28 October 2009
MINUTES of the meeting of the CYCLING STRATEGY TOPIC GROUP held on Wednesday 14 and Friday 16 OCTOBER 2009 at 10.00 am on each day
ATTENDANCE
Members of the Topic Group
D Andrews*, M Cowan (Vice Chairman), C A Mitchell, E T Roach, P A Ruffles (Chairman),
A M R Searing*.
Also in attendance
Chris Allen- Smith, Principal Strategy Development Manager (Maintenance), Herts Highways
Roger Bangs, Chairman of SPOKES
Nigel Brigham, Sustrans Regional Director
Jed Burgess, Rail Manager, London Midland
Dave Burt, Cycling Strategy Development Manager, Herts Highways
Theresa Casbard, Head of Road Safety Unit, Environment & Commercial Services Dept
Lynda Clarke, School Travel Plan Co ordinator, Environment & Commercial Services Dept
Roy Clements, Hon Alderman and former HCC Members Cycling Champion
Alissa Ede, Rail Officer, Passenger Transport Unit, Environment & Commercial Services Dept
Andrew Freeman, Programme & Strategy Manager, Herts Highways
Lilian Goldberg, Senior Engineer, Environment & Commercial Services Dept
Nick Gough, Area Highways Development Control Manager, Environment & Commercial Services Dept
Darren Granger, Design Team, Herts Highways
Bill Heale, Design Team Manager, Herts Highways
Abigail Mace, Service Manager (Asset Plans & Improvements), Herts Highways
Pam Mann, President of SPOKES
Rob Marshall, Regional Director, Cycling England
Trevor Mason, Principal Engineer, Transport Policy, Environment & Commercial Services Dept
Helen McCormick, Design Team, Herts Highways
John Metcalf, Hon Alderman and deputy HCC Members Cycling Champion
Lee Millard, Rail Manager, First Capital Connect
Tom Hawkyard, Head of Scrutiny
Adrian Service, Democratic Services Officer
Peter Simpson, Maintenance Manager, Herts Highways
Tim Woolridge, Project Engineer, Watford Borough Council
Steve Wragg, Chair, St Albans Cycle Campaign
1. APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN
P A Ruffles was elected Chairman of the Topic Group for the duration of its work.
2. APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIRMEN
M Cowan was elected Vice-Chairmen of the Topic Group for the duration of its work.
3. MEMBERSHIP OF THE TOPIC GROUP
The Head of Scrutiny advised that E T Roach had been appointed to replace
J K Maddern as a Member of the Topic Group. E T Roach stated that due to other commitments he would not able to attend the afternoon session on the second day.
The Chairman advised that D Andrews* was unable to attend the afternoon session of the first day and A M R Searing* had been appointed to replace him as a Member of the Topic Group for that afternoon.
4. REMIT OF THE TOPIC GROUP
The Group noted and agreed its remit as set out in the remit report and scoping document circulated with the agenda.
5. SCRUTINY OF HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL’S CYCLING STRATEGY
5.1 The Chairman followed by Topic Group Members plus Hon Aldermen Roy Clements and John Metcalf in turn introduced themselves and stating their interests and involvement in cycling.
5.2 The Head of Scrutiny explained the reasons behind the scrutiny which had been prompted by criticism by the Cyclists Touring Club North Herts Right to Ride Representative, Alasdair Massie of the lack of progress in implementing cycling schemes in North Hertfordshire. He stated that the County Council also had a duty to scrutinise duties and services it performed and this seemed an ideal opportunity to review the Council’s cycling strategy for Hertfordshire.
5.3 The Service Manager (Asset Plans & Improvements), Hertfordshire Highways gave an overview outline of all aspects of the current cycling strategy which had a prime objective of achieving more cycling for Hertfordshire residents more often.
5.3.1 She stated that the funding of cycling schemes came from a variety of sources (Local Transport Plan, HCC’s Capital and Revenue Budgets, Section 106 contributions) including external partners such as Sustrans, Cycling England and Hertfordshire Borough and District Councils.
5.3.2 She advised that the cycling strategy and provision of facilities had to take account
of the differing needs of users such as school children, commuters, leisure cyclists and shoppers and differing solutions may be required for cycling facilities provided.
5.4 The Topic Group heard from the following persons on elements of the cycling strategy: -
a) Integration of cycling into policy documents
The Principal Engineer for Transport Policy, Environment & Commercial Services Department outlined the various transport policy documents the County Council produced [Local Transport Plan, Accessibility Strategy, Road Safety Plan, Urban Transport Plans, Sustainable Modes of Transport Strategy and what had been included concerning cycling.
He drew attention to other documents produced such as CYPP; Local Development Frameworks by the 10 Hertfordshire District / Borough Councils; National Health Service Plans, Hertfordshire School and Businesses Travel Plans which contained cycling.
He stated that monitoring progress with cycling provision was required to be undertaken by the County Council to see if national targets were being met and to include details in the Annual Progress Report on the Local Transport Plan which would be used to obtain Central Government funding each year.
He stated that the hierarchy of road users influenced what cycling provision was made on the differing categories of roads and highways and that cycling had a relatively high priority in town centres and a low priority on By passes.
The Service Manager (Asset Plans & Improvements) Herts Highways stated that the Speed Management Strategy assisted cycling in reducing levels of traffic on roads having 20 mph speed zones or limits imposed on them and more such speed limits were being requested. Reference was made to the extensive 20 mph town wide zonal scheme introduced in Portsmouth which she considered to be extremely costly.
Cycling provision tended to be concentrated on urban areas with little or no provision in village or rural areas. It was noted that the majority of Hertfordshire rural areas were only 5 miles away from a town centre where cycling routes were generally concentrated.
The Topic Group noted there was a need to encourage residents who were currently non cyclists to take up cycling and how these people could be contacted and engaged was a challenging issue. People who resided in flats would need cycle storage areas to encourage them to take up cycling.
b) Local Transport Plan Cycle Target and Scheme Delivery
The Principal Engineer for Transport Policy, Environment & Commercial Services Department stated that the level of funding obtained from the Local Transport Plan
was part dependant on meeting the targets set for increasing cycling. He outlined that data on cycling was obtained from 18 count sites in Hertfordshire plus County Travel surveys, urban cordon counts and school survey figures.
Some Members questioned how robust these data figures were.
The Topic Group noted the current breakdown of purpose of cycle trips which was as follows ; -
Home 38%
Work 18%
Recreation 18%
Shopping 13%
Transport connection 5%
Education 4%
Other 4%
It was wondered whether other functions may be performed on the return legs of these journeys and perhaps the survey questions could be refined to provide additional useful information.
c) Partnership working – Hertfordshire District / Borough Councils and Sustrans
Tim Woolridge, Project Engineer, Watford Borough Council advised of cycling partnership projects in Watford he had been involved with over the last 10 years but in particular the recent 4 years. These projects included cycle parking schemes, the Watford Cycle Demonstration Town bid; the Healthy Communities bid; Watford Town Hall link and Oxhey Park Bridge schemes. He stated that he had involved the Watford Cycle Forum in taking forward all these proposals.
He stated that Watford Borough Council had appropriated land for cycle use as part of the Town Hall Link scheme and Section 106 contributions towards many of these schemes. The Healthy Communities bid which had involved joint working with the County Council and the local Primary Care Trust unfortunately been unsuccessful. He believed that the partnership projects had maximised the cycling provision in Watford.
Nigel Brigham, Regional Director of Sustrans, a cycling organisation promoting the interests of disabled persons in providing schemes to benefit health and the environment gave details of Hertfordshire cycling schemes it had been involved with which included Travel Smart schemes for Watford and Broxbourne.
He stated that in taking forward the Broxbourne Travel Smart scheme funds had been obtained from the Government Department DEFRA.
The Bike It Scheme had been successful with Hertfordshire Schools with the level of cycling being doubled.
He stated that sometimes parents discouraged their children from cycling to school because they did not feel roads leading to schools were safe to cycle on.
He felt that the biggest challenge to be faced was how to entice current non cyclists to cycle in the future.
In response to a question, he stated that the prime reason why progress was being made with cycling initiatives in Broxbourne was not due to the forthcoming Olympics in 2012 but as a consequence of a bridge being provided across the
A10 road and improving safe access to nearby schools.
In response to questions, the Cycling Strategy Development Manager, Herts Highways stated no feedback had been obtained as to why the Watford Cycle Demonstration Town bid had been unsuccessful but it was probably due to more larger towns being selected which was a factor which Hertfordshire’s could not influence in making its bid.
The Topic Group noted that Hertfordshire was the only Highway authority in the Region that imposed a charge for cycle training.
d) Highway Maintenance and Cyclists
The Principal Strategy Development Manager for Maintenance, Herts Highways
advised that the overall highway network in Hertfordshire consisted of 5,000 kilometres of roads and 5,000 kilometres of footways with 237 kilometres of cycle tracks / lanes. The highway network also had 2,500 bridges / structures, 110,000 street lights; 580 sets of traffic lights at junctions / crossings and 165,000 road gullies.
The estimated total cost of replacement of the entire Hertfordshire highway network was £4 billion with annual depreciation costs of £30 million.
The breakdown of Hertfordshire cycling lanes and tracks was as follows : -
Cycle lanes 123 kilometres all on carriageways
Cycle tracks 74 kilometres dedicated lengths
40 kilometres shared lengths with footways
with 1,065 track gullies.
The Maintenance Manager, Hertfordshire Highways gave details of routine, repair, planned and winter maintenance works undertaken to cycle lanes and cycle tracks.
In response to a question, the Principal Strategy Development Manager for Maintenance advised that the identification of highway faults such as pot holes arose from those reported by the public and inspections undertaken by the local engineer, with repair works being undertaken in accordance with set standards and aimed more at achieving value for money. The current arrangements did not include specific assessments of the areas of the carriageway ridden on by cyclists and giving special attention to improving road surfaces which were sub standard and making cycling more hazardous.
Comment was made that street sweeping operations often led to waste being swept off the pavement into the carriageway where cyclists tended to ride. It was noted that street cleansing works were performed by District / Borough Councils and this comment would be passed onto Hertfordshire District / Borough Councils
e) Planning and integration of cycling into new development
The Area Highways Development Control Manager, Environment & Commercial Services Department advised on the arrangements and process for striving to encourage the incorporation and provision of cycling facilities in or as part of new developments, which included seeking Section 106 Agreements financial contributions towards cycling facilities.
The Project Engineer, Watford Borough Council advised what cycling facilities
had been provided with new development undertaken in Watford in recent years such as the Sun Printers site, Whippendell Road, Watford which led to new cycle lanes and cycle parking facilities being provided.
f) Comments of Cyclist Organisations / Representatives
1) Steve Wragg on behalf of Alasdair Massie, North Herts Cycling Touring Club
Steve Wragg advised that due to work commitments, Alasdair Massie was unable to attend the meeting today and on his behalf gave a presentation, [including power point slides] outlining dissatisfaction of cycling facilities provision in North Hertfordshire.
Hard copies of Alasdair Massie’s E mails dated 13/10/2009 timed at 20:52 and
21:18 CET plus presentation on ‘Cycling Policy and Delivery October 2009’ on behalf of CTC North Herts were circulated at the start of today’s meeting.
The main points expressed in Alasdair’s Massie’s latest submission given by Steve Wragg were as follows : -
Roadside footway conversion continues as the “solution of choice” for Herts Highways, despite being at the very bottom of the Hierarchy of Measures, despite the Hertfordshire Cycling Strategy and all current national guidelines,
and despite opposition from user groups.
Since we wrote to you in March, EVERY proposal that we have seen has been based on roadside footway conversion. Examples include Weston Way in Baldock, Baldock / Jubilee Road in Letchworth, Hitchin Station forecourt, Bedford Road in Hitchin and Burns Road in Royston.
In NONE of those locations should pavement conversion have been the first choice of solution.
Highway Schemes are clearly NOT being reviewed to see how improvements for cycling can be incorporated within them. As examples we have the Baldock High Street re - build (£2.25 million), where access has been blocked through Church Street, effectively preventing local residents from cycling to and from the High Street other than by a long detour on main roads. We also have the nearby example of the North Road/ Icknield Way junction where again people are losing access to residential streets. We have the Letchworth town centre re – build where for the second time in 10 years the opportunity has been ignored to restore two way cycle access to the popular shopping streets in the town centre. And of course we have Bedford Road in Hitchin where the chance to remove the awful gyratory system has been ignored in favour of a nasty, narrow and wholly unsatisfactory pavement conversion. Likewise at Baldock Road in Letchworth where designers refused to make any space for cycling in a 30 m wide road that had been bypassed and has twice the capacity needed for current traffic levels, and instead are forcing cyclists onto a thoroughly unsatisfactory footway.
In summary, since March, Herts Highways appear to have taken the attitude that they will NOT do as we have requested (i.e to follow the recommendations and stated policy of the Hertfordshire Cycling Strategy). On the contrary, they appear to be working to a policy of deliberately and systematically doing the opposite.