Creating a User Group/ Pressure Group in my Town

rustytop

Over the last few years I have seen an increase in people commuting by bike my local town. This increase in usage made me question whether cyclists are represented at all, and whether anyone is applying pressure to the local authority/ Town Councillors or the Highways Agency to improve routes/ make cycling safer around the town.

After some internet searching and discussions at the local bike shop, I have concluded that there isn't anything formal, so (with some trepidation) I intend to set something up.

I am interested to hear if anyone else has set a users group/ pressure group up or is a member of the committee and if you have any advice for me?
The local bike shop thinks it is a really good idea - but it just needs someone with some passion (and time) to do so :shock:

Thanks in advance
RT

tomb353

Hi, I may be able to help a bit with this. Newcastle Cycling Campaign formed last year, similarish circumstances.

First point is that there may well be stuff happening that you are not aware of. The CTC tend to have regional reps who you can track down via their website. What they do will vary a lot from place to place, and the CTC will often be doing a good job looking after the interests of leisure cyclists but not be very active amongst commuter cyclists. Sustrans may be active in your area and have a network of rangers, but Sustrans is not a campaigning organisation at a local level (it tends to campaign nationally, but work with government locally). Many of the same people who are involved with Sustrans or CTC are also members of their local cycle campaign and use that as their outlet for a more political campaigning stance locally.

Often your local town council will have a Cycle Forum which it uses to talk to local cycling groups, if there is one then there is nothing to stop you going along and you may well meet people who can help.

The model in Newcastle was that the ladies who went on to set up the campaign started off with a petition for "safe cycling" in the city centre. Council's tend to react to petitions because they perceive the issue to be one of widespread concern = votes. Doig an online petition gives you a pool of email addresses of anyone locally who cares enough to sign their name. There is a good write up of the story behind the Newcastle Cycling Campaign here:
http://www.cycling-embassy.org.uk/blog/ ... paign-born

If you want to take money from members and / or apply for grants etc then you will need to do a bit of work on the admin. But these days most campaign activities can be done online which costs next to nothing so you may be better off with free membership and passing a hat round once a year to pay for a bit of web hosting (membership grows a lot quicker when its free too).

king_jeffers

tomb353 wrote:

Hi, I may be able to help a bit with this. Newcastle Cycling Campaign formed last year, similarish circumstances.{/quote]

Sorry for thread hijack - Think I cycle past your shop on the weekends, very recognisable bikes your selling. Anyway... Good luck to op, I think the recent article in the times will encourage more cyclists to question the state or lack of provision on our roads.

rustytop

Just the advice I needed - thanks for this.

RT