Dear Ambassadors and Supporters,
It’s been another busy few month in the world of trying to get proper places to cycle in the United Kingdom.
As well as the blog round-ups (here, here and here) - which is the way I certainly try to keeop on top not only of events, but also all the new resesarch which keeps coming out. there have been regular updates to our ongoing ‘good facility of the week’ feature.
The Embassy has also responded to some of the quietway consultations (here and here) and the Wilmslow Cycleway in Manchester, and our chair put together a detailed article showing how we can achieve priority of cycleways over motor traffic at junctions and side-roads -- frequently, but incorrectly, cited as a barrier to high-quality cycling infrastructure in the UK.
But did you also see the AGM is on? This year, on June 27th and 28th, we’re going to Leicester, where our Infrastructure Safaris (not very ™) will be led by our local hosts, and we’ll be combining it with an Infrastructure Summit. You can join the event on this Lanyrd page and well be ading a more detailed schedule in a few weeks' time.
The goal of the summit is simple: “to examine ways in which priority can be given to cycling at junctions (both major and minor) in Britain” - we hear from a lot of campaigners about the paucity of useful information on some topics, and we’re keen to try to rectify this, as well as to ensure that we all have a common understanding of good quality junction design..
On Sunday we’ll be holding the official AGM. This year it’ll include more workshops and support activities for campaigners, including work on the dictionary, the wiki, and perhaps the document library. But it’s your meeting too, so please let us know what you’d like to find out about, as well!
Thanks for your ongoing support.
Tim Lennon
Secretary, Cycling Embassy of Great Britain.
P.S. I've spent the day walking round Amsterdam, trying to pay attention to my children while watching slightly agog at the sheer volume of people getting around by bicycle as if its the most natural, normal, obvious thing in the world. I'm sending this newsletter from a quiet Amsterdam suburb, reminding me both of the scale of our ambition, but more importantly of the difference it could make to so many peoples' lives.