Minutes of Camden Cycling Campaign Meeting on 14th March 2005
Present: Jane Boardman, Anne Boston, James Brander, Stefano Casalotti (chair), John Chamberlain, Jean Dollimore, Meade McCloughan (minutes), Colin Murphy and Helen Vecht.
Apologies: David Arditti, George Coulouris, Paul Gannon, Daniel Glaser, Paul Gasson and others.
Speakers for future meetings
• Jean to ask John Adams to speak at the June meeting.
• St Martin’s College of Art and Design has a bike storage plan (in the LIP) – we should see if someone could come and speak about it.
• Stefano is continuing to liaise with the new UCL Institute of the Environment.
Green Fair/Bike Fest, Regent’s Park
• We have been offered (but not yet definitely) the section of Chester Road from the junction with the Inner Circle to just before the entrance to the Broad Walk. (Children under 12 can cycle along the Broad Walk.) This should be OK for Bike Fest, and so it was agreed to proceed on this basis.
• The Royal Parks Authority still hasn’t confirmed whether the Green Fair itself can go ahead; but it seems very likely.
• Stefano to approach Bikefix and see if and to what extent they would like to take part.
• We also need to see if LB Camden’ cycle training scheme is up and running at present and if so whether it will participate. If not, could we use its equipment?
• Stefano to contact Colin Wing of the Westminster Cycling Campaign and see if they would like to join in (we will in fact be in Westminster).
• It will be very important to have sufficient CCC volunteers there on the day to ensure smooth running and deal with the difficulties that are likely to present themselves (as last year).
• We won’t need to bother much with publicity.
Transport Research Laboratory Review of Transport for London’s Process for Providing Cycle Facilities
• James referred to his previously circulated summary of the report.
• James recommended that we arrange a meeting with Alex Williams, LB Camden, to discuss its relevance to Camden’s plans, esp. the LIP.
• James also mentioned TRL’s report on Royal College Street, which noted that pedestrians surveyed commented on there now being less pavement cycling. We should check this finding and make use of it.
LCC Borough Group Forum
• Stefano reported back from the recent meeting.
• The (newish) LCC Director, Simon Brammer, had outlined his plans for improving communications between LCC and its members and the borough groups. He had invited suggestions as to what should be accessible via the LCC website, but was unethusiastic about putting consultations on it, which seemed odd to all of us – surely that it is the kind of communication LCC should be engaging in?
• LCC is looking into getting funds to employ 5-6 workers to help service the borough groups.
• To facilitate good governance, LCC has drawn up a standard constitution for borough groups to adopt. We already have a constitution (unlike some borough groups), but it may well be a good idea to incorporate elements of the new LCC model. Meade will work on this over April and report back with proposals (possibly for adoption at an EGM later in the year).
• LCC has also drawn up a draft ‘service level agreement’ between itself and the borough groups, which Meade will also look at.
Somerstown Safer Neighbourhood
• Colin and Stefano reported on the inaugural meeting they had recently attended (with monthly meetings to follow).
• The remit of the Safer Neighborhood scheme is to act on any aspect of the ward that would improve quality of life. While the focus of the first meeting was safety in the streets, broader issues can and will be discussed.
• Colin intends to stay involved in this project.
• The plan is to deal with youth disorder problems, which should mean for safer cycling in the area.
• The same scheme will in due course spread throughout the borough.
• Colin and Stefano are also pressing for cycle parking facilities, which led neatly to …
Secure Cycle Parking for Camden’s Estates
• John reported on the plans to convert one of the old pram sheds on the Mortimer Estate (NW6) into a secure cycle park.
• John is to accompany the Council officers working on this on a trip to see similar conversions already undertaken in Hackney.
• John will pass on information about all this to Colin and write a piece for the website.
Cyclists Tea, Thursday 7th April, 5 – 6:30 pm Byng Place
• James to check with the relevant authorities that this is OK.
• Jane and Stefano to arrange the refreshments (fruit drinks, etc)
• James and Stefano between them have plenty of materials (maps, etc)
• James to borrow John’s trailer to transport stuff on the day.
Bike Week Events
• All the usual events will take place.
• Stefano to see if Bob Spellar is thinking of organizing his school ride again.
• Jean to finalize the list of events and confirm them with Stefano.
• Stefano will then register all the events with Bike Week.
• Jean will then register all the events with LCC.
Other Summer Events
• The list of local fairs will be available in the first week of April – James will get a copy.
• We need to get more members local to these events to particate on behalf of CCC.
• Jean to look into using the membership printouts to mail out to such members.
• We already know that (i) there won’t be a Hampstead Heath fair this year; (ii) the Kilburn Festival is on for the 17th July; the Somerstown Cultural Festival is on the 9th July (Stefano is in the process of applying for us to have a stall there).
Annual General Meeting
• The Annual General Meeting will take place at the April meeting.
• There will be reports from the Co-ordinators and the Treasurer.
• Nominations for committee members will be sought.
• The existing committee will put itself up for re-election.
• Paul Gasson intends to drop down to associate committee member status.
• Nominations for new committee members will be sought; various names were mentioned.
Kings Cross Development Forum
• Anne reported on the recent (and bad-tempered) meeting.
• John is in dialogue with various people (incl. Bob West) about St Pancras/CTRL, and (i) Camley Street; (ii) access from the west; (iii) Euston Road/Argyle Street.
• Bob West apparently would like Camley Street to be open to motor traffic – wouldn’t this just make it a rat-run?
Link 27
• John to investigate the possibility of opening up the Regis Road gap.
Local Improvement Plan
• There will be sub-group to push ahead on this: Jean, James & Stefano.
Transport for London promotional films about cycling
• We then heard from a TV outfit making promotional films about cycling for TfL about what they were looking for, following which various members present were whisked off for filmed interviews.
Other
• Jane was thanked for bringing along refreshments!
• James and John undertook some ‘Doctor Biking’.
Items not discussed
• Living Streets/Pedestrians Association.)
