Update 02 09 2024
Campaigning > Cyclewight Latest Update
September Briefing
Kidical Mass
As you know, our next Kidical Mass ride is coming up on September
22, which is also World Car Free Day. We will start from Yaverland and ride
around Sandown. The start time is 1030 for 1100. Please do support us and
turn up. Poster Attached. Please share it with as many people as possible. What
a great way to spend a Sunday morning.
The Kidical Mass organisation are seeking support for funding to
cover the cost of insurance. The committee have agreed to help towards this and
donated £50. You can support this worthy cause too, by following the
link. Kidical Mass Insurance
AGM
Laura Laker, our guest speaker at the AGM has been in the news a
lot lately. The good reviews of her book, Potholes and Pavements,
continue. Several members of the committee have now read it and have
found it to be an interesting and stimulating read, There is a podcast
with Laura interviewing Laura Haigh, the
Secretary of State for Transport Here and an article based on the same
interview in The Guardian. Here
Details of the AGM: 11th October at 7.30 in The Minster, St
Thomas’ Square, Newport. As well as Laura’s presentation, there will be a
variety of cycle related stands and refreshments.
Active Travel
The new government is keen to support Active Travel which is good
news. (See articles above) The
proof of the pudding is in the cycle lane but it is a good start. We will
continue to monitor this and make representations to our MPs if we do not see
evidence of this.
Maintenance of Shared Paths
We have continued to contact Isle of Wight Council and Island
Roads about the maintenance of paths, in particular the NCN routes. The fact
that the top surface has gone in many places and not being repaired is not good
enough. The three times a year cutting back of hedgerows is often ill timed and
overhanging growth is missed. After our last communication we have been
notified that there will be a meeting soon between the IW Council and Island
Roads to try and reach agreement on standards and timescales. Watch this space.
Please do keep reporting path defects via the fixmystreet app .
Linked to this, we have been informed that the
maintenance of the Medina Greenway has been taken over by Isle of Wight
Council from Island Roads . We are writing for further clarification. Let
us hope that it means that repairs are more timely.
St Helen's Old Station
St Helen's old station is up for sale. Do you have a spare £1.5
million? If we could gain this piece of land a route through to Brading
could be one pedal nearer. Any ideas on how to proceed?
Red Funnel East Cowes Scheme
You may well have seen that the ferry company has put forward
more plans for the East Cowes terminal. We attended a meeting with the
consultants about the latest plans, and it would appear that many of our
requests have been recognised and are now part of the provision. Bearing in
mind cycling was not mentioned in the initial plans, we are pleased with the
progress.
Meeting Joe Robertson MP
We wrote to both MPs to ask for a meeting to discuss cycling. Joe
Robertson has agreed to meet in October.
Island Green Link
We have not heard very much about the progress on this scheme. We
are due to meet next week with the Island Green Link lead.