routes any more, nor do I go on many glaciers but still. I bet I still run way more risks climbing than when cycling.

Here is another table that tries to quantify the risks of death against the benefits of the exercise. This is a bit more of a difficult one. If you are fit already and exercise regularly riding a bike is not going to make you live longer. You will of course do your bit to ease congestion and you may have fun and save on petrol. However if you are sedentary so you  take little or no exercise and you start riding a bike now we are in most definitely in business. The second table shows that the benefits of cycling massively outweigh the risks by somewhere between 13:1 and 35:1 it depends on the data set and I have ignored the report that claims a benefit of 415:1 as that seems plainly daft.

Now to get these benefits it's not enough to own a bike you have to ride it. If you can do half an hour three times a week or ideally five or more you are getting the benefits that the studies above claim. So a 15 minute commute of say a couple of miles would be perfect. You don't by the way need to ride like Wiggins we are talking gentle exercise here. Incidentally being overweight isn't really the problem as long as you exercise regularly. See this marvellous video for a good summary of the studies on the positive effects of exercise.

So the people who have most to gain from riding bikes are people who could ride them to work regularly, who are currently not doing much exercise. There are lots of people like this in the UK maybe as much as two thirds of the adult population and many in Harrogate. Harrogate lends itself to bikes, it is small and many people's commutes are relatively short. The good thing is once people become bike riders they tend to keep doing it. So how to get them to start? Well one of the reasons that comes up again and again is fear of the road network. Now as we have seen, oddly its safer than you think but how to remove the fear?

Well a start is to get more people doing it. Its bad enough doing something you think is dangerous it's much worse if you are on your own. Creating a cycle culture where it not seen as weird is a start, we are on to a winner here in Harrogate there are a fair few of cyclists already and not just leisure riders, you do see people using bikes to commute. So hopefully pointing out that you are better cycling than sitting down might be a start.

Employers and I mean large ones should do more. I think the Hospital in Harrogate should do more They could offer incentives, free breakfasts have worked in a few places and better safe cycle parking. It would help their terrible parking problem and impact positively on their sickness rates too. We have repeatedly asked them about this, the silence is deafening.

Next  better infrastructure this is the "build it and they will come" argument and that is where we will continue to lobby local government. Actively promoting the routes that exist would be a good start. Adult cycle training could be prescribed in the same way that GP's now prescribe trips to the gym and why not throw in a bike from one of the excellent recycling schemes that are springing up? Oh and try and finish the integrated network in Harrogate that is currently patchy and piecemeal. If people felt catered for and their mates were doing it people would feel more inclined to save themselves a bit of petrol money.

So if you have a bike but don't ride it because you think it dangerous and you don't get two and a half hours of exercise a week you would be safer on a bike.

Support from a legend - record breaker Mike Hall talks to Cycle Harrogate

Mike Hall is quite an individual. Not only did he break the record for cycling round the world earlier this year but he supports our Cycle Officer campaign. 91 days to cycle round the world unsupported, some 18,000 and something miles that is pretty extraordinary. Oh and Mike is a Harrogate chap so he is a local legend to boot.

Somebody tipped me off that Mike had signed our petition and I got in touch in a hurry. Mike was good enough to answer a few questions and also publicly give his support to our campaign. Wow we have a celebrity endorsement, better keep going hard at it then then Mike would.

Here is what Mike had to say

Cycle Harrogate Mike you Broke the world record for cycling round the world which is an incredible achievement. Which person from your past or present influenced you the most whilst you were riding, or does all your strength come from within?

Mike Hall I suppose initially I was influenced by guys in mountain bike racing - particularly the guys that were racing 24 hour races solo, not stopping for any more than a couple of minutes at a time and lapping the circuit as fast as many of the relay teams. I'm now lucky enough to call most of those guys my friends and from there my horizons widened when I learned more about the big unsupported mountain bike races like the Tour Divide - a 2745 mile off-road race down the continental divide from Canada to Mexico and guys like Matthew Lee, 5 time winner would complete the journey in around 17 days with no outside support and carrying all their equipment. When I did the race in 2011 it taught me how to pack my bike superlight, do with out all but the essentials that I could ride long miles day after day over big mountain passes. It was those skills and knowledge I took to the World Cycle Race. When I was speculating on what could be achieved I thought of the achievements of Tommy Godwin. He showed that mileages of over 200 miles a day were humanly possible over a much longer period. I already knew I could do big distances for 2-3 weeks but it was what he and a few other pioneering others had done all those years ago, that gave me the confidence to keep it up for much longer. Another rider I often thought of on the ride was Tom Simpson who, despite the tragedy of his story, will always be an inspiration. 

CH Mike you signed our petition for a cycle officer for North Yorkshire and thank you very much, but why do you think a North Yorkshire County Council Cycling officer is important for cyclists in Harrogate and the county?

MH The recent summer of sporting success, particularly in cycling, along with the general trend and incentives for people to adopt more sustainable transport methods nationally mean that more and more people are either picking up bikes these days or thinking about it. That's a great thing for peoples health, reducing congestion and meeting environmental targets. Without appropriate representation, planning and infrastructure for the increased number of cyclists on the road, however, we risk this being a short term thing and we also fail to protect their safety whilst they are attempting to use a road system which is designed predominantly around motor vehicles. 

CH Elite cycling has been in the news a lot recently with the the Tour de France, the Olympics and your epic ride. What single thing could UK government do to improve the cycling experience for everyday cyclists?

MH I'm not sure I know what the biggest thing that would benefit the most cyclists is but I think the biggest thing the UK Government can do for me personally as a cyclist and probably many others is tackle the social issues of conflict among road users in an increasingly congested traffic system which is experiencing a surge in the population of cyclists. Cyclists are vulnerable road users yet there appears to be an increasing amount of animosity directed towards them in the media and on the roads, by motorists wishing harm to them. I fear that a 'them and us' culture is being fostered on the roads and in the press, between motorists and cyclists, rather than one of co-operation, mutual respect and sharing the road. As a cyclist it makes me worry that my safety could be willfully disregarded by other road users.

If you want to know more about Mike's ride this is a pretty nice article

or you can visit his website normallyaspiratedhuman.com

and this is another cycle based cause he supports Cycle a Difference

Impact, Fracture, Inflammatory comment - Bradley Wiggins is hit by a van

Bradley Wiggins is hit by a white van, you couldn't make it up. Only the fact that it was a woman not a man driving, stops the story being perfect. Wiggo it seems will be fine, but a broken rib really hurts, he is lucky and I am delighted it wasn't more serious, I wish him a swift recovery. I'm going to say something inflammatory now. In a way this is one of the best things that could have happened. Not because I want anyone hit by a car but because when it's Wiggo, who is a now a national treasure, it makes the news and cycle provision is back where it should be in the public eye.

Wouldn't it have been a tragedy had the outcome been worse. A nation that can produce a world beating champion could then allow him to perish on the poorly designed roads that he trains on due to poor public policy and under-investment?

Radio two ran a mature debate this morning that went beyond the standard mandatory helmet debate thank goodness, and talked about provision and then mentioned the Times campaign that got me interested in cycle provision. That was a direct result of Wiggos crash and so is me writing this and you are reading it too. I hope one man's heroics in France this summer and his broken body can actually bring about some real change on the nation's roads, that would be genius.

Shane Sutton head coach of team GB was hit yesterday too, he is in hospital under observation and I wish him health and luck too. How come we don't hear more about people being knocked off their bikes? The answer is simple, we do but only if you look really hard. Most people don't have a national or international profile and until this year cyclists where "other" and even when the cycle community runs the stories the mainstream media often don't.

Thing is Wiggo is one of all of us now and even the best rider in the world is no match for a ton of metal that hits him. I'm not suggesting it was the van drivers fault for all I know Wiggo may have been just as much to blame. Unlike a car on car incident though their is no guarantee that all that needs to happen after a bit of a scrape is an exchange of phone numbers and ring your insurance company.

Pedestrians are vulnerable road users we make special provision for them. Cyclists are equally vulnerable road users we make little or no provision for them. That can't be right, that has to change. We need better educated motorists, we need better provision and we need more people riding bikes.

Its important to remember that even when these stories are in the news. If you ride a bike you are likely to live longer than if you don't. The benefits of the exercise outweigh the risks of being killed on your bike. That doesn't mean I think we have a road environment that is correct, but sitting still is more of a risk then sitting on a bike.

Come on Government, implement Strict Liability that presumes cars are at fault when bikes are hit unless proved otherwise. That assumes bikes are at fault when pedestrians are hit unless proved otherwise. You could do that this parliament and it would give some protection in proportion to the risks different road users run. This law seems to be working well in the Netherlands, they do bikes.

Come on North Yorkshire County Council your failure to take the needs of cyclists in your county seriously is just plain wrong, do more do it now.

Falling on deaf ears, 25% there and creating an NYCC Cycling Policy

I went and spoke at the council area committee meeting at the Cairn Hotel on Thursday morning. That was a first from a lifetime experience point of view. I had asked to talk about our cycle officer campaign, you get allocated 3 minutes and told to speak up and use the microphone as some of the councillors are hard of hearing (I'm not making this up).

Before I had my go Gia Margolis spoke with eloquence and passion about the impending car crash (pun intended) that appears to be the planned junction re-design for the new M & S store on Leeds Rd. With fairly customary vigour and massive sustainable indifference, North Yorkshire Highways seem to have ignored the needs of cyclists and pedestrians almost totally. The existing busy junction will be replaced by three lanes of traffic heading into town making life for anyone not in a car essentially worse. Pavements will be narrowed in places, verges removed. Another opportunity to add cycle provision squandered on the altar of "congestion management". Although it does seem that this one may be a work in progress, a few councillors seemed really unhappy about how the cards have been dealt, we shall have to wait and see.

Anyway my three minutes arrived. I mentioned the huge support from the local cycle community. I mentioned the fiasco over Knaresborough Rd and the fact we had complained about the process and our complaint had been upheld. Oh I forgot to mention that the council's complaints people found the way it dealt with us over Knaresborough road was wrong. At least the complaints procedure seems fit for purpose, not really the effect we were hoping for though. Finally I talked about Beryl Burton, five times world champion and inspiration for a cycleway in her name form Knaresborough to Harrogate that is now steadily falling to ruin as nobody in local government can be bothered to spend a day and a few thousand quid fixing it. I said we should be proud of our great local sports people and her memory deserved better treatment.

Now it wasn't my best three minutes of public speaking but I'm told I was pretty clear. Then I got a prepared response from a council wonk which I will now summarise. "No cycling officer"

So there you go 400 people want a Cycle Officer to help work for sustainable transport in Harrogate and North Yorkshire and the transport department don't. Except we don't feel like giving in just yet, at 1600 signatures we get a debate on a cycle officer. I think its time to up the pressure and get more people to sign, this one is still winnable  I also think  after doing my homework that their are reasons why its easy for North Yorkshire Council to say no to a cycle officer, allow me to explain without hopefully boring you to death. Hold tight I may use statistics in the next section.

Transport policy in North Yorkshire is governed by what is called the Local Transport Plan (LTP) we currently have one that is running from 2011 to 2016. In it cycling is mentioned 21 times but then it is a 177 page document, so not exactly a pivotal role in the plan.

It talks about encouraging cycling but only once is there a specific mention of making any physical infrastructure improvements for cyclists and then it is behind other provision for pedestrians in a hierarchy of action. However there is a great deal about spending money and improving major A roads.  Basically I think the Council's transport department have no effective policy obligation to do anything to provide for cyclists and that is why we are hitting a brick wall when we ask. I don't buy the money argument though, if there is enough for making some roads for cars you could spend a bit on bikes.

In my view Harrogate and Knaresborugh appear to be a special case within North Yorkshire. The population of Knaresborough and Harrogate is about 91,000, the population of the whole of North Yorkshire  about 600,000. We may be geographically insignificant, but we are very dense from a people point of view. With the possible exception of Scarborough, Harrogate and Knaresborough are the two places in North Yorkshire where large scale urban cycle provision makes sense. Now if you are still with me and not glazing over.

Harrogate especially has a large urban population and is relatively small as towns go. Its a great place to cycle round in principle. Trouble is NYCC have a transport policy aimed for most part at the sparsely populated county as a whole, where car use and provision of  car friendly roads makes good sense for daily travel. Even when they accept that 62% of their population live in towns these towns are at best half the size of Harrogate and most way smaller. Harrogate is the elephant in the room. We need a policy for Harrogate that actively champions bikes, buses and traffic calming rather than seeing it as an unattainable ideal or as an irrelevance. Sorry I know this is dull, keep going your doing well.

So time I think to set about getting NYCC to take a fresh and critical look at its current transport plan. It is poorly serving the needs of the residents of Harrogate from a congestion, health and quality of life point of view. We need a local transport plan that contains commitments to do rather more than "promote" cycling. It needs to see the development of urban cycling in its congested town to be a crucial tool to ease the congestion and pollution that it admits is a big problem.  A problem that the improving, widening and sometimes silly re-lining of its current road network has so far failed to do, things are still getting worse not better at the moment. Build roads better suited to car use and you get more car use wow, what a surprise that is. This has been known for years, but it still seems to form the basis of North Yorkshire's transport policy. I know, I know will he never finish this post?

I think the next developments for Cycle Harrogate are to keep the pressure up for a cycle officer but even if and when one is appointed they will only carry out current car-centric policy more effectively. What we need is to work top down to try and change the policy and for that we need some people with real clout batting for us. Any Ideas?  I have a couple, more soon.