Cycling Embassy June Newsletter

Dear Embassy member & cycling Ambassador...

Welcome to the June newsletter of the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain. 

This week has felt like a bad week for cycling generally, with cuts to cycling investment and no mention of walking or cycling in the "Investing in Britain's Future" announcement that followed the Comprehensive Spending Review. The revised Cycling Action Plan for Scotland was also a disappointment, showing real lack of leadership on the part of the Scottish Government. We've seen rising casualty figures announced for cyclists both north and south of the border, despite the roads generally getting safer. 

How can you help?

Now, more than ever, we need to get our message beyond the 'converted' and out to those people who would cycle more if only the conditions were right. We need volunteers to help spread the word at Sky Rides and other closed road events. If you are planning on attending one of these - or if there's one coming to your city or town - and would like to help spread the word, then let us know.. Oh, and we're sure you've done this already, but if you haven't then please do sign the Get Britain Cycling petition - and pass the word on to everyone you know, cyclist or not.

AGM news

It's been a busy month for the Embassy since the AGM, with new members on the board and lots of new activity kicking off. Most importantly we have a new Chair, Mark Treasure, former Press Secretary and author of the As Easy as Riding a Bike Blog. Mark replaces Jim Davis, Embassy founder, who sadly had to step down for personal reasons, although he remains on the board. You can find out a bit more about Mark and his vision for the future in this interview with our new Press Secretary, Joe Dunckley. 

The AGM was held in Newcastle in the first weekend in June, ably hosted by New Cycling, the Newcastle Cycle Campaign. The main outcome of the weekend - apart from two excellent infrastructure safaris - was the understanding that we needed to clarify our vision and lay out in more detail what it really means to 'Go Dutch'. As part of that work we will be building up a detailed dictionary of cycling and cycle policy terms - something that should be invaluable to any campaigner, and a useful source of information for those putting policy into to practice. This is one of many areas where we need members to volunteer to get involved. You can find out more here. 

Think global, act local

Local cycling strategies are one area where campaigners can potentially make a difference, and we can expect more of them to be drawn up in the near future - the new Cycling Action Plan for Scotland, for instance, includes local strategies for all Scottish Local Authorities. There's a big difference between a good, ambitious, robust and concrete strategy, and a vague statement full of warm words, but at first glance it's not easy to tell the difference. Coming out of the AGM we've started to draw up guidelines for campaigners  to use when looking at or proposing local strategies. You can find out more - including how you can help - here. 

You can also help by letting us know about local consultation exercises taking place in your area. And if you know of plans for investment in your area and want advice on how to critique or improve them, then the embassy forums are a good place to start - as campaigners from Leicester and Leith have already discovered. For those who want to make a real impact we're delighted to learn that Rachel Aldred will be running a workshop on creating 3D visualisations of road plans - something some of our members have already been working on with impressive results. We'll update you as soon as we know more.

Visit our new look website

And finally, we've been busy on the website - thanks to board member Joe Costello - and it now has a clean new look as well as an easier-to-navigate layout. There's work going on on our knowledge base (an editable wiki) and of course there's our regular blog  including the indispensible weekly blog roundup. We're always looking for more people to offer guest blogs and to help develop the wiki, so if you're interested, let us know through our volunteer coordinator, Tim Lennon volunteer@cycling-embassy.org.uk

Thank you for your support of the Cycling Embassy - and have a great summer of cycling.