The Peoples' 50 Million - Lottery Funding for Cycle Paths?

This is a popular vote to allocate £50M of lottery money.
It will either go to Sustrans to fund cycle paths, or to either
Sherwood forest conservation, an urban park in the Black Country or to
the Eden project.
It's a no-brainer for us in here, surely.
Please make the effort!
http://www.thepeoples50million.org.uk/home
One of the projects is here in Tintern, part of a scheme to put a
flattish cycle path from Chepstow to Brockweir via a new suspesion
bridge over the Wye. Apart from anything else it will eliminate that
horrible grinding climb for the last 5 miles of the Bryan Chapman 600 Audax -
worth it for that alone!
It will either go to Sustrans to fund cycle paths, or to either
Sherwood forest conservation, an urban park in the Black Country or to
the Eden project.
It's a no-brainer for us in here, surely.
Please make the effort!
http://www.thepeoples50million.org.uk/home
One of the projects is here in Tintern, part of a scheme to put a
flattish cycle path from Chepstow to Brockweir via a new suspesion
bridge over the Wye. Apart from anything else it will eliminate that
horrible grinding climb for the last 5 miles of the Bryan Chapman 600 Audax -
worth it for that alone!
0
Posts
i do not under any circumstances want the money to go to an organisation that is making it less pleasant and making it more dangerous for my to cycle on the roads.
Read the numerous threads on here already for the details
Then read MY BLOG @ http://www.pebennett.com
Twittering @spen_666
The Sustrans Connect2 project is about connecting communities with sustainable transport links that aren't available now.
The project local to me is typical - it is proposing a path along an old disused and overgrown railway track to provide a traffic-free alternative to cycling on the A466 between Tintern and Chepstow. I'm very confident in traffic but will not cycle this narrow, twisty A-road in the rush hour. The new route would allow me to cycle-commute, where I can't now.
The picture is different again if you consider more vulnerable cycling groups - parents taking kids out to teach them to ride for example.
Traffic free routes most certainly have their place, will encourage cycling and ultimately get motorists more used to seeing cyclists about (most of Sustrans mileage is. in fact, on-road.) Also, of course, the more adults that cycle, the more drivers that cycle, so it's spreading the word that way too.
I would guess you're beyond persuasion and you seem like the sort of guy who needs to have the last word, so please feel free and I won't reply to you again. I am confident that the vast majority in here will see the sense in getting this £50 million into cycling, rather than into other non-cycling related attractions.
The Sustrans plan is not just about people like us. It is also for families to cycle and walk together without risk of being mown down on a busy road that it would be totally unsuitable for them to be on, amongst others.
by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
I am totally beyond persuasion that by giving motorists the impression that there are adequate ( in their view) facilities for cyclists off the road it is going to do other than increase their anger at us using our right to be on the road.
If this is solely about having the last word- why feel the need to reply to my expressing my view about what I will be doing and why.
The more adults that cycle- the more drivers that cycle- maybe true- but it is encouraging them to think of bikes as things for pootling along abandoned railway lines etc. This reinforces in their minds that cycles have no place on "their" roads and makes it far more dangerous for those of us who do use the roads.
I think you will find this is completely and wholly untrue. sustrans ado not maintain the roads and have no right to the roads which are the responsibility of the Highways Agency or local/copunty councils. Sustrans may use these to link its off road facilities- but that is a different matter.
Sustrans is an organisation that has an aim of providing segregated cycling farcilities. This is completely at odds with my aim which is to use the already adequate network we have called the highways.
Then read MY BLOG @ http://www.pebennett.com
Twittering @spen_666
In any case, the Connect2 project is more about linking split communities - a lot of the schemes are for what Sustrans does best, which is the likes of the Bristol/Bath path or the new Peregrine Path from Monmouth - Symonds Yat - building links where there are none at the moment.
Bikeworks: 08702436701
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12551213
These guys will save bikes from destruction, make them good again, put them back into circulation (on or off-road), provide skills and employment for people with disabilities and offer worthwhile volunteering opportunities.
All they need is a van and a storage unit for the bikes. To get that they need your call. 10 calls (max) for a pound.
Make it happen.
Fast and Bulbous
Peregrinations
Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)
I think it is just too unsafe on the roads to cycle for the majority of cyclists. Cars are way too fast now and there are too many idiots without licenses, insurance etc . Drivers don't just have a complete disregard for cyclists its everybody.
Its a culture thing. We now have about 10 decades of people who have been brought up with a complete disregard for others period. Whether on the road or off of it.
no amount of training or legislation is going to alter 50 years of bad parenting.
what we need is a lot more safe and convenient cycle paths where we can enjoy cycling in safety
2. As a taxpayer (and the lottery fund is really a voluntary tax.) then Sustrans is the only UK wide or at least most UK wide of the schemes. Also all the other schemes will generate extra car and bus journeys. The M5 M1 and M6 were busy enough whenever I travelled on them, these other schemes will only make them worse in my opinion.
Then read MY BLOG @ http://www.pebennett.com
Twittering @spen_666
Geraint Thomas and Nicole Cooke are supporting it.
anyway what is wrong with pootling along old railway lines?
I think it is great idea for getting people cycling especially for the less confident.
I am not sure how you come to the conclusion it will "positively harm" road cycling.
By the way, what does "positive" harming mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK5Bfqj5fxY
Mind you - the proposal contains nothing for my part of the country anyway - they are all down south with some token gesture scottish plans - i'll be voting elsewhere or not at all.
Their views on this mean little to me. It means nothing more than the view of any other foreign based person nothing at all for those who want to do that - the problem comes when it is at the expense of those of us who cycle on the road who will find ourselves facing more intimidation and danger to encourage someone to cycle perhaps once every year on a railway line.
Then read MY BLOG @ http://www.pebennett.com
Twittering @spen_666
Many thanks to all who took the trouble to vote.
Good!
......heading for the box, but not too soon I hope!
See, they return, and bring us with them.