Minutes from Hounslow Cycling meeting in Chiswick 28 July Hounslow Cycling Campaign www.hounslowcycling.org Hounslow Cycling meeting 28th July 2016 Those present: Brian Smith Winston Gordon Jitesh Balakrishnan Stephen Donnelly Tim Henderson Tim Harris Wendy Garrison (Fusion Lifestyle) Steve (Fusion Lifestyle) RideLondon Freecycle 30th July 9:30am from Brentford Market place Brian said that 54 people had signed up to ride with Hounslow Cycling. Brian has undertaken reconnaissance rides and will do another on Friday 29th. Another marshal is needed. Winston has walkie-talkies. Richmond ride 23rd July (starting at Hounslow Bell Corner) The ride visited Crane Park, Kneller Gardens and Salopian Kitchen Garden. 8 riders joined in. The stall at Inwood Park was a great success - thank you to those who helped. Future events where we have been asked to provide a stall: Osterley Park 23rd August Bedfont Lakes Country Fair 28th August Brentford Festival, Blondin Park 3rd September Finances - LCC have asked us to forgo the annual grant we receive from them Brian estimated that our bank balance was currently £800. As we will not receive the usual grant of c£240, Brian suggested new ways to raise money: Sponsorship from Hounslow Council Charity donations at Nationwide, Waitrose & Sainsburys Tim Harris suggested Ward Forum schemes although Tim Henderson suggested these had ended. Brian said he would contact Nationwide Jitesh said he would contact Waitrose A motion to forgo the annual grant was passed unanimously. Request for Hounslow Cycling's support for bid by Fusion Lifestyle to promote cycling in the 14-25 age group Wendy Garrison described a proposal being submitted called "Ready to Ride the Road to Fitness" that aimed to get young people cycling by introducing them to indoor spinning before going outside on bikes. Those present agreed that Hounslow Cycling could give a statement of support. The statement later sent by email: 'Because Hounslow Cycling Campaign promote cycling for all ages and abilities they will support this initiative to get more people safely on bikes. They will provide bikability facilities and at least four cycle rides within the borough of Hounslow. All Hounslow Cycling Campaign's rides are led and marshalled by qualified cycle instructors.' Wendy described a previous course where out of a class of 28 girls, only 4 rode bikes. Wendy noted that the role of promoting active travel in Hounslow is up for tender. Boston Manor Road Brian described the history of proposals for cycle lanes on Boston Manor Road and how the local Area Forum had voted to go forward with the latest proposal. Brian has agreed for Hounslow Cycling's next meeting to be with Mark Frost, Head of Transport at Hounslow Council. Stephen said that Hounslow Cycling's response to this consultation had been a missed opportunity and that we should be pushing for European standards of cycling infrastructure design. Stephen outlined safety concerns with bidirectional cycleways, particularly the risk of drivers not looking both ways, and referenced a Finnish study that showed it was the drivers and cyclists most familiar with the roads that were most likely to collide. Stephen said there was a problem with drivers speeding on Boston Manor Road. Stephen stressed the importance of developing a network of cycle routes. Brian said that he had had assurances that the route would be built to London Cycling Design Standards and that the surface of the cycleway should be raised to the height of the pavement. Stephen said that a key part of meeting the London Design Standards was for the track to bend away from the road at junctions to leave space for a car to wait. Tim H asked that, for future consultations, such guidance was offered well in advance so Hounslow Cycling supporters could include this in their individual consultation responses. Tim H mentioned that LCC uses CLOS scores to assess new designs. Stephen stressed that Hounslow Cycling should not be supporting designs that have a safety risk. Campaign to keep up the pressure to get a Cycle Superhighway to Hounslow Tim H described the postcard campaign aimed at the Mayor of London to take action to deliver a cycleway to Hounslow. Hounslow Cycling website has some of the messages people have written appearing on its front page. This has particular urgency as TfL turned down the designs proposed for cycleways through Kew Bridge junction on grounds of delays to bus routes. Anyone who can encourage more people to sign cards and needs cards, please get in touch with Tim Harris. Wendy Garrison offered to take cards and get people to write messages on them. Stephen said that we needed to contact Tom Harrison to find out what the next steps were with Kew Bridge junction. Brian said that he had seen a section of Cycle Superhighway 9 built in Hammersmith!! Cycling infrastructure niggles that we can take to Mark Frost Brian asked for everyone to send minor issues that can relatively easily be solved to be sent to him. Tim Henderson offered to supply pictures of a new crossing on the A4 near Ridgeway Road that had further blocked the cycle lane. Brian mentioned that he had reported the broken bike pump in Brentford to FixMyStreet website. LCC Media Training course 4th July attended by Jitesh Jitesh showed the presentation from the media course. See it here Jitesh also shared the document: London Cycling Campaign: Key Media Messages 2016 Jitesh described how, when tackling the 'bikelash', it is important to present a message repeatedly, to humanise it and so to convert anti cyclists into pro cyclists. Jitesh described the big three messages • we can expect another 1.5 million people to be living in London by 2030. We don’t have space on our roads for all these people to get about by car or public transport alone. So more people cycling and walking would take the pressure off public transport and reduce congestion on our roads • The number of people cycling is increasing every day. In some places there are now more people cycling than in cars. 70% of the traffic over Blackfriars Bridge in the rush hour (on the new Cycle Superhighway) is now cyclists • London urgently needs more safe space for cycling to enable more people to cycle. There are currently around 38 miles of high quality cycle tracks in London (out of 9000miles of roads) but we want to the Mayor to build over 100 miles of safe, segregated cycle lanes in the next 4 years. Jitesh commented that, while the bicycle was originally developed in the UK, other countries have now overtaken it in terms of safe infrastructure. Jitesh showed a video of Chris Boardman whose style avoids the pitfall of appearing self righteous. "Helmets are not in the top 5 things that will keep you safe". Sponsor Winston for the 100 mile ride on Sunday You can sponsor Winston here. AOB Steve asked about dirt bike tracks and mountain bike tracks locally Shopping survey for Isleworth Showing that few people travel to local shops by car may be important when campaigning for a cycleway along the A315. Tim H has drafted a survey for comment. Our email address is: [email protected] Our mailing address is: Hounslow Cycling c/o London Cycling Campaign 2 Newhams Row London SE1 3UZ .