Gettin Alistair Grant of the EEN on a bike yesterday paid off. He's written an opinion piece saying if the council is serious it has to go for Option A:
https://mobile.twitter.com/alistairkgrant/status/770549611572367360
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Roseburn to Leith consultation begins (and the debate continues!) CCWEL
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Posted 7 years ago #
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Roseburn Cycle Route group on the go now! Ian Grant, Rosie and Henry. Don't think I've ever been this riveted by a Council Committee meeting! It's a good workshop accompaniment in any case...
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago #
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Was it a tactical blunder combining pro-deputations? Us being too nice again? Cllrs now getting a barage of negativity.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"
Paul Edie is a LibDem councillor for Corstorphine/Murrayfield
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Posted 7 years ago # -
Wonder if any of the traders have read this -
http://www.jplocalbusiness.co.uk/marketing-advice/?ref=EEN&utm_source=edinburgh-evening-news
Posted 7 years ago # -
Wonder if the council will listen to Our Heroic Athletes?
Perhaps our Great British Olympic Paragons could be part of the stakeholder group?
Posted 7 years ago # -
So I had a go at comparing the loading areas of Roseburn and Ratcliffe Terraces. This is rough, obviously, and I had to estimate some of the measurements.
Ratcliffe Terrace has roughly 1.6 shops/car.
Roseburn Terrace has roughly 1.8 shops/car, with option A changing this to roughly 2.4 shops/car.Caveats:
Again, all quite rough.
Ratcliffe Terrace is smaller (18 businesses, cf 31 on Roseburn Terr.), so will likely need a smaller shops/car ratio.
Parking is allowed on Ratcliffe Terrace, whereas Roseburn is loading only (I think). So Ratcliffe needs a lower shops/spaces ratio.
Ratcliffe Terrace possibly shouldn't be held up as a good example...Posted 7 years ago # -
Britain won six golds and 12 medals overall at cycling in Rio....Yet the proportion of trips made by bike has remained constant at about 2%, with relatively little investment in bike lanes outside London...
I'm putting together a thousand words on the links between Olympic 10m air pistol and gun violence in Peckham.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The gold in dressage should inspire a generation to ride their horse to work.
Actually, a line of horses going through Roseburn would be amazing to see.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Stickman
Great British failure in the Sochi biathlon caused me to shelve plans to ski to work with a rifle on my back.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Folks, read the open letter from the Olympians, this isn't the usual legacy guff (which is demonstrably false given the post-2012 decline in participation!).
The PM said there would be "no limits" to the honours bestowed, and British Cycling are asking that the best honour would be investment in transport cycling equal to 5% of the transport budget.
In this case the legacy waffle is being leveraged to ask for something real!
Robert
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Roibeard
Perhaps if a gold medal were available in Everyday Cycling in 2020 I'd be less sceptical. As it stands I predict that the honours to which no limits apply will be warm words, further medals and medieval titles.
Also, did they copy that letter to our First Minister?
Posted 7 years ago # -
They didn't have to do anything, so I'm pleased they did, and in particular that it seems to have the hand of Chris Boardman behind it. So reasonable chance that it will succeed and they achieve their meeting with Theresa May rather than be fobbed off on a junior junior transport minister.
Interestingly I think it's the first overtly political message that I think SCH has signed..
@iwrats. Neither of the Scottish medallist signed.. Hope they are saving that for a letter to Nicola...Posted 7 years ago # -
callum skinner has just tweeted that he thought he had signed, and fully supported.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I agree with Roibeard - the letter hardly mentions sports cycling, it is all the usual good stuff about transport and health and safely that we (or some of us) on here could spout in our sleep...
In fact, here's the whole thing:
"Dear Prime Minister,The Great Britain cycling team athletes topped the cycling medal table for the third Olympic Games in a row at Rio 2016. It was a truly outstanding performance and enhances Britain’s status as the world’s leading elite cycling nation.
You were widely reported in the media as saying that there will be “no limits” on the honours that could be bestowed on our medal winners. But the best way to honour the achievements of our athletes would be a legacy of every-day cycling in this country – a place where cycling is the choice form of transport for people to get around in their daily lives.
Your predecessor called for a “cycling revolution” and your government’s manifesto sets out a target to “double” the number of journeys cycled. While some steps have been made, cycling is still a transport mode which does not enjoy the government investment or political leadership given to roads, rail or aviation.
The government is now considering feedback on the draft Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS). We urge the government to publish this and set out a timeline to address the chronic underfunding and lack of leadership which is keeping cycling for transport in the slow lane. Only networks of segregated cycle lanes in towns and cities across the country can achieve and influence growth.
The success of the CWIS will be felt not only across government but in all areas of the nation’s life.
The government’s sports strategy seeks to extend the number of people living physically active lives and could be truly transformative. Active travel – walking and cycling – is the easiest way for people of all ages to fit physical activity into their lives. Currently, only one in five people achieve the recommended levels of physical activity.
Around one in three children is overweight or obese. The government’s childhood obesity strategy recognises the value of physical activity and the importance of walking and cycling to school. I am sure you know that this will seem a fanciful idea for most parents without the convenient walking and cycling routes which would give them the confidence that their children will be safe getting to school. Yet we know it can be achieved – in the Netherlands, 50% of education-age children cycle to school.
As cities like Copenhagen and New York have shown, cycling also creates better places to live and work. More cycling cuts congestion, reduces noise pollution and fuels local economies. Small businesses in New York have seen a 49% increase in business where cycle lanes have been installed.
There is huge latent demand for cycling. Two thirds of people would cycle more if they felt safer on the roads. The government’s road safety statement reiterates the manifesto commitment to reduce the number of cyclists killed or injured. The CWIS needs to set targets to improve road maintenance, enhance enforcement of the laws, and update the rules of the road to better consider the needs of cyclists.
To make this happen, we need 5% of the government’s transport spend allocated to cycling. This is the only way that cycling will be integrated into transport strategy and given the priority it deserves.
Investment in cycling as a form of transport isn’t purely an investment in cycle lanes. It is an investment that will pay off for the nation’s health, wealth, transport infrastructure and the vibrancy of our towns and cities. It has the added benefit of just making it easier for ordinary families to get to work and get to school.
Our athletes have inspired the country and now we urge the government to take cycling seriously as a transport option for everyone.
British Cycling’s policy adviser Chris Boardman would welcome a meeting to discuss this further. We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Boardman, policy adviser, British Cycling and Olympic gold medalist
Sir Chris Hoy, six-time Olympic gold medallist, joint most successful British Olympian
Laura Trott, four-time Olympic gold medallist and Britain’s most successful female Olympian
Jason Kenny, six-time Olympic gold medallist, joint most successful British Olympian
Mark Cavendish, Olympic silver medallist
Joanna Rowsell Shand, double Olympic gold medallist
Elinor Barker, Olympic gold medallist
Owain Doull, Olympic gold medallist
Becky James, double Olympic silver medallist
Katy Marchant, bronze medallist"(I'm not sure if that's how they signed themselves, or the Guardian adding explanations...)
Posted 7 years ago # -
Whilst I expect it to result in little more than warm words, I don't think it should be dismissed as the usual legacy guff when it says "don't just talk about sport cycling, spend on transport cycling".
I've been critical of British Cycling's "sport first" persona in the past, and some elite athletes have demonstrated an ivory tower (or carbon frame) level of ignorance, but Chris Boardman is coming out with very sensible, laudable work at the moment.
Robert
Posted 7 years ago # -
makes me so cross that paul tuohy uses this as an excuse to ask for more money for 'wearecyclinguk' and then gives me grief when i say 'no give the transport ministries money'.
bah.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I thoroughly agree that Chris Boardman gets it. He's 'one of us'.
Less so the Prime Minister, I fear. First Minister...let's see.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I've had enough of 'wearecyclinguk'. They can send me all the membership renewal letters they like, I just DON'T CARE anymore.
Posted 7 years ago # -
IWRATS: I wouldn't hold out much hope for Oor Nicola. She's the very epitome of a professional politician. She must know full well there are precious few votes in cycling, and that the Greens already have many of them. It's not a priority for her, it's certainly not for Keith "ministerial limo" Brown; it's only a cause célèbre for Humza Yousaf if it's 10 minutes from his front door in Glasgow.
We can already see in Edinburgh how the SNP deal with cycling: like a wearisome chore. They have to be seen to be "doing something" but they do not believe in it, have no enthusiasm. They're only involved because other parties and lobby groups have chivvied them into it (a bit like the trams). So expect only lip service to be paid for the best five years at least, expect dithering, delays and death by consultation with stakeholder groups.....meanwhile full speed ahead with the dual carriageways and motorways!
Posted 7 years ago # -
"I don't think it should be dismissed as the usual legacy guff"
I think the London Olympics and the Glasgow CG, have demonstrated that any "legacy" that involves more people doing sport or even general exercise is mostly (at best) wishful thinking.
Olympic medals will inspire some young people to aim for the same.
Whether they have the (local) facilities, competent/dedicated coaching, parental and peer group support, personal 'drive' (obsession?), financial support at key periods, and some degree of talent are whole other issues.
High level/elite sport is about (a mix of) talent, (support) team, dedication, money (state/Lottery/family/commercial/other), luck, spectacle, entertainment and national prestige.
It's a long time since the Olympics were "amateur". The inclusion of golf, football and well paid pro cyclists demonstrates that clearly.
Whether individuals do it for themselves, family/community/country, fame or fortune varies between people - and probably over time too.
It doesn't matter if the original or final aim is a medal or a pro sports contract or money from endorsements or advertising or a commentating career.
That's all sport - for its own sake (and the above) and also entertainment.
So that's for the (mostly) passive enjoyment of others, some of whom may aspire to be sports stars, pop stars or 'reality' TV participants. A few will 'follow their dreams', and a tiny number will succeed.
Politicians will focus on the latter and try to track back to the point where some sort of government intervention/policy got the 'winner' started.
This is naive or completely disingenuous (or perhaps just misguided wishful thinking).
The great thing about this letter is that it is by people who have succeeded and who know that 'copy me' messages are pointless.
Messages of 'do a bit of sport/activity and you/society will be better' are mostly stupid.
ActiveTravel isn't about sport - except in the most marginal sense, but these successful sports people know how important it is for it to be made simple for people to get 'casual' exercise in a car dominated world.
That child walking or cycling to school has more chance of becoming an 'athlete' than their less fit carbound friends, but it doesn't matter if they ever do.
Sport is for participitants and spectators.
Being able to get around easily and safely is for everyone.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Just noticed which thread all these recent posts are on.
Think needs its own.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago #
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As cities like Copenhagen and New York have shown, cycling also creates better places to live and work. More cycling cuts congestion, reduces noise pollution and fuels local economies. Small businesses in New York have seen a 49% increase in business where cycle lanes have been installed.
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https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/zuvvi/media/bc_files/campaigning/20160901_Theresa_May_letter.pdf
Posted 7 years ago # -
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In some areas, that is where the crunch has already come between the interests of the motoring majority and the growing but far smaller cycling minority.
It came to a head in Edinburgh this week, when city councillors deferred a decision on what route a new cross-city cycle way between Roseburn and Leith Walk should take.
That followed some residents claiming that the road narrowing and parking reduction involved could increase congestion and threaten local shops.
The capital – along with Glasgow – is in the vanguard of such schemes, and this might be its most ambitious yet. However, the debate over what rights different road users should have over street space is now only likely to intensify across the country as similar projects follow.
Those who feel a sense of entitlement, just because it’s always been that way, may find that change is on its way.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
That is a wonderful letter. And to think our council just bottled it at Roseburn...
Posted 7 years ago # -
And Alastair Dalton has just written a pro-cycling column! Be still my beating heart!
Posted 7 years ago #
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