CITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE : CYCLING STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
(a joint meeting of the Cycling Forum and the CCAF Stakeholder Group)
NOTE OF THE MEETING HELD ONTHURSDAY, 22 JANUARY 2015
In attendance: Cllr Marion Talbot (Chair Cycling Forum), John Litherland (Chair CCAF Stakeholder Group),Cllr Ged Bell, Bill Dodds (Vice-Chair Cycling Forum),Graham Grant, Ali Lamb, Peter White(all Newcastle City Council), Heather Evans (CTC),Tom Bailey (Sustrans), Chris O'Connor (Newcastle Bicycle Couriers), Tom King, Rorie Parsons (both Newcastle University), Tony Waterston (Transition Jesmond), John Dixon, John Davies.
Apologies: Cllr Stephen Psallidas, Colin Green.
Cllr Marion Talbot took the Chair and welcomed everyone, especially Cllr Ged Bell (Chair Cycle City Programme Co-ordination Board).Whilst a draft Agenda had been circulated, CCAF related items would be the main topic for discussion and dealt with first.
1. Update on CCAF Phase 1 / Action
PW referred to schemes that had progressed since the last meeting, and the spreadsheet detailing all schemes will be on the website tomorrow.
Strategic Cycle Routes
City Centre, John Dobson Street: The scheme is now well progressed and there will be a public exhibition at the City Library from 9-16 February. The exhibition will include plans, coloured slides and a video to show the road as it is now and how it will look with the two-way cycle track and other features proposed. All points made will be noted. JL commented that this was the most radical proposal presented to date for cycling in the City Centre and it should be used as a flagship for other City Centre proposals. TK asked if the University had responded in detail and TB said they had been involved at an earlier stage.
Drawings were then displayed but as there was no time to discuss these in detail PW offered to discuss these at the end of the meeting.
SCR 1 Elswick: Following objections to the Benwell Lanelegal orders, mainlydue to the proposed loss of car parking, the scheme had been revisited. In areas where more car parkinghad been requested, segregated provision for cyclists is now provided by taking space from the wide footway.A meeting is to take place with Ward Councillors, following which the legal orders will be advertised again.
Retail Areas, Adelaide Terrace: The centre line of the road will not be removed. The latest drawing had just gone to the TAG and the next steps are to consult the traders and the local community.
Acorn Road: A final meeting of the design working group had taken place and legal orders will be published late February.
Shields Road: A meeting had been held with traders two nights ago, and they were still asking for more car parking. A survey of how people travel to the shops there had been done and of the 800+ surveyed, 16% arrived by car and 7% by cycle. The rest walked or used public transport. There is still a lot more work to do to convince the traders that there isn't a parking problem. Support for change from the local community and the cycling community is also needed.
JDa commented that Acorn Road is in a vastly residential area whereas Shields Road isn't, and car parking from Shields Road could be relocated to other streets. MT responded that once the Acorn Road scheme is in place and we can see how it works and there is an increase in trade, it will become easier to convince other traders of the benefits.GB said that delivery was so important as this had implications for other projects. We want to see the users of Shields Road come to us and say we want this.
2. Update on CCAF Phase 2
GG explained that the DfT now had further monies available and had asked the Cycle Cities to put in bids for these. Monies would be allocated on a population basis of £7.23 per person, and the bid area (which included parts of Gateshead and North Tyneside) showed a population of 480,000. The max bid was £10.6m i.e. £3.5m approx per year for 3 years.
A map was circulated and this indicated the routes and areas that would be included in the bid, along with CCAF1 routes and other details.
GG/PW referred to the following routes for CCAF2 or other funding:
  • Re-allocation of road space for a two-way cycle track along Neville Street (Central Station) - Collingwood Street - Market Street
  • Westgate Road (2015-2016 LTP monies)
  • Westmorland Road
  • Science Central - Gallowgate - Percy Street - Barras Bridge
  • Claremont Road - Town Moor
  • Overpass at Claremont Road
  • Schemes for RVI and Queen Victoria Road - bus gate?
  • University Hospital - Queen Victoria Road
  • Civic Centre - Sandyford Road
  • Gateshead - Durham Road bus corridor
  • Coast Road (this may be a stepped approach initiallyi.e. removal of street furniture)
  • N Tyneside had monies to improve the crossings of the Coast Road at Billy Mill and Norham Road (Local Growth Deal monies)
  • SR6 from the Coast Road to Heaton Road
  • West, Wingrove Cycle Hub at Nuns Moor to the City Centre
  • Dukes Moor, a route across the Moor to the west, subject toagreement with the Freemen
  • Gateshead, Great North Cycleway to fill the remaining gap from Gateshead interchange to Durham Road
He also referred to Community Cycling Areas, areas which would give cycling more precedence. These included:
  • Heaton - Ouseburn area; Heaton Park Road - Shields Road; Chillingham Road
  • Science Central residential area
He also mentioned routes to Metro stations:
  • Tynemouth - West Monkseaton (North Tyneside)
  • Kingston Park housing sites
  • Ponteland (Northumberland) to the Airport and Kenton Bar (Highways Agency monies)
The £10.6m would be split as follows:
  • City Centre - £4
  • Strategic Routes - £4m
  • Green Travel/Community Cycling Areas - £2.5m
  • Metro routes and a small scheme fund for permeabilitye.g.dropped kerbs/barrier removal - £0.1m
Work on the routes and areas identified would cost a lot more than £10.6m and the plan is to bid for more than allowed, not to be too specific and to design in flexibility. All of the City Centre routes would be included, along with Sandyford Road, theCoast Road, the Gateshead routes, a route to the west and Heaton Road to the Coast Road.
In June/Julythe north-east LEP will have European Funding for low carbon infrastructure that we can bid for and use to match fund the City Centre £4m.
PW mentioned that the DfT will also be welcoming additional bids for a separate pot of money from the Cycle Cities for schemes already in the pipeline but not yet funded, and that Newcastle are now looking to recruit more highway designers in order to deal with the extra work.
BD was very pleased that the proposals were really ambitious. He also suggested contra-flow for cyclists and more 20 mph speed limits in the City Centre. He mentioned an Orbital cycle route, a leisure route that would link current leisure routes i.e. Hadrian's Cycleway, Ouseburn, City Stadium, Heaton Park, Jesmond Dene, Little Moor, Dukes Moor, Town Moor, Denton Dene, Hadrian's Cycleway.This was originally proposed in an Accessible Cities bid. He also referred to developer contributions and engaging with Euro MPs and getting them on board.
Before leaving the meeting GBsaid that we are building on CCAF1 and the 10 year Cycling Plan and he hoped the presentation had been enlightening as a great deal of work had been done. He will also be starting discussions with the Freemen shortly with regard to new routes on their land.
JLreferred to a request from Ouseburn Futures for additional monies for DIY Streets in their area and mentioned that Recyke y’bike do a lot of business with the Universities but not with Newcastle College. AL will contact their Students Union.
TW liked the idea of Community Cycling Areas but was disappointed that Jesmond wasn't the chosenarea. He felt Jesmond needed this more. MT responded that this may be easier to achieve in Heaton. Unlike CCAF1, monies for CCAF2 need to be claimed back quarterly from the DfT once work has been done, so delivery is imperative.
In closing the discussion MT asked if we needed to do anything more. GG responded that he had just needed the opportunity to discuss the bid proposals with stakeholders and thanked all for their comments.If letters of support are needed from Organisations they will be contacted.
JL asked GG if he could write 2/3 paras outlining the strategic approach for CCAF2 that stakeholders could pass on through their networks. GG will do so and circulatethis.
The bid will be signed off at the CCAF Board meeting on 28 January by the Director of Resources and then sent to the DfT by 31 January.If our bid is accepted monies will be available from April.
3. Other Agenda Items
There was no time to discuss Bike Life, the Cycle City Conference and the Sky Ride and updates will be circulated via the E-Newsletter.
Comments on Governance and the Terms of Reference for the Cycling Stakeholders Forum need to be received by 31 January. These can be submitted through Let's talk Newcastle.
4. Future meetings
The 3rd Thursday of every other month was suggested i.e. 19 March, 21 May,16 July, 17 September, 19 November.