Calling all canvassers...

To any canvassers roaming the streets of Coleridge, if you happen to spot my bicycle (pictured) around the ward I would be very grateful to hear from you! The frame should show signs of daily use, there are new handlebar grips and the lock holder is in the opposite orientation resulting in the lock having rubbed away a bit of the logo. Thanks!

Last seen on Brackyn Road last night...

Action on cycle theft now a priority

Progress was made at Strategy and Resources committee on Monday to tackle the problem of cycle theft in Cambridge, as Councillors changed the city wide community safety partnership priorities for the year ahead to including tackling the problem of cycle theft. The current situation with cycle theft in Cambridge is a scandal - nearly 2,500 stolen last year, and many Coleridge residents have been affected.

Cycling in Cambridge isn't something people do for a couple of hours leisure activity on a Saturday afternoon, it is vital to getting people to their places of work or study, and it is a vital part of transport systems in the city. We need this problem taken seriously, and co-ordinated steps taken to make it as easy as possible to securely lock or store bikes around the city, and to identify, track down and severley punish those that think it is acceptable to steal or trade stolen bikes in the City. I don't go quite as far as Boris, who as ever is very sound on the subject but pretty close.

I'm pleased to say that despite being the only Conservative Councillor on the City Council, it was my amendment that was passed to make cycle theft a priority, with Labour support, and the Lib Dems abstaining - leaving the committee in favour, and the leader of the Council with little choice but to accept the amendment!

When the annual community safety plan priorities were agreed last January, I was persuaded that cycle theft didn't need to be a priority as there was a separate project and it was already being taken seriously. Since then, cycle theft has increased in the city by 8% - whatever has been done over the last year clearly isn't working, and the suggestion that there is a special project to look at the issue just didn't go far enough. The lead police officer for the proposed special project mentioned in the committee report is apparently no longer even working in Cambridge City, which gives some idea of how much activity is really going on in this area at the moment.

The Community Safety partnership brings together police and local authorities, to tackle crime and community safety problems that need action from several agencies. I will be following up how this priority is taken forward, and would like to see a taskforce setup to tackle this problem, involving the police, the councils, the Universities and campaign groups like Cambridge Cycling Campaign, starting with a meeting that (once the hour long bleat from the police about lack of resources is over) brainstorms what could be done.

I'm sure there is lots more encouargement that can be given for locking bikes, and ensuring they are registered (e.g. at immobilise), but the authorities need to go much further. The situation with lack of suitable cycle parking, not just at the station but around the city is scandalous - this must be addressed, and urgently.

But we should stop just blaming the victims for having their bikes stolen - lets have 'bait bikes' with tracker devices around the city, not just one or two, but significant numbers owned and operated by residents as well as the police. There needs to be a senior police officer in the city (above sergeant level) who has tackling bike theft as a specific responsibility, and we need to make sure every effort is made to catch, severely punish and name and shame those reponsible for bike theft until it is clear it is totally unacceptable.

Cycle Parking Problems at the Station

National Express have responded to my complaint that between them and the police they are quite happy to allow commuters bikes to be locked up for days or weeks if, thanks to their totally inadequate provision of cycle parking at the station, someone accidentally traps another bike when locking theirs up. The reply below is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

 I've tried several times to setup a meeting between local Councillors and someone in authority in the railway industry to discuss cycle parking and a wide range of issues of local interest such as the proposed second platform, the Chisholm Trail, Chesterton station etc, and keep getting fobbed off with 'public affairs' or 'customer service' people, and basically told they have no interest in engaging with locally elected representatives, and they show no signs of doing anything to respond to problems like the shambolic cycle parking arrangements - I would be fascinated to know who does make the decisions and how they can be influenced by someone elected - particularly important when so much public money and public interest is vested in the organisations they run.

Any suggestions as to how to embarrass them into action gratefully received...

"Thank you for your email received 18 December about the cycle parking facilities at Cambridge station.  I am sorry for the delay in this response, which is due to a large backlog of correspondence.

We are aware of the problems with cycle parking at Cambridge and are working together with Network Rail and local councils to find any suitable and realistic improvements which can be implemented.

I am sorry however, that you have found the policy of not removing cycles which have been locked together as a result of the possibility of this representing criminal damage.  I can appreciate that this is frustrating and I am sorry for any inconvenience that it has caused.

It is worth noting that we cannot accept liability for any damage or loss of bicycles left on station property, and this is advertised at the station.  In this regard, we are also not liable for bicycles becoming locked out of use by third parties, and this is something that the British Transport Police would need to deal with.  If they are unable to do so for the reasons you specified I regret that I cannot offer any other solution at present.

However, I have logged your comments for our management to review, and any changes to our policies will be implemented in the future where possible.

Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Yours sincerely,

xxxxx
Customer Relations Advisor
National Express"

Grrrr....

There is something very wrong with this picture. On the right is my bike (the battle bike). Amazingly when I got to the station at 5pm on wednesday, there was a spare rack for me to lock it to. When I returned at midnight, the bike on the left had appeared, locked to the rack through my frame, leaving my bike 'kebabed', unable to be moved.

Thursday morning, offending bike still there - and I get a rare insight into the world of bus travel in Cambridge. Thursday afternoon - offending bike still there. Even more remarkable - a British Transport police office was on hand to ask what I could do.

His manner gave every impression of someone who has been asked this a number of times before, I wasn't going to like the answer, and he didn't particular like the answer he was giving either.

Basically, the rules have recently changed, and neither the police nor station staff will help remove the offending bike, for fear it could be deemed 'criminal damage'. He suggested I ask the station supervisor, and put in a complaint - he also suggested I point out the bike to him so he could let his colleagues know 'what is going on'.

Inside, the supervisor confirmed a rule change, and insisted there was nothing they could do, and I should just wait for the offending bike to move.

This situation if frankly ridiculous. The sign clearly indicates that there are powers to remove bikes causing problems, I suspect they just couldn't be bothered coming up with a proper procedure that will involve storing the removed bikes. If they really are worried, they could change the sign to say something even more obvious like 'permission to park your bike here is conditional on you not locking other peoples bikes - if you lock your bike in these racks such that other bikes are disabled, we reserve the right to remove your bike to storage at the owners cost' or something similar that their lawyers will like.

The whole situation with station cycle parking makes Cambridge look like a joke when it comes to supporting cyclists - the root cause of the problem is the woeful lack of spaces. With the CB1 redevelopment some way away (if ever with the current economic mess), they need to take urgent measures to increase cycle parking.

A letter of complaint will be on its way, and if I can't get my bike back today, I will be along with some boltcutters later (unless anyone has any better ideas...)

Cycle facilities going in the right direction

There has been action on some of Coleridge Conservatives long running campaigns to improve facilities for cyclists in the ward.

Firstly, signage has now been put up to guide people through Corrie Road and Brackyn Close - this looks useful without being too obtrusive:

And following my complaints about lack of cycle parking at East Area committee venues, I am told that there will be more cycle parking installed at Lichfield Hall, and City Homes have been asked if some cycle racks can be put on their land opposite the Cherry Trees centre in Petersfield.

Many thanks to the City Council's cycling officer for making these improvements happen.

Still waiting for some more progress on other cycle related issues that I hope can be tackled soon with funding from the Council's environmental improvements scheme: completing the footpath near Carter Bridge to avoid pedestrians having to walk in the cycle lane, and opening an official cycle route between Ashbury Close and Golding Road...

Coleridge Cycle Parking

The photo below was taking on a normal working day last week at the junction of Cherry Hinton Road and Hills Road:


Bikes are parked everywhere - its hard to make out but there are also huge numbers of bikes parked against the railings on the opposite side of the road, and slightly further out of town, the bikes are two deep outside Hills Road Sixth Form College. Cambridge Cycling Campaign are campaigning hard for more cycle parking in Cambridge, and with cycle theft a huge problem, the lack of convenient, secure cycle parking becomes a real barrier to increased cycling in the city - missing out on the environmental and health benefits that cycling brings.

How can we have got into this state? This area is surrounded by modern developments (and the picture is similar outside the new flats at the top end of Rustat Road) - our planners really should have insisted on adequate cycling parking.

The planning rules governing new developments are a combination of central government policy 'guidance', and locally determined planning policy as set out in the Cambridge local plan. Have a look at appendices C and D. The car parking standards (appendix C) specify a maximum - typically one space per house, and funnily enough, this aspect of the plan appears to be non-negotiable when the Council approves new developments. Result - many new developments have built in parking problems by design because developers aren't allowed to build enough parking spaces. Appendix D specifies minimum cycle parking standards for new developments - excellent, except this aspect of the local plan is one the Council always seems to have problems enforcing. There was much debate when the Leisure Park was approved as to why they weren't going to insist on their minimum standards, and there is another argument raging about why the cycle parking for the Grand Arcade is so behind schedule.

Allocating land use to transport and parking in existing, heavily developed areas is always going to be problematic. Failing to get cycle parking, car parking and transport infrastructure right in new developments is inexcusable. I don't believe we are planning responsibly for the future development of Cambridge, and we desperately need some real scrutiny of what is going on in City planning. But in the meantime, Coleridge desperately needs more secure cycle parking.