July 2013 – Newcastle Cycling Campaign

Katja reports about cycling access

26th July 2013 NewCycling Uncategorized

Germany : access all areas This story is part of our youReport series. It is common in German towns and cities to provide widespread pedestriansation in centres. City centres in Germany seem to be alive, teeming with people, shopping or whiling their time away, enjoying the atmosphere and surroundings. It is also common to provide a fair amount of cycling access… The photos below show some examples from North Germany that I have collated over the past years. It covers Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel, Hanover and Bremen (in no particular order). This comes highly topical at a time when we managed to[…]

Northumberland Street report

23rd July 2013 NewCycling Uncategorized

We have obtained a report [60Mb – slow loading] from Newcastle City Council that has a thorough look at Northumberland Street, its street environment and interaction with people, how the space works (or not) as a destination. We’ve only seen it now, but the report was completed last year. Here are some of the conclusions and recommendations. There are a few quick wins to raise the project profile and engage with new partners. The most amazing bit is that the report then goes on to right-out recommend trialling bike use in Northumberland Street between 17:00 – 10:00. This is really[…]

Farah reports from Paris

20th July 2013 NewCycling Uncategorized

Paris : mon dieu, doing pretty well This story is part of our youReport series. I’m not an expert when it comes to the cycling infrastructure but when I went to Paris a few months ago, I was pretty impressed by how cycle-friendly it was and I even spotted a few things that weren’t probably there a couple of years ago. So looks like the French are catching up and actually, in the Copenhagenize index 2013 of bike friendly cities, Paris is 14th, between Budapest and Hamburg. Not bad at all! The back streets are quiet and equipped with contra-flows,[…]

Pollution, cars and streets

18th July 2013 Katja Uncategorized

The Acorn Road planning group heard an excellent presentation on traffic emissions and air quality by Professor Margaret Bell CBE, Newcastle University, on 18 July 2013 at Jesmond Legion. Conclusion: • a sustainable future rests with ‘doing things differently’ • a substantial reduction in vehicle kilometres driven is essential • spatial and transport planning is key as journeys can be kept short, green and healthy Traffic pollution, climate change and restricting car use from Katsdekker Some key points of the talk: • UK has a binding target to reduce CO2 by 67% by 2010 over 2010 level, and to meet[…]

Write to your MP – Get Britain Cycling debate

16th July 2013 Claire Uncategorized

Cycling will be debated at the House of Commons on 2 September 2013. Nearly 70,000 – including many of you, signed the petition to implement the recommendations of the “Get Britain Cycling” report initiated by the Times “Cities fit for Cycling” campaign. And this support led to the debate. It’s action time again! This time, we ask you to write to your MP so that they take part in the debate. It would be a great opportunity for our politicians to become more informed of the issues faced by everyday cyclists and how to overcome them. It is also an[…]

Katja reports from “Harz und Heide”

13th July 2013 NewCycling Uncategorized

Braunschweig : Contraflows This story is part of our youReport series. The city of Braunschweig, Lower Saxon in northern Germany, with its 250,000 resident sits comfortably mid-field in the 2012 Fahrradklima-Test (cycling barometer) – the German cycle city ranking. It struck me when I moved to the UK how much we allow roads to be overpowered by car use. In my home town Braunschweig (Brunswick) in northern Germany roads appear to have more of a purpose and inner-city roads seem be split into two types: • roads for cars (vehicle movement) and these will have bicycle provision on them, cycle[…]

Gateshead Cyling Forum – Cancelled

12th July 2013 Scott Uncategorized

This meeting has been cancelled.

News clippings – Councillors approve initial road changes in local plan

10th July 2013 NewCycling Press

JesmondLocal (10 June 2013) Councillors approve initial road changes in local plan Councillors approve initial road changes in local bike plan

Skyride

10th July 2013 Katja Uncategorized

Whilst we remain a bit dubious about the longevity of a Skyride, a one-day event, it is the traffic-free conditions created through the Skyride that we’d like to see on more roads every day – or by the installation of protected cycle routes along main roads. We’ll be at our partner’s cyclelicious the Cycle Hub and cheer you along. Stop by for a cuppa a chilled drink, cake or a chat. Or all of the above. We want to hear what YOU think. The deal that British Cycling and Sky have closed with NewcastleGateshead is a three year contract. So,[…]

Chair of the Campaign addresses Newcastle Council

9th July 2013 Claire Uncategorized

Three years after handing in the Safe Cycling Petition to the Council, Katja Leyendecker addressed the full Council again. This time, it was to take stock and review progress. Some good things have happened – in particular the commitment to create strategic cycling routes to the city centre, but Katja made it clear that we have yet to see any concrete improvements on the ground. Physical improvements to our roads that will enable everybody, women, kids and elderly people to use a bicycle as a means of transport and get around safely. These are the improvements that the 800 people[…]