Minutes of Camden Cycling Campaign Business Meeting on 9th May 2005
Present: James Brander, Stefano Casalotti, John Chamberlain (chair), Meade McCloughan (minutes), Colin Murphy and Helen Vecht.
Apologies: Jane Boardman, Jean Dollimore, Paul Gannon and Daniel Glaser.
Green Fair/Bike Fest, Regent’s Park (5th June)
• Publicity (posters and postcards) is now ready, and will be included in the next London Cyclist mailing (to four boroughs); also a piece in the magazine itself.
• Westminster Cycling Campaign will manage the stall in the main part of the fair leaving CCC free to deal with the activities on Chester Road.
• Pablo from Bikefix will come with bikes; a van will be needed to transport these.
• Stefano thinks we should ask for a contribution (£1 ‘booking fee’) from people having rides – we need to raise some money somehow.
• It will be very important to have sufficient CCC volunteers there on the day – Stefano to put out requests via the newsgroup in due course.
Bike Week (11th-19th June)
• Stefano to put details of our events on the Bike Week website.
• James could organize a feeder ride to the Trafalgar Square event if David unable to.
• We should try to link this ride up with Haringay (via Crouch End Clock Tower), as well as Barnet (as already envisaged).
• Stefano will stock up with maps etc from LCC.
LCC Borough Group Forum
• Stefano reported back from the meeting on the 4th May.
• Ben Crowley of LCC is looking for corporate affiliations to LCC (fee based on size of organization), and is preparing material for this scheme. If borough groups introduce an organization to LCC, they get 10% of the fee! LCC also has Georgie Fyfe-Jamieson (Workplace Cycling Officer), who undertakes direct outreach work.
• LCC is keen for its officers to be invited to borough group meetings, as part of its endeavours to keep in touch with the groups and its members.
• It was felt that more should be done to make LCC responsive to the Borough Groups Forum.
Camden’s Cycling Plan – draft update
• James whizzed through some of the points he had jotted down in response to the Council’s biannual review of its cycling plan (still in draft form), e.g.:
• We should ask for there to be a target for school cycle parking (#40).
• We should ask to use Camden’s Inside Camden magazine to publicize CCC/meetings.
• James to e-mail his notes to Jean for circulation to the newsgroup for discussion.
• James to see if we can link to the draft update from our website.
• The deadline for responses is the 24th May.
CCC constitution
• Meade has examined the LCC model borough group constitution and compared it to our existing constitution and those of other borough groups.
• It was agreed that we should draw up a new constitution using the LCC model as a basis but modifying it so as to accentuate our autonomy (as with other groups) and to preserve features of the existing constitution which we like.
• The present constitution has a lot in it about our aims and activities, which would be best taken out and adopted/revised as a separate document.
• Other issues: membership should be limited to LCC members; we should have a Secretary; the minimum size of the Management Committee should remain 3; we should a have a clause about child protection.
• Meade to draw up a draft constitution and invite further comments. A new constitution would have to be adopted at the next AGM, which will be nearly a year away.
Minutes of Camden Cycling Campaign Main Meeting on 9th May 2005
Present: as above, plus Anne Boston, Marcus Boyle, Cyril Cannon, David Bush [?], Martin Fahey, Viv Gambling, Mayer Hillman, Rita Raitsalo, Kevin Sara [?], Lionel Shapiro, Ebura Ueyel [?] and Sela Yair. {[?] = unsure about the name.}
Dr Bike
• While the meeting went on, various members took advantage of the professional ‘Dr Bike’ service (Cycle Training UK) to have their bicycles looked at. This was the first time this service had been provided and proved popular (if a bit noisy)!
Upcoming Events
• 15th May – Sela’s ride.
• 19th May – cycle to school day
• 5th June – Bike Fest
Planning 2005-2006
• The main item on the agenda was deciding on CCC’s goals for year. Eight possible goals had been drawn up – these needed to be added to if necessary and then prioritized:
(1) increasing CCC/LCC membership – participating in street events/distributing leaflets;
(2) improving links with other groups eg BUG/schools/environmental groups;
(3) enhancing cycling to the work place by collaborating with LCC;
(4) cycling in the parks: restarting our campaign for increased access;
(5) campaigning for 20 mph limits;
(6) campaigning for more cycling training/access/parking at schools;
(7) increasing members participation in CCC;
(8) continue with our work to campaign for and give feedback on cycle facilities.
• (8) is a standard item, to be continued with as previously. However, it was felt that it could be stated more emphatically and that it would be good if we we were able to progress a new big scheme, now that the Seven Stations Link is more or less complete (in Camden). There are various routes in the planning stage, such as Link 27 (Tottenham Court Road to Tufnell Park). Fitzjohn’s Avenue was put forward as a road in much need of being made more cycle-friendly.
• The presence of the ‘Dr Bike’ prompted the suggestion that an additional goal could be to run a maintenance workshop, as some of the other borough groups do (cf. towards the back of London Cyclist.) This could be run at a variety of locations, getting us out and about more and thus helping with goals (1) and (2). Various venues were mentioned: the Residents Hall on the Hillview Estate, King’s Cross; Somerstown – Colin Murphy to provide details; the Community Centre off Chalcott Square. Some doubts were expressed about having sufficient volunteers to operate such a scheme – it might be best to get a grant to extend the current short-term arrangement with Cycle Training UK (who were doing the Dr Bike that evening).
• Discussion then turned to (6): schools. It was reported that the Council was now actively promoting cycle training for childen via primary schools (there had been some skepticism expressed about the efficacy of the new Cycle Training Officers). Of course it depends upon the schools to take up these offers, and some will not. Accordingly, we need to ensure that Camden in monitoring the situation and ensuring that the training opportunities are made available to children. But with this training in place, it was felt that our priority should be concentrating on making the roads safe for children, via (5) and (8) – Fitzjohn’s Avenue was mentioned again as a particular case in point.
• Cycle storage was raised as an area where much more needed to be done, in particular residential cycle storage. This had indeed been adopted as a priority last year, and John reported on the continuing work he was doing. It was agreed that this should remain a goal for this year, and, if possible, taken further.
• The meeting then turned to (5): 20 mph speed limit. If this could be achieved, then conditions for cyclists would be tranformed. However, people were not sure how effectively CCC could campaign for a 20 mph limit. We should certainly lend our support to those national organizations already pressing for lower speeds, urge LCC to follow suit and mention the need for a 20 mph limit at every opportunity (e.g. by asking the police to observe it, rather than unnecessarily racing round all the time). In short, it should certainly be a policy commitment, but not a priority issue.
• Talking of policy commitments, Mayer urged that CCC similarly advocate carbon rationing as part of its general ‘manifesto’. It was suggested that he compose a leaflet on the topic specifically addressed to cyclists which we could then distribute.James and Stefano between them have plenty of materials (maps, etc).
• Lionel recommended, as part of (2), that CCC endeavour to get members onto each of the sectoral police liaison groups. It was also suggested that we could do more to promote cycling to other community groups, especially emphasizing the health benefits.
• Much support was voiced in favour of (4) – campaigning for greater access to the parks. At the same time, the considerable difficulties of making any progress (given recent experience) were emphasized. Any campaign would have to enlist all possible political support – LCC, parliamentary cyclists, ‘celebrities’ – and include tactical ‘concessions’ (e.g. time-limited routes). (If we have sufficient volunteers at Bike Fest, we could start a petition to allow cycling in Regent’s Park.)
• Stefano spoke in favour of (3), mentioning the LCC officers who could assist with this. It was agreed that this is something we should progress, and that the best way would be to get the LCC officers (and others – e.g. ‘Candibug’) to come and advise us on how to proceed, both as a group and as individuals in workplaces. (This then overlaps with (2).)
• Summary: priorities should be (4), (8), (3) and maintenance workshops, with cycle storage continuing from last year and the rest left ticking along.
Any other business
• James asked the meeting for contacts for a CCC external publicity drive (e.g. interested Councillors & council officers, BUGs and workplace cyclists). Two useful ones were provided, and more are always welcome.
