Minutes of Dynamo meetings

MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD 17 MAY 2012

Present: Patricia Clarke, Claire Duplock, Dick Follows, Richard Gibbens, John Leach

1. TWITTER AND THE BLOG
Richard and Rob gave us all a teach-in and we are all the wiser. Patricia is has an alter ego of Dawes Diva and will be tweeting.

2. RICHARD, ROB AND DICK’S PRESENTATION TO LANCASHIRE CYCLING STEERING GROUP
Dick had the impression that a good contact had been made in the Sustainable Travel & Safety person, Jackie Brindle There is no longer a Lancaster City Council representative on the group – although this is now the same for all areas (except Blackpool, which is a CDT still). Items should be presented through Alasdair Simpson and the Lancaster Cycle Forum. We also raised the matter of Bike It funding at the meeting – Tim is following this up with City/County.

3. LANCASTER CYCLE FORUM – TUESDAY 29 MAY AT 6 P.M. AT THE GREGSON
Rob and possibly John can attend. Possible agenda items: A6 corridor, request for update on Chapel Street, potholes and how to spot them, permitting cycling in pedestrian area in Lancaster as part of the Square Routes project, and how to follow the safe cycle lanes in Wales initiative. Also, some of these items should go through to the Lancashire Cycling Steering Group.
ACTION: Patricia to alert Alasdair; Dick to brief Rob and John on A6

4. Lancashire cycle liaison group meeting is 26 JUNE AT 6 P.M. IN PRESTON
To note. Also get the A6 and safe cycle lanes in Wales on the agenda.
ACTION: Patricia to alert Alasdair

5. CHAPEL STREET, LANCASTER
The committee broadly approved the new plans.

6. SAFE CYCLE LANES IN WALES
To be publicised and used to beat City and County about the head.

7. LANCASTER COMMUNITY CAR CLUB
This is now up and running, but the weblink I had doesn’t work.

8. TRANSITION CITY MORECAMBE CYCLE EVENT
Saturday 23 June in Regent Park, Morecambe, organised by Simon Rudd, who would like our help. Do we have any thoughts on new cycle routes in Morecambe? Maybe we could have a stall with maps asking people what would make their cycle routes easier.
ACTION: Patricia to email Simon Rudd

9. E-BULLETIN
Patricia has drafted a short e-bulletin to go to members.

10. BLOG AND WEBSITE
Rob will look at incorporating the website into the blog. Patricia will see if it’s possible to make the blog open in a separate window from the website.

11. HEADCAM
Useful for demonstrating what it’s like to cycle down the A6 or Bowerham Road. How to source the camera? Call out to members to see if anyone has got one.
ACTION: Patricia to email members

12. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
Thursday 21 June at 7.30 p.m. at Dick and Patricia’s.

Thursday 19 July at 7.30 p.m. at John’s

MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD 29 MARCH 2012

Present: Patricia Clarke, Claire Duplock, Dick Follows, Richard Gibbens, Tim Hamilton-Cox, John Leach

1. Chapel Street
Patricia still to do. Tim will also ask.
Action: Patricia, Tim

2. State of canal towpath
Patricia still to chase.
Action: Patricia

3. Treasurer matters
Patricia still has the account passbook.

4. 20′s plenty domain name
John is still waiting renewal notice. Agreed to renew for 2 years.

5. Proposed canal corridor/Centros development
Under this proposal, there is a possibility of the one-way system at Stonewell being made into a 20mph area. If this part of the one-way system, why not all of it?

6. A6 corridor
Councillor Sam Riches suggests writing to relevant county councillors to seek their support for a cycle lane along the A6. Also contact the city councillors in Scotforth ward. Dick to write.

How do we get a CAD of the A6 to ascertain if cycle lanes are feasible? We could contact Mayer Brown (would need to pay). Can we ask the County what assumptions they have made in stating that cycle lanes are no-nos? Dick to contact John Whitelegg to see if he can offer any advice/experts. Dick also to contact Phil Longton at Lancaster University to see if he could find a student willing to do it. For mapping, MARIO online is useful.

Dick to chase Andrew Sellors of Jacobs Engineering for feedback following the February meeting.

Thanks were expressed to Dick and Richard for their efforts here.

Action: Dick

7. Lancashire Cycling Strategy
Jo Moss of county has asked Dynamo for ideas, and Dave has written re the Olympic torch event and Dick re the A6. One other area would be to target children in schools now that the Sustrans initiative is losing funding. Patricia to draft a letter for Dick to send to Jo Moss alerting her to this and suggesting she speaks to Kathy Bashford and her co-worker for their expertise.
Action: Patricia, Dick

8. Lancaster city centre pedestrian area
There are plans to limit the number of disabled parking space in the pedestrian area and to limit hours for delivery vehicles. We need to have out input to push for cycling to be permitted while delivery vehicles are permitted. (See http://www.lancaster.gov.uk/news/2012/mar/3159citycentretraffic/)
Action: Patricia

9. Twitter
Richard proposed that we set aside 1/2 hour at the next meeting to show the committee how twitter works and its potential. Could Rob do the same for the blog as well? Hopefully the dinosaurs on the committee will lose their fear of social media and will be able to take over some of the work.
Action: Richard, Rob?

10. Newsletter
No newsletter forthcoming, but we could have an e-bulletin to keep members informed of the A6 work.
Action: Patricia

11. Date and time of next meeting
Thursday 10 May at 7.30 p.m. at Dick and Patricia’s if this time is OK for the majority.

MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD 12 JANUARY 2012 AT HAVERBREAKS PLACE, LANCASTER

Present:    Patricia Clarke, Dick Follows, Richard Gibbens, Tim Hamilton-Cox, Dave Horton

1    Minutes of previous meeting

a.    Chapel Street
Patricia had written for a second time to Wai Kee Leung regarding Chapel Street, saying that Butterfield Street needed to be closed off and a significant speed hump was needed at the exit from the car park.  No response has been received to either email, so Patricia will phone to speak to him. Action:    Patricia

b.    Lancashire Cycling Strategy
Dick had had some difficulty in persuading Jo Moss to email a copy of the updated draft (which will hopefully have something on utility cycling).  This is still awaited.

c.    Social media
Richard took details of the Dynamo blog and twitter account.  He will speak to Rob to ensure that there is a consistent “Dynamo voice” on tweets.  (Unlikely to be a problem at this point with only 2 people tweeting from the same account, but best to be prepared.)  Most of us are still ignorant of the potential of social media.

2.    Lancashire Cycle Forum
29 February at 6.00 p.m. at County Hall, Preston.  Dick should be able to attend.
Action:    Dick

3.    Towpath
Patricia recalled that she had been contacted by Stephen Higham of British Waterways re previous emails about the state of the towpath.  To follow up.
Action:    Patricia

4.    Next Lancaster cycle forum
Last heard of as being Monday 6 February at 6 p.m.

5.    Cyclenation questionnaire
Patricia to complete.
Action:    Patricia

6.    Treasurer stuff
Patricia to keep for the time being.

7.    20′s plenty domain name
John had mentioned that subscription for the domain name expires shortly.  Agreed to renew with Dynamo funds.
Action:    John

8.    A cycle event
At the previous meeting we had discussed the idea of a “cycling day” at the Friends’ Meeting House to get a consensus on lobbying for cycling in the district.  A couple of possible dates were proposed, but after some discussion we agreed that we this would be uphill work (given the end of the CDT and the disappearance of dedicated employees to focus on cycling matters) and risked not being a success.  If we wish to engineer a major cycling event, a better option might be to go with the flow and link it to the passage through the district of the Olympic torch around 23-24 June.  This ties in with the Summer of Cycling “brand” (replacing Bike Week see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2012/jan/09/summer-of-cycling-bike-organisations).
See ca. p.6 of http://committeeadmin.lancaster.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=5605&T=10 for details.  Basically, the City Council Cabinet meets on Tuesday 17 January to approve a budget of ca. £50,000.  The relevant Council paper contains this:

From the perspective of attracting and retaining visitors to the district, promoting the district’s natural and physical sporting assets, capitalising on the sense of community and pride and the promotion of health and wellbeing that this once in a lifetime event provides, officers advise that an additional sports related festival flow on over the weekend of 23 and 24 June, linking the entire district. The outdoor sports market is a growing visitor market the district can capitalise on. The success of the Way of the Roses National Coast to Coast Cycle trail has already attracted hundreds of new tourists to the district. This weekend sports showcase will focus on highlighting the sporting assets the district has to offer tourists including cycling, water and beach sports, providing opportunities to ‘have a go’ and promoting health and wellbeing. Fun sporting related attractions for all groups and showcasing local talent that are inclusive to all will be key. It’s anticipated this event would become an annual attraction, leaving a legacy from the Olympics that encourages sport, wellbeing, inclusivity and the district as an outdoor adventure tourism attractions. It would also provide a launch platform for the 2013 International Youth Games which the district is hosting.

We agreed to email relevant Cabinet members before Tuesday to propose to them that there is a major cycling (and other) festival in the centre of Lancaster that weekend which involves closing the one-way system, organising a cycle race and then offering an opportunity for everyone to cycle/roller-blade/walk round the city on closed roads, seeing it as they’ve never seen it before.  It ticks the Olympic boxes of sport and encouraging everyone to become more active.  Have attractions and displays in Dalton Square.  Other events, too – for the Council to decide.  No matter what our individual thoughts on the wastefulness of the Olympics, this torch passage is going to happen and the money will be spent, so we should present it as an opportunity for a major spectacle along our kind of lines.

Action: Dave to draft email to send to likely councillors (Tim Hamilton-Cox, Jon Barry, D.A. Smith and Ron Sands) before Tuesday.
Dave to email Lancaster Cycling Club and Cogset to seek their support.
Patricia to email local Sustrans contacts, CTC, bike shops, Aurora, Pedal Power and Alasdair Simpson to seek their support.

9.    A6 corridor south
Richard and Dick had circulated draft documents.  The deadline is fast approaching and we need to act by Monday.  Dick will prepare a letter setting out the case for Dynamo being a stakeholder in the consultation process and Richard will prepare arguments for a quality continuous facility with significant road space dedicated to cycling.  This should take priority over on-street parking.  The existing provision for cycling is inadequate – indirect, hilly and fragmented.  This part of the A6 links two major employers – the University and the RLI – and many public facilities.  The University is a major trip generator, and is also an employer with a strong sustainability agenda.

The letter should be addressed to Jacobs consultants, with copies to Jo Turton, Cllr Tim Ashton, Cllr Joan Jackson and Cllr Chris Coates.
Action:    Richard, Dick

10.    Residential cycle parking
On hold for the time being, but keep on the burner.

11.    Date and time of next meeting
Wednesday 22 February at 7.30 p.m. at Dave’s house.

Minutes of Dynamo meeting held on Thursday 8 December 2011 at Hest Bank

Present: Patricia Clarke, Claire Duplock, Dick Follows, Richard Gibbens, Dave Horton, John Leach, Liz Leach, Matt Wilson

NB: It was such as interesting discussion and the refreshments were so good that my scribbled notes are minimal. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything off or got anything wrong. (But I don’t think the refreshments alone were responsible for the radical talk!) Patricia

1. Pointer roundabout and Dynamo’s approach to cycle campaigning

(Attached is the consultant’s brief for the A6 corridor from Alasdair.)

Patricia wrote to Alasdair Simpson to say that, while supportive of the intention to make the roundabout more cycle friendly, Dynamo felt that it was premature to do anything until the consultants had reported. The latest news is that the plan is to complete the off-road provision this financial year but not to tackle any on-road changes. From this we infer that if the off-road provision is not completed this financial year, it will never get done.

It was agreed that there need to be big bicycles painted onto the road space at least, but this also led to a wider discussion on Dynamo’s fundamental approach to cycle campaigning. For several years with the CDT we left the vision-thingy to the City Council and responded piecemeal to proposals they initiated. It was a pragmatic approach from our point of view. However, with the loss of funding, how do we elaborate a broader vision and get our message across to the policy makers? The Pointer roundabout could be seen as a tester – either we give our seal of approval to a relatively minor change that may result in a small number of extra cyclists and overlook the bigger picture of the A6 between the University and the city centre, or we make the case for radically changing the A6 so that it becomes a cycling corridor for – at least – the thousands of students at Lancaster University. The latter approach may not be successful (although we can fortify ourselves with the thought of those other never-in-my-lifetime changes of the Millennium Bridge and 20mph speed limits), but what is the point of us as a campaigning group if not to present an alternative vision where cycling is a normal form of transport to be taken as seriously as motor traffic? And if Dynamo doesn’t make the case, who will?

Anyway, returning to the Pointer:

Action:
• Dave to draft a letter to the Lancaster Guardian
• Dick to write to Tim Ashton
• Patricia to write to Alasdair

2. Next cycling forum and proposal for the Lancaster Spring event

Due in February. Alasdair Simpson seems to think that Dynamo is asking to dominate the next forum, which is not our idea at all.

It was agreed that we would put on the agenda a proposal for a Dynamo-organised “Cycling Day” at the Friends’ Meeting House. The title something like “the role of cycling in sustainable transport in Lancaster and district”. Invite – anyone involved or interested in local cycling. Aim – to promote safer, pleasant cycling around Lancaster. Build recognition that cycling has become significant in Lancaster and develop a channel for making it more significant. Desired outcome – to formulate a shared vision that we can all sign up to and work towards. Format – workshops addressing specific concerns and plenary. Possible date – April (the Lancaster Spring!). Possible problem area we need to address – do we see cycling purely as transport, or do we embrace a more diverse cycling culture which includes racing and BMXes?

ACTION:
• Someone to alert Alasdair to agenda item – Dave, can you do that?
• Patricia to find a date
• Matt to draft a programme/ground rules
• Discuss at next meeting, with view to producing a proposal on paper for the next cycling forum
• Consider role of social media

3. Chapel Street

No reply to Patricia’s request for a meeting with Wai Kee Leung. Alasdair had responded to the blog item on Chapel Street, pointing out what wasn’t possible. In the new-found spirit of radicalism, it was agreed we would ask for Butterfield Street to be closed; road use and parking restrictions enforced; bike symbols at least on the tarmac; and something at the car park exit – possibly big speed humps.

ACTION: Patricia

4. Lancashire Cycling Strategy consultation event

Dick and attended this and circulated notes. It was notable that utility cycling had no place in this first draft, so it was very useful that there were people there making the case for it.

Re the shift of cycling being seen as sitting in the sporting department – this appears to be due to the Olympics effect. Matt had noted that Bikeability training was also leaning more towards sport and mountain biking.

5. Social media

We have a blog and we have twitter (@lancasterdynamo) but we don’t really use either, except for Rob keeping blog live. How can we make more use of this? Matt and Richard have experience, but others are completely clueless.

Discuss at next meeting

6. Date and time of next meeting

Thursday 12 January 2012 at 7.30 p.m. at Dick & Patricia’s new house

NOTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD AT GRASMERE ROAD, LANCASTER, ON THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2011

Present:    Patricia Clarke, Dick Follows, Richard Gibbens, Dave Horton, Tim Hamilton-Cox, John Leach, Matt Wilson

1.    Treasurer matters

Patricia still has the current Nationwide treasurer account.  Tim handed John envelopes and paying-in books for the Alliance & Leicester account.

2.    20mph speed limits

Now in force in East Lancaster.  The County appears to be ready to monitor and enforce, although there is still some hostility to it from some of the dinosaur county councillors.

3.    Pointer roundabout

Discussion on proposed plans from Lancashire County Council.  The main point was that consultants have been engaged to come up with a route from Galgate/University to the centre of Lancaster, so it is premature to redesign this major intersection now in a way that cyclists will have to live with for the next decade or so.  The roundabout is a severance of walking and cycling routes along the A6.  Do the consultants have carte blanche for route proposals?  Some concern about the on-road cycle lanes may mislead drivers into assuming cyclists are always going straight on – like Morecambe prom roundabout – rather than turning right.

However, this is a useful east-west route for cyclists who prefer to stay away from busy intersections.

Patricia will draft reply and circulate.

Action:    Patricia

4.    Chapel Street contra-flow

More discussion on proposed plans from Lancashire County Council.  All current solutions are messy for what is generally a quiet road.  We would prefer reversed flow on Butterfield Street, exit from the car park through the bus station and overall an acknowledgement in the design that this is basically a bus route and not a road for private cars.  Wai Kee Leung, the principal road engineer, is offering to meet on site, so we’ll take this up.

Action:    Patricia to email Wai Kee Leung

5.    Secure home bike parking

A possible campaign for the year ahead.  Suggest all residential parking areas should also have lockable, covered cycle parking for the same fee (or less) as a parking permit.  Before doing this, however, we need to do some research.  Current residential parking schemes under discussion are in Fairfield and John o’Gaunt – get Dynamo members there to mention this specifically in their responses.

Action:    Patricia to email Dynamo members, contact Lambeth Council and Edinburgh Spokes;  Mat to look into funding opportunities.

6.    Lancashire County Council draft cycling strategy – consultation workshop on 21 November in Preston

Bookable at http://www.lancashiresport.org.uk/our-projects/lancashire-cycling-strategy-consultation-workshop.  The first draft was underwhelming and was notable for not including the County’s highways authority as a partner institution.  Muddled focus, and it comes at cycling from the sporting/leisure angle.  We need to bang on about the importance of highways, a high target of bikeability schools, cycle hubs and lockers.  Dick will go, and possibly also John + anyone else who wishes.

Action:    Dick to book himself on; John?

7.    Lancaster Cycle Forum

Following the last meeting, Dave had emailed Alasdair Simpson with his views on the way the forum was run (very top-down) and suggestions for other approaches.  Alasdair appears to be open to change, so Dave will reply to him.  A date for the next meeting needs to be arranged and a call for agenda items circulated, but the base needs to broaden out (e.g. Paul Andrews’s idea of a cycle festival).  We need the creation of a proper network of groups and people interested in the development of cycling in Lancaster to talk to the County, rather than the County telling us what they intend doing.

Test out other groups and individuals to see if they would come on board.  Such a meeting would need a good facilitator and proper ground rules.

Suggest to Alasdair that Dynamo conducts the next meeting (model being the initial CDT meeting in the Friends Meeting House).

First step is to pool contacts to create a list and ask them who they would invite.  The City Council’s facebook page may also be useful – John to ask Gary Bowker how to get a message to them.

Action:    Dave, Matt, John

8.    New cycling person at City Council

Greg Sykes is the officer for developing cycling as a sport.  He needs to be introduced to the idea of cycling for utility.  Dick to send him a newsletter to introduce Dynamo and invite him to write an article for the next one.

Action:    Dick

9.    Newsletter

Councillors can now have newsletters emailed to them, so this reduces costs substantially.  They will also get it in colour online.

10.    Bailrigg Science [Industrial] Park

Patricia to look at plans

Action:    Patricia

11.    Membership

Patricia to chase up lapsed members.  So far 35 members have [re]joined.

Action:    Patricia

12.    “Except cycles” signs

These are now legal as traffic signs (e.g. for cycle contra-flows).

13.    Cycle bridges

The Crook o’Lune bridge has now re-opened with a temporary repair.  John felt that cycle bridges should be inspected regularly, but it was agreed that the County had dealt quite well with the route (i.e. having space on road) while the bridge was out of action.

14.    Station parking

West coast franchise is being bid for.  Patricia will investigate if there is any way of influencing station cycle parking and bikes on trains.

Action:    Patricia

15.    Date and time of next meeting

Thursday 8 December at 7.30 p.m. at John’s house, Hest Bank.  Speed merchants meet at 7.00 p.m. on the Millennium Bridge for mass cycle out.

MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD ON 8 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT GRASMERE ROAD, LANCASTER

Present: Patricia Clarke, Dick Follows, John Leach

1. Cyclenation subscription

Tim had left the Nationwide treasurer account with Patricia pro tem. Dynamo had not renewed to Cyclenation since November 2009, so Patricia had sent £40 to cover the last 2 years to November 2011 and a cheque of her own to go up to November 2012 and will claim reimbursements.

2. Dynamo funds in Santander

John will request a cheque book for this account and will reimburse himself for continuing the Dynamo domain name.

3. Ridge canal bridge and canal towpath

Patricia had written to British Waterways regarding the state of the canal towpath north of Lancaster and also a request for the shallow steps at Ridge bridge to be made into a ramp.

4. Dynamo AGM: Thursday 20 October at 7.15 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.)

Patricia and Dick are on holiday 22 September – 15 October, so can others please publicise the AGM.

PATRICIA – email poster around. Email citywatch. Get poster in all local bike shops. Email Cogset and Pedal Power. Email members.

JOHN – email Swapshop.

JOHN – do press release. Refer to Dave’s work on cycling politics (see http://thinkingaboutcycling.wordpress.com/ and http://news.lancs.ac.uk/Web/News/Pages/Three-year-cycling-and-walking-study-finds-image-is-an-obstacle.aspx.

PATRICIA – prepare a few words on treasurer matters in case Tim is absent.

JOHN – do welcome and overview of the year. PATRICIA to send highlights of past year’s minutes to help.

PATRICIA – ask Pascal to be election overseer. If Pascal isn’t available, ask John to find someone.

PATRICIA – prepare agenda, get up-to-date membership list, get float, get new membership cards.

5. Cycle design meeting with County Council

John had attended this meeting at Palatine Hall the previous day. Items discussed:

a. Stonewell toucan. Problem of which type of paving to use in a conservation area. The crossing will be 10m wide and the pavements will be built out (which may make life more difficult for cyclists on the one-way system).

b. Chapel Street – for the first third it will remain as it is, then it will cross over the road before The Edge. This is to address the number of crashes to cyclists by cars turning out of the side turning or car park and not looking in both directions. Some concern over people parking in the cycle lanes, and no satisfactory answer was forthcoming. JOHN to follow up. Give examples of the kind of parking that we mean. (On a separate note, the cycle lane has still not been put back on Chapel Street after recent resurfacing. It was noted that Gary Bowker had not been informed by County of the resurfacing – not helpful, given that this scheme will involve further work.)

c. Pointer roundabout. Sorry, Claire, but there are some magic roundabout elements. The rationale is focus on nervous cyclists – i.e. getting pupils to Ripley School and students to the University of Cumbria. There will be cycle lanes on South Road between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., with parking permitted outside these times. JOHN will ask Gary for a copy of the plans to circulate.

d. Westgate and Heysham High School link – seemed sensible, although it was noted that Gary was minded to let the on-road cycle lanes fade away to nothing as there will a shared-use path beside the road.

e. Morecambe promenade roundabout – Gary will do a site visit. Signage may be the answer – certainly the only one the County is likely to be able to afford.

John also had a discussion with Gary about railway station cycle lockers. There are times when it is difficult to get a parking place on the platform. The lockers themselves are often empty, and there is no incentive for people to maximise their use. Gary will talk to the car park manager to see if he would take responsibility for the lockers – perhaps even charging a small fee for them.

Action: JOHN re Chapel Street and pointer roundabout.

6. Local Transport Plan draft implementation plan

The above items are in the LTP draft. Nothing about the A6 and a cycle route to the University. Deadline is 12 September at 1 p.m. Include something about the canal towpath and resources for asset maintenance. Point out that expectations have been raised.

Action: DICK to draft reply, circulate and send.

7. Cycle Forum: 10 October, 6 p.m., Gregson

This is the likely date. John is able to attend. Possible agenda items to send to Alasdair Simpson by 1 October are:

a. Resurfacing NCN6 and other routes
b. The CDT raised expectations. How are we going to maintain the momentum.
c. Enforcing parking restrictions so that cyclists and pedestrians have free flow of movement (e.g. parking in cycle lanes and on pavements).

Action: ALL to send agenda items to Patricia by 16 September so that she can forward to Alasdair in time. Anything after this date will have to go to Alasdair direct.

8. Weblinks

Patricia had asked those organisations that have hyperlinks to Dynamo to change it from the website to the blog.

John will write a piece for the blog on railway station cycle lockers.

ACTION: John

9. Link road

John had forwarded the September newsletter.

10. Date and time of next meeting

To be arranged after the AGM.

MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD ON 18 AUGUST 2011

Present: Patricia Clarke, Dick Follows, Tim Hamilton-Cox

1. CYCLENATION SUBSCRIPTION

Now due. We don’t seem to have paid last year, so we agreed we would pay £40 this year.

Action: Patricia

2. TREASURER MATTERS
Patricia has a couple of signed payment slips from Tim and the Nationwide passbook so will deal with treasurer matters in Tim’s absence.

Dynamo still owed Tim £50 from the seed funding that he originally put in, so Patricia will arrange reimbursement.

John is owed £5 for resubscribing to the Dynamo website domain name. Can John organise his own reimbursement from the other Dynamo account?

Action: Patricia, John

3. RIDGE CANAL BRIDGE, LANCASTER

As a councillor, Tim has been asked several times by a resident about a ramp rather than shallow steps from Keswick Road to the canal towpath by Ridge bridge. Dick had the impression that Gary Bowker had said it was feasible. The land belongs to British Waterways and there is little chance that they will agree (despite being about to spend shedloads on the aqueduct), but nonetheless Patricia will write to them with a copy to Tim.

Action: Patricia

4. CYCLING FUNDS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

The Local Transport Plan implementation plan is now out for consultation – see http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/?siteid=5489&pageid=29612. Comments required by 12 September. Dick reported that there is a plan to relocate the cycle lane on Chapel Street because of the number of accidents there have been. Let’s have another meeting before the deadline so that we can send something.

Action: next meeting

Mayer Brown had proposed a crossing on North Road as part of the city centre cycle infrastructure some years ago, but Tim reported that this is not going to happen.

The Thematic bid by Sustrans and local authorities had been sent back by the Department of Transport for revision. Not sure if this means that this has been unsuccessful or if they need to redo their sums.

Funding from Sustrans for link to schools has received £10,000 from the City Council public realm budget for this year. This money is available because QUOTE the cycle infrastructure is not deteriorating as fast as budgeted UNQUOTE and hence presumably can go towards schools.

The City Council’s contribution to Bike-it is £16,700 this year. Uncertainty over funding in future years.

5. AGM

Date set for Thursday 20 October in the Gregson. Patricia has booked the 2 upstairs rooms.

Action: next meeting

6. END OF CDT PROJECT REPORT

See pp.72 et seq at http://committeeadmin.lancaster.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=5600&T=10 for the report that went to the July Cabinet meeting.

7. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING

To be arranged once I have people’s availability.
MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD ON 12 JULY 2011

Present: Patricia Clarke, Claire Duplock, Dick Follows, John Leach, Rob Lowe

1. Cycle meeting at the Gregson
Dick and Rob had attended this meeting, organised by Alasdair Simpson. Both had circulated notes of the meeting. It was proposed that Dynamo should have some agenda items for the next meeting.
Paul Andrews of Cogset had proposed a festival of cycling in the district next year. Patricia will email Paul to give him John Bradshaw and Pat Douglass’s email addresses in case he wishes to pick their brains (noting that Cyclefest was more of an HPV celebration).Action: Patricia, Everyone re improvements

2. 20mph speed limits
Seem to be progressing smoothly, and at the recent Cycle Liaison meeting with the County, Councillor Tim Ashton had been enthusiastic. The proposals in East Lancaster had received 105 letters in support and 1 against. John reported that 20mph limits were due to be implemented in Slyne with Hest soon, but no notification had yet appeared.
If only all campaigning were this easy!

3. Blog/Twitter
Rob had been busy again. Once Rob has mastered Facebook, Patricia will publicise the new twitter feed (have I got the right term?).Action: Patricia, Rob

4. Rides
Patricia WILL do a ride. Also ask Rachel Scott for advice.Action: Patricia

5. Newsletter
Dick is on with this. Deadline for copy is the end of July. Rob will write a piece about helping an adult to learn to cycle. John will write about the car club and using cycle lock-ups at the railway station. Patricia will also write an article.Action: Rob, John, Patricia

6. Lune Street
Part of NCN6. This is to be dug up and made into a one-way street. John will write to the City Planning people and to the Council with a copy to Sustrans. Important that this cycle route is retained.Action: John

7. Towpath resurfacing (lack of)
The towpath heading north to Carnforth is in a poor state of repair. Patricia will write to Sustrans with a copy to Alasdair Simpson.Action: Patricia

8. Road resurfacing
Potholes are getting worse. John will write to the Council about this, also pointing out that they are getting a poor deal from utility companies who dig up roads then resurface them simply to last out the year. Once John has found out who to write to at the Council, Patricia will circulate to members encouraging them to write too.

9. Link Road
John had attended the recent exhibition about the northern link road and will write a short piece (2-3 paragraphs) for the blog. Patricia will draft a letter re the alternatives, the financial imprudence of the road, the increased noise, the impact on cycling (making a bridge over the road on the A6 at Beaumont), etc. Action: John, Patricia

10. Local Transport Plan
Look out for the latest version, on which we can comment if we’re quick.

11. AGM
Date needed in October. Re guest speaker – Patricia will ask Dave if he would like to present some findings of the research he is involved with.Action: Patricia

12. Membership
Perhaps not surprisingly in view of our current low profile, we are not attracting new members. Talk to Cogset and the CTC about discounts at local cycle shops and membership drives.Action: Patricia

13. Date and time of next meeting
Thursday 18 August 2011 at 7.30 p.m.

MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD ON 11 MAY 2011

Present: Patricia Clarke, Claire Duplock, Dick Follows, Dave Horton, Robert Lowe

1 MATTERS ARISING
1.1 Activity post CDT
No action taken yet, due to pressure of work. However, the intention is still to ask Gary Bowker at the City Council to facilitate a cycle forum. NB that Gary’s role is shifting away from cycling to include things like coastal defence work, so he may take some persuading and help. Patricia had outlined the idea to Alasdair Simpson, who was keen to help, but there was a risk here of the agenda being hijacked. ACTION: Dave, Patricia

1.2 20mph speed limits
Patricia had attended the Lancashire Cycle Liaison meeting on 31 March and listened to a presentation on 20mph speed limits in residential areas. Following that, we had encouraged contacts to write/email letters of support to county councillors, with a copy to Councillor Tim Ashton. We have no idea how many people have done this, although anecdotes suggest that there has been some support. Patricia will email Rob the standard letter in case it would work with the UCLan BUG. ACTION: Patricia, Rob

1.3 Blog
Access to the blog is now shared amongst committee members, and Patricia has full log-in details. Copy is needed – even seemingly insignificant items like getting the advanced stop line outside Booths reinstated. ACTION: Dave to write re ASL

1.4 Lorries in King Street outside Tesco
No further problems noticed.

2 NEWSLETTER
Dick is gearing up for a new newsletter, despite the apparent lack of things to write about! Ask local cycling people for their (brief) opinions on what is happening now that CDT funding has gone. E.g. Pedal Power, Green Lancaster, Colin, bike shops, Kathy Bashford. Dave can provide more names – along with an article on the Leicester conference if the muse descends. Update on Cogset – ask Sue Holden to write something. Go along to Salt Ayre on a Thursday evening and write a report and take photographs. Dave on the Fred Whitton ride. ACTION: Dick, Dave

3. RIDES
Patricia WILL put on some rides. ACTION: Patricia

4. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 12 July.

———
MINUTES OF DYNAMO MEETING HELD ON 23 MARCH 2011
Present:  Patricia Clarke, Claire Duplock, Dick Follows, Tim Hamilton-Cox, Dave Horton, Robert Lowe

1.    What happens now with the CDT?
What do we do now that Rachel Scott is leaving the City Council and the CDT funding is ending?  Rides, the Celebrating Cycling website, the CDT forum, the contact database . . . Gary Bowker should have access to the latter, but will have enough on his plate.  Rachel has formed a Women on Wheels group for individuals to join and continue riding if they wish.
The ACTION was that Patricia would contact Rachel to find out more, but Rachel actually leaves on 24 March.  Instead Patricia will contact Gary Bowker to find out who has access to the contact database.

2.    Cycle Forum
Dave proposed approaching Gary Bowker to help organise regular (monthly was suggested, but more realistically quarterly) meetings of anyone interested in cycling.  The Celebrating Cycling contact database would be a good start.  The aim is to maintain what has been built up over the last 6 years.  Gary would be asked to assist with providing a room at the Town Hall.  Admin help may also be needed, but we need to explore what is feasible. There is a great deal of energy in cycling at present – e.g. Cogset is bidding for a clubhouse at Salt Ayre – and we don’t want it to be dissipated.  It could also be a forum to feed through to the highways authority about what is most needed in the district (along the lines of Cumbria County Council’s liaising with parish councils re local transport matters).
Action:    Dave

3.    Cycle design meeting
Rob had attended this meeting in Preston, which looked at 2 Preston-based schemes, including a route from the railway station to UCLan.  Schemes are dependent on funding.  Rob is now on Alasdair Simpson’s mailing list.  There is also a Cycle Liaison meeting in Preston on 31 March, which Patricia can go to if no one else wants to.

4.    20mph limits
Latest rumours suggest that funding has been allocated for county-wide 20mph limits but that there is still a lot of opposition to it in the County Council.  Wait and see.

5.    Blog
It was agreed that it made more sense for the blog – which is more dynamic than the regular website – should be the link for external websites.  Patricia will contact those who link to the Dynamo website – e.g. Lancaster University, Lancashire County Council – to change the address to the blog’s.  Rob will continue to find ways of publicising the website, and perhaps also allowing others to post on it.  Patricia will also invite people to submit anything for the blog that promotes cycling – e.g. Peter Ward re the Preston Guild Wheel cycle route.
Action:    Patricia, Rob

6.    Lorries
Claire had noticed flat-bed trucks offloading on King Street opposite Travel Lodge/Tesco.  This was prohibited under the terms of the construction.  Claire to photograph if it happens again and send to Tim.
Action:    Claire

7.    Queen Square
With the residential parking schemes in Regent Street and elsewhere, parking on Queen Street and around Queen Square in Lancaster had increased.  Suggestions to alleviate the problem while still keeping parking spaces was either to make Queen Street one-way with a cycle contra-flow, or to block Queen Street at the King Street end to provide more on-street parking.  To bear in mind.

8.    Date and time of next meeting
Wednesday 11 May at Dave’s at 7.30 p.m.

Minutes of Dynamo committee meeting held 27 January 2011

Present: Patricia Clarke, Claire Duplock, Dick Follows, John Leach, Robert Lowe

1. 20′s Plenty

Latest news was that Conservative County Councillor Tim Ashton had announced that all residential roads in Lancashire would have 20mph speed limits by 2013. It seems that the impetus for this was the poor figures of children killed and seriously injured on Lancashire’s roads. We are all still pinching ourselves, but even if this is not an April fool we still need to make the case for 20mph limits as there is a lot of hostility out there. Dynamo should issue a press release welcoming the announcement. The 20′s Plenty group also needs to do more surveys, and individually we can make the case for them amongst friends and colleagues as the subject arises.

Action: JOHN to draft press release

2. New cycle lanes vs narrow pavements

It was noted that the new contra-flow cycle lanes are often used as overflow pavements by pedestrians. It was acknowledged that this is simply because in many cases (e.g. North Road, Penny Street) the pavements are too narrow for the pedestrian flow. After discussion, it was agreed that there is nothing that can be done about it without risking losing the cycle lanes altogether. A bell and a slow pace are the answers.

3. Cycle design meeting in Preston

Rob would attend this meeting on 1 February and feed back.

4. Colne-Skipton missing rail link

Dynamo had been asked to write a letter of support for the re-opening of the above. Patricia will do this.

Action: PATRICIA

5. Rides

Patricia WILL get round to offering some rides.

6. Dynamo leaflet

New photograph needed for mini-leaflet. Patricia and Claire will organise.

7. Dynamo blog

Looking good, and the web address has been circulated and the blog has received lots of hits. Rob needs some discursive pieces to add regularly – so get scribbling and send to Rob. Dick has promised something about the misnamed “war on motorists”, and John has promised articles on public health and “nudge”, TSLM and Church Street cycling.

Some debate about whether to ask websites which link to Dynamo to change to the blog. To discuss again.

Action: DICK, JOHN + ALL POTENTIAL SCRIBBLERS

8. Date and time of next meeting
Thursday 3 March at 7.30 p.m.