Bromley Cyclists Monthly Meeting

Shortlands Tavern, Shortlands. 8^th September, 2014 – 8.pm

Minutes

Present: Spencer Harradine, Eve Evans, Steve Heeley, Caroline Dubarbier, Terry Kinnard, Michael Chambers, Linda Rampling, Steve Watkin, Rory McMullen, Duncan Peterkin, John Wood, Richard Gibbons

1. Apologies: Derek Mark, T Folkes, Tim Rowe
2. Approval of Minutes of last meeting – Spencer Harradine proposed, seconded Linda Rampling after proposed changes JW.
3. Financial Report – Treasurer – EE reported no transactions this month and balance stood at £429.04, still awaiting led ride payment.
4. Steve Heeley – Senior Transport Planner – SH introduced Steve Heeley and Caroline Dubarbier, who has replaced Melissa Cazzato and explained how far we have come in the last 5 years in respect of our relationship with the Council. Caroline and Steve will be the contact point for Bromley Cyclists.

SH reported:

• LCC Ward Asks – The Council is currently reviewing the 22 “Ward Asks” that were requested through the LCC campaign during the local elections. Some are quicker and easier to deliver than others. Feasibility of each will be undertaken and presented to Councillors for their consideration at a point in the future.

The Shortlands “Ask” was to provide a cycle access route from Queen Anne Avenue through the footpath into Newbury Road, through the playground and Simpsons Road to emerge in the High Street to Bromley South. This currently is being looked into including the land ownership and the likely cost. Officers will probably wish to discuss with Bromley Cyclists, what need the route is trying to address at some point during this process.

It was stressed that these “Asks” would have to be funded by TfL funding or the Cycling Vision funding.

• LBB Cycling Strategy – The Council is currently working on a cycling strategy to set out the action plan and vision for cycling in the borough. This would include the projects currently in the LIP funded programme and also those that have been bid for through the Quietways programme and Cycle to School Partnerships.

The Strategy builds on the stakeholder workshops that were undertaken last Autumn and the various ideas that were presented to the Council.

Members confirmed that these stakeholder meetings had been considered valuable and Steve H confirmed that they would probably be repeated in the future.

• On-street cycle parking – A request has been received for an on-street cycle hangar to accommodate up to 6 bikes on a residential street in Anerley. An initial public consultation is to be undertaken with residents of the street to gauge support.
• Cycle to School Partnership bid – No further notification has been received from TfL and the Mayor’s office on the success of this bid. Initially submitted on the 20^th December 2013, the Council was asked to do further assessment work to align the bid with the latest LCDS analysis framework. The Council is expecting an announcement sometime this month.
• Quietways funding – Similarly to the Cycle to School Partnership bid, no further announcement has yet been received. The Council proposed three Quietways in the borough, Canary Wharf to Orpington, Orpington to Croydon and Bromley to the Waterlink Way. An announcement is expected sometime this month.

The two Orpington Quietways include proposals to improve the railway crossing at Petts Wood. The Council is currently investigating the feasibility of any possible improvements.

There followed discussions on various points, in particular a request as to the possibility of cycle parking on the Daylight Inn side of Petts Wood, outside Café Maz and opposite as both of these corners have large pavement space.

5. Matters arising from last meeting

• Led ride programme update – condition of bikes – SH and SW reported that the Bromptons are all now in good working order
• Polhill – Richard Gibbons is trying to contact the necessary people to get more information on how we might take this forward, who to contact and who will pay for any major work required such as the removal of large fallen trees.
• Planning applications – members stressed the continuing difficulty with identifying those planning applications which need our attention. Steve H confirmed that even the council had no way of filtering the applications and he had made requests for assistance on this subject which had not been forthcoming.
• Community Speedwatch – JW we need to identify any areas where speeding is a problem and attend a Ward Crime Meeting, if enough people attend then the police will be obliged to take action. Spencer asked for members to identify areas where speeding vehicles are a concern. RG mentioned the Safer Neighbourhood teams as a way also of addressing this problem.

 6.Rides & Events

• Ride Report – JW reported that there were 13 rides this month and highlighted the very popular led ride to London where we took 97 to join the Prudential Freecycle and brought even more riders back. SH thanked JW for doing the risk assessments and to all the marshals for their help. JW mentioned the feedback regarding ride leaders on these led rides in particular the 100% positive remarks regarding the Bromley ride leaders. Unfortunately not all boroughs received the same praise, in fact some were quite bad and this needs to be addressed by LCC before future such events.
• Rides update – EE 63 mile explorer ride Ashford Loop completed last weekend and will appear on the website within the next month
• Ride Leaders for next month – SH asked for ride leaders for the next 1^st Sunday ride. The following confirmed: Eve, John, Linda, Spencer
• 1^st Sunday rides structure for 2015 – EE suggested that as these rides are primarily to get people on their bikes that we should drop the fast ride (currently for experienced cyclists) and concentrate on the following three groups for future rides: absolute beginner, family ride, moderate paced adult ride. This would keep all the children together and possibly attract more adults on the other ride. this was agreed and will be actioned. JW suggested that Lindsey Bryan might be able to assist the absolute beginner rides.
• 1^st Sunday of the month rides – these are proving to be a great success with 33 riders on the Sept. 7^th We still need to make sure we have sufficient ride leaders well in advance of the day.
• Chislehurst Rocks – feedback – LR was representing Bromley Cyclists at this event and reported that this was a really good event, as usual the Smoothie Bike was very popular. LR gave out start up packs and Bromley Cyclist cards. This event was organised by Lollipop Events who are also organising Cycle Mania.
• Orpington BID – 28^th September event – SH has had a meeting with Rachael from Lollipop Events and has received positive feedback regarding this event. It was suggested that in future Bromley Cyclists could operate a ‘Bike Bus’ from Green Street Green to Orpington during this event. This event could prove to be very successful, especially if the shopkeepers get out onto the pavements and enter into the spirit of the event. Lollipop Events will endeavour to do this. BC will turn up and have a stand, SH asked for volunteers to help.

 7.LCC – To consider whether Bromley Cyclists should make a nomination to the LCC Campaigner Awards. JW and SH nominated that EE should be put forward for the Ride Leader nomination. Agreed.

 8. Travel & Infrastructure

• Update John Wood – nothing additional to report

 9. AOB

• Vote for LCC Trustees ­ ­ JW gave us the list of prospective candidates and a brief description of each and encouraged people to vote.
• LCC Membership Joining/Renewing difficulties – EE – there appears to be difficulty if you are using a laptop submitting the joining/renewing LCC membership forms. Having completed the form, using a laptop, it does not allow scrolling down to hit the submit button. The whole process then has to be done again using a PC (always assuming you have one). We had the same problem with the Space for Cycling pages. EE/SH to report this to LCC.

Next meeting 13^th October, 2014 – Venue tbc