Camden Cyclists Newsletter May 2023

Camden Cycling Campaign Meeting & AGM – Monday 15th May 7pm. In person only, not on Zoom!             Bring nibbles to share.

Please check the venue details link below:

Calthorpe Community Garden, Grays Inn Rd    Members & non-members welcome so spread the word.

Guest speaker Akwesi Osei – Car Free Cities Campaigner from We Are Possible – will talk about inequalities in current cycling levels in London. Groups including women, ethnic minority communities, and disabled people are under-represented; focussing on research he conducted into Black men and barriers to cycling.

Just turn up with your bike for a mechanic to show you how to check it over and teach you how to do any necessary repair yourself

Friday 12th May 2023 – 6:30pm-8:30pm

Kentish Town Health Centre
2 Bartholomew Road
Kentish Town, London, NW5 2BX

We focus on do-able repairs like brakes, cables, tyres/inner tubes, tuning gears etc, as this level of maintenance you will be able to continue for yourself. If your bike needs a more complex, lengthy repair, we will offer you advice on next steps.

The workshops are free and jointly organised with Transition Kentish Town, but donations are welcome.

The Camden Clean Air Cycle Ride is a friendly, non-competitive bike ride for the whole community to take part in; celebrating cycling, cleaner air, and the beautiful sights of Camden, with riders of all ages and abilities.

Saturday 20 May, starting and finishing at Granary Square, King’s Cross.

LCC has identified junctions around King’s Cross amongst the most dangerous in London; in response, they’re building support amongst organisations like Camden Clean Air to bring about change.

The Mayor’s new £110m scrappage scheme helps clear London’s air by providing grant payments to successful applicants to scrap or retrofit their vehicles that do not meet the ULEZ emissions standards and switch to cleaner, greener modes of transport.

The ULEZ expansion will begin 29 August 2023.

Grant payment options
For cars, motorcycles and wheelchair accessible cars or vans there are eight grant payment options:

Scrap a car – £2,000
Scrap a car – £1,600 + one adult-rate Annual Bus & Tram Pass
Scrap a car – £1,200 plus two adult-rate Annual Bus & Tram Passes
Scrap a motorcycle – £1,000 
Scrap a m’cycle – £600 + one adult-rate Annual Bus & Tram Pass
Scrap a m’cycle – £200 plus two adult-rate Annual Bus & Tram Passes
Scrap a wheelchair accessible vcl (car/van) – £5,000
Retrofit a wheelchair accessible vcl (van only) £5,000

The US has 6 car parking spots for every vehicle, car storage is ubiquitous and pernicious, yet even in New York City, the least car-dependent place in the country, the ability to leave your car at the curb for free became “a birthright” from the 1950s.

“Land in Manhattan was the most valuable in the world,” Henry Grabar writes in his new book Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, “but it was free if you wanted to use it for just one thing: storing your car on the street.”

Grabar proposes directing that ire toward the architects of [car-park] urbanism: city officials who cling to bad transportation policy and antiquated development codes that engrain our dependence on cars.

CCC will organise a feeder ride from Swiss Cottage on Saturday 28th May for the ‘FreeCycle’ ride, where roads in central London will be closed so that all cyclists can have a fun day out.

If you fee like taking the Ride London 100 mile cycle challenge and raising money to support bereaved parents, contact Jenny at:  jenny@tcf.org.uk / phone: 0345 120 3785 / www.tcf.org.uk

If you would like to sponsor our co-ordinator Steve Prowse’s 100 mile effort and support homeless youth in Camden follow this link: https://centrepoint.enthuse.com/pf/stephen-prowse-ca312

Centrepoint support over 14,000 young people every year providing accommodation, helping them get into work or education, and teaching them the skills they need to thrive independently. Centrepoint’s work supporting vulnerable young people wouldn’t be possible without support from people like us so, thank you!

Camden Cyclists is the local group of the London Cycling Campaign. We rely on our members to enable the work we do.

For a limited period, we’ll be sending out a Lezyne Pressure Drive pump to new members.*

Already a member? Refer a friend and you’ll both receive pumps!

*Offer applies to Individual and Household membership purchased via Direct Debit.