Newcastle Cycling Campaign

Month: December 2013

Quick reflection on 2013

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Another year’s just swooshed past. It was little more graceful than the years before, with similar campaigning aspects persisting to stick around, impossible for us to strike them off the list (yet). In early 2013, here it suddenly was, the money. Previously oft-cited by council as the reason for inaction. And a two-year works programme too. To create the main ask for us, more space for cycling, Newcastle had been awarded £6m to do exactly that through the Cycle City Ambition Fund. Roadspace reallocation projects galore we have been promised. There has been much talk, many meetings yet no actual[…]

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News clipping – Cycle campaigner hopeful after giving evidence to MPs

Press

A CYCLING campaigner says she hopes her testimony will have encouraged MPs to promote more two-wheeled transport. Katja Leyendecker, chair of Newcastle Cycling Campaign, gave evidence to the Transport Select Committee on how more consideration should be given to pedal power when planning towns and cities – and not just make biking safer. “I think the question might be a completely different one and not so much about safety at all ” she said. “I think it is about the future of our cities and how we want to run our cities.” “We were talking – beforehands – about education[…]

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space4cycling (2/6) clearer road classification and space clarity

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You can discuss this article below. What do you think? Give us your local example and what changes you’d like to see. This story is part of our space4cycling series. There are different kind of roads. The fast A167, Great North Road, Scotswood Road and Coast Road are very different to slower neighbourhood streets. We would like to see a much clearer classification system in city road design so no-one is in doubt what these are for when you use them. Whether roads are for “expedient flow of vehicle traffic” or whether the purpose is for people to go about[…]

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space4cycling (1/6) road space re-allocation

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You can discuss this article below. What do you think? Give us your local example and what changes you’d like to see. This story is part of our space4cycling series. Re-balancing road space towards more benign forms of transport is Tyne & Wear stated objective through their third Local Transport Plan (LTP3), and rightly so. Without providing space for cycling Newcastle’s bike modal share percentages will not get into double figures (as mandated in Newcastle’s 2020 cycle plan [1], and as calculated to 12% in 2020 through the Cycle City Ambition Fund bid [2]). This is clear when learning lessons[…]

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Cycle advocate speaks at House of Commons

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Katja Leyendecker spoke to MPs at the House of Commons as a witness to the Transport Select committee. Katja Leyendecker, chair of the group, says “It’s been both a nerve-racking and exhilarating experience. I think I got my point across, that the real debate is about better cities, and we have to start taking cycling seriously as a cornerstone of a liveable and resilient city. We must end its silent absence and build cycleways. And I seem to have found a convert and ally in one MP too, who said it was good that I kept the session on track.”[…]

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consultation response image

Transport Committee – local decision making on transport expenditure

Consultation replies

To a call by the Transport Committee – Local decision making on transport expenditure Newcycling (Newcastle’s cycling campaign, 1,200 members, volunteer organisation, constituted, formed in 2010) would like to respond to your request about views on local transport expenditure. We will focus solely on cycling (and progress on council policy to increase cycle modal share) as this shows both the complexity of the process and the current disconnect in clear accountability and evidenced decision-making for public spending and policy. The wider context is that other countries spend up to £30 per head on cycling to extend and maintain their networks[…]

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Six space4cycling topics – making it happen

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Thanks again for an excellent youReport turnout… you sharing your bike infrastructure images and imagination with us – showing real cycling culture. In the coming weeks we’ll report back to you under the heading space4cycling. By doing so joining up with the London Cycling Campaign’s initiative. It’s a successful and positive message that attracts us to it, and it’s spreading. We’ll discuss six different topics, each one a subject area where change has to happen, a transformation in thinking, design approach, space utilisation which will broaden our imagination and further set the vision for our city. The six topics are[…]

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