From: Mariam Issimdar

Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:27 PM

Subject: BBc Inside Out - cycle feature

Hello Brian

Nice to talk to you earlier. Ideally we're looking for a cyclist who has a nightmare journey to work. Ideally commuting from Baldock, Hitchin, Royston and the other towns we discussed.  If any of your group would be willing to take part please can they contact me on either of the numbers below or via email

Many thanks

Mariam

Mariam Issimdar
BBC Inside Out
Tel: 01603 619331
Mob:07970 713641
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/east
BBC East, The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich, NR2 1BH

Dear Mariam,

I was passed your message. I am the CTC’s local rep for North Herts – covering Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock and Royston, and the surrounding countryside. I work near Cambridge and commute by a bike / train / bike combination. It isn’t a nightmare commute, on the contrary it is really very pleasant. You are welcome to contact me, and I will pass on your request to various of our members and other local cycle commuters.

I am rather wary of getting involved in any programme that would portray North Herts as a death trap for anybody venturing out on a bike. It isn’t, in fact it is a very long way from it. For the most part North Hertforshire is ideal for cycling, and cycling is the ideal way to get around North Hertfordshire.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t serious problems here in North Herts – there are, and they need to be addressed, but most people can get about without ever encountering them.

So, some good things about cycling in North Herts:

b     The weather is good.

b     The terrain is gentle – we have enough hills to make it scenic but not to make it hard work.

b     Traffic is relatively light.

b     The towns are all a manageable size – if you live in one you are never more than 5-10 minutes from the centre.

b     The towns are close together – if you live in a village you are never more than 15-20 minutes from a town or railway station.

b     Local services and schools are good, there is plenty of employment, so no need to travel great distances.

b     There are few really major roads and most (but not all – see below) of the main roads are relatively easy to cross.

b     There is a good rail network to link into for longer journeys.

And some bad ones:

L   Levels of cycling are unnatuarally low. Generally 3% of people in North Herts cycle to work, compared with 25% in Cambridge, only a few miles away.

L   Because it is so easy to drive around North Herts, there is little incentive for people to change.

L   There is very little interest from councillors in improving cycling in the county. Investment in Hertfordshire works out at about £0.70 per person per year, in Amsterdam they spend about £24 per person per year. Amsterdam already has pretty good facilities, we are starting from scratch. In fact, it would only cost about £6.50 per person per year for the next ten years to build the North Herts cycle network.

L   There are a few quite nasty roads in the district and nothing is done to assist cyclists in crossing them safely and comfortably. The Royston bypass is a good example.

L   There are some nasty one way gyratories (Paynes Park in Hitchin, A10 in Royston), although mercifully they are nothing on the inner ring roads suffered by some towns.

L   Town centre roads get pretty congested (Hitchin being the worst) and some drivers can be pretty impatient and beligerent. The roads leading to the rail stations in all four towns can be uncomfortably busy. OK for confident cyclists but scary for novices.

L   A lot of town centre road space is lost to on-street parking. That makes roads artificially narrow and makes it difficult to make meaningful infrastructure improvements.

L   Royston is unnecessarily difficult to move around in – severance from the rail line and roads, and poorly connected housing estates.

L   Very little “cycling infrastructure” has been built, in spite of having a 10 year old cycle network plan.

L   Worse than this, the quality of the infrastructure that has been built is very poor. Designers have simply ignored design guidelines and built inappropriate facilities of substandard width etc, ignoring consultation responses from ourselves.

L   Worse still, when designing other changes to the Highway they have ignored cycle access and closed off routes that cyclists use and were in the Cycle Network Plan. It is all easy to fix, but they are not fixing it. See letter here.

So, in summary, North Herts is naturally a very good area for cycling. People should get out and try it more, it will improve their lives and the lives of people around them.

Relatively low modal shares are more down to a lack of deterrents to driving than any insurmountable barriers for cycling. There are barriers, they need to be overcome, but the most worrying cloud on the horizon is the lack of any commitment from Herts Highways to providing good, safe, convenient cycle access whenever they change the highway. As always, I must qualify that, Herts Highways have some very good, very helpful officers, as do the district council. Unfortunately they are not the ones calling the shots. Hertfordshire County Council are putting cycle provision before the scrutiny committee in the autumn at our instigation. We hope that this will result in positive changes, although I won’t hold my breath.

I will be only to happy to help if your programme reflects this balance. No scare mongering horror stories please.