New Link to Trans-Pennine Trail
A new link has been opened to the Trans-Pennine Trail from Sandal & Agbrigg station, mostly off-road and avoiding any major roads. This takes in Walton Hall, the Heronry and the Barnsley Canal. Sandal & Agbrigg is on the Leeds to Sheffield line.
This week is the annual European Mobility Week.
In Town Without My Car Day -
To mark ITWMC day there will be an exhibition with the theme 'Take a
Breather From the Car' held on Fargate in the city centre on Friday 22nd
September from 8am to 2pm to offer travel advice to the commuters of
Sheffield. The University will have a high profile presence at this event,
along with all the main public transport operators, Passenger Transport
Executive and the City Council, and everyone is welcome to come along and
find out more about sustainable transport in the Sheffield area.
Bicycle must become a priority for urban mobility
PRESS RELEASE
Sevilla, Örebro and Bremen, 19 september 2006
European INTERREG Projects MoCuBa - Baltic Sea Cycling - UrBike
Towards the Mobility Week...
Bicycle must become a priority for urban mobility, evidences a meeting of 40 European cities.
Header:
Three European projects about promotion of bike mobility and sustainable transport, gathering about 40 European cities and their partners, met together in the Polish city of Augustow, so as to compare their efforts and consider strategies for enhancement of urban bike mobility.
Text:
On 6-8 September 2006, in Augustow (North-East Poland), participants of 38 European municipalities, public actors and NGOs met in occasion of a meeting between 3 European Cooperation Projects on the issue of promotion of bike mobility.
Baltic Sea Cycling, UrBike and MoCuBa are 3 European projects of cooperation between cities, cofinanced by the INTERREG European Program. They met in occasion of a workshop organized in this city of the Podlasie Region by the Baltic Sea Cycling project.
During the 3-days workshops, all participants constated a similar need to make mobility by bike, by foot and by public transport, a real priority, and concretely take the measures that will allow citizens to move by bike safely and pleasantly.
Participants indeed felt to participate to an historical moment because of the contact established between new EU members cities (from Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Cyprus) with cities from former EU members that have the same needs and the same will. “We observe that cities from East and South of Europe have similar reactions against mobility problems than us in
Sweden”, says Gunnar Persson, project leader of Baltic Sea Cycling in Örebro.
Indeed, these EU projects showed that bike mobility is not anymore an option, but has become a prioritary step of good traffic planning, and more generally a valid tool for urban sustainable development. “Bike mobility has now become a mainstream tendency in urban mobility, and it is probably a wise choice in the current context of high oil prices“, noted Raphael Calvelli, working with City Factory for Municipality of Sevilla, lead partner of Urbike.
Bike is a particularly good complement to public transport networks, noted participants: “public transport companies should now provide bike integration through setting protected bike parks near the train stations and allowing to carry bikes on buses and trains” explained Michael Frömming, coordinator for the MoCuBa project (‘Mobility Culture for the Baltic Sea Area’). This
expectancy is addressed in the European Strategy for Urban Environment (COM/2005/718), that favors a non compulsory approach for cities towards sustainable environment. Another related European policy is set by the Directives on Air Quality, that make compulsory the provision of measures by local authorities so as to keep air pollutants under determined levels.
Participants expressed their interest to continue to work together in the future for bike and sustainable development. Indeed, the Structural Funds of the European Union, that will allocate 308 billions of euros in the period 2007-2013 for regional development, include sustainable development and urban issues as eligible priorities, and there are already projects being prepared for bike urban mobility. “Citizens want to go by bike, they know it will make their cities more worth living, and they see that Europe could give an help to get it“, reported Frankas Wurft, from partner NGO Lithuanian Cyclist Community, from Vilnius.
They expressed the hope that cities, collegues, experts and interested citizens will be present in the next meetings:
5-6 October 2006: Kielce, Poland, UrBike meeting
16-17 October 2006: Gdansk, Poland, MoCuBa meeting
23-24 November 2006: Sevilla, Spain, UrBike Final Conference
1st semester 2007: Kalmar, Sweden, Baltic Sea Cycling meeting
The 38 municipalities participating to these three projecs represent around 4
millions inhabitants from 13 countries of Europe. List of partners:
UrBike:
Sevilla (Spain)
IId District of Budapest (Hungary)
Dresden (Germany)
Kielce (Poland)
Florence (Italy)
Frederiksberg (Denmark)
Mesa Yitonia (Cyprus)
Xanthi (Greece)
Baltic Sea Cycling:
Örebro (Sweden)
Bad Doberan (Germany)
Drammen (Norway)
Kalmar (Sweden)
Klaipeda (Lithuania)
Klützer-Winkel (Germany)
Schönberg (Germany)
Linköping (Sweden)
Cesis (Latvia)
Grevesmühlen (Germany)
Livani (Latvia)
ADFC Rostock (Germany)
Rehna (Germany)
Swedish National Road Association
Swedish Cycle Promotion
Lithuanian Cyclist Community
Siauliai (Lithuania)
Jelgava (Latvia)
Västerås (Sweden)
Suwalki Chamber of Tourism (Poland)
Rostock (Germany)
Norwegian Cyclist Association
MoCuBa:
Bremen (Germany)
Vilnius (Lithuania)
Klaipeda (Lithuania)
Kaunas (Lithuania)
Helsinki (Finland)
Lund (Sweden)
Odense (Denmark)
Gdansk (Poland)
Pedal Pushers supports Bicycology
Pedal Pushers Secretary Ian Loasby hands over a cheque to members of Bicycology
Bicycology is a collective formed by riders who wanted to build on their shared experience of the 2005 G8 Bike Ride and organise future events of a similar nature.
By focusing on cycling they aim to pursue their vision of a just and sustainable world through a combination of education, entertainment and creative direct action. The collective was formed during a weekend meeting at the Sumac Centre in November 2005 with 15 original members
For more information see
http://www.bicycology.org.uk/
ITV River Don and Canal Path Cleanup
The event will take place between 10 and 4 on Sunday 17th September 2006.
Volunteers must be between 16 and 25 and MUST register on the ITV website at
http://www.itv.com/bigcleanup and wil be contacted with information, a consent form and emergency details form. Potential volunteers can also call the hotline number on 0845 803 6885
Volunteers will meet at Meadowhall at 10.00am for an Introduction (a presentation and few words from the Mayor) and Registration. They will then make their way to the various sites around the Blue Loop in teams with their team leader. There will be a variety of activities on site for volunteers, including litter picking, painting and repairing benches and railings, cleaning signs, removing graffiti, cutting back overgrown vegetation... All refreshments and equipment will be provided during the day. It is preferred that volunteers stay for the whole day, but not essential!
In addition, we are looking to have a boat helping clear the canal, a team of kayakers on the river and a public artist who will be making a sculpture of some of the collected litter. We also hope to have some free water sports activities for volunteers back at Meadowhall at the end of the day...
And, of course, ITV will be down there with their cameras! (It is also likely that the Star and Hallam FM will also be along to interview some volunteers).
WANTED - BCU Volunteer Staff - Team Leaders and Event Volunteers
We are also looking for BCU Volunteer staff for the day. Firstly, we need team leaders to lead small groups of up to 15 volunteers on the day. This is an important role and we may be able to offer a payment to team leaders. However, please bear in mind that this is volunteering event and we have a limited budget. Team Leaders may wish to waive the payment and the money will be put back into our general budget.
We are looking for around 20 Team Leaders and 10 Event Volunteers.
The basic requirements for a Team Leader is someone who has experience of supervising a group of people, ideally young people, and experience of practical outdoor work. All Team Leaders will be fully briefed at the start of the day by an experienced BTCV practical conservation officer and have support during the day. We also will need several Team Leaders who have up-to-date CRB checks. The basic requirements for an Event Volunteer is someone who is happy to help with whatever needs doing on the day! (which may include setting up/ tidying up, meeting and greeting, directing volunteers, allocating packed lunches, answering queries etc.
You WILL use the cycle path...
Astoundingly, the Telford cyclist - Daniel Cadden - who was prosecuted for cycling on the carriageway instead of an adjoining cycle path was found guilty. See
hereIt sounds like the district judge had made his mind up and decided that Mr Cadden inconvenienced motorists where he could have reasonably used the cycle path. I am not aware of any law that requires a cyclist to use a cycle path and the road in question was not 'out of bounds' for cyclists. The judge dismissed evidence from an expert witnes (John Franklin of Cyclecraft fame), did not accept that cycle routes round the edge of roundabouts were dangerous or that poorly maintained cycle paths were potentially unsafe.
What a shocking decision. I sincerely hope this goes to appeal but if it is upheld then it is a very worrying precedent.
