Note of North Staffs ranger meeting
15 October 2014 - The white Star, Stoke
Present – Mike Barr, Helen Bowes, Mike Durkin, Michael Gibbs, David Hopwood, Dave Lewis +
Andy Barratt Stephen Dyster (Sustrans): Apologies – John Kay, Alison Thomas
1 Review of group activities in 2014
Our activities in 2014 so far include4 work days, 7 public leisurely rides, 1 sustrans stall, 2 signing rides, 2 pub meets and 2 new route surveys (551 &559).
2 Sustrans local projects
Stephen Dyster and Andy Barratt (Sustrans BikeIT/schools officer – ends April 2016) outlined their work with schools in the north and east of the City. 24 school staff have been trained as ride leaders and 11 schools now have some pool bikes. They would likeSustrans volunteers (and we agreed) to lead a ride(s) in March? 2015for the trained school staff to get them acquainted with the NCN and other local greenway routes. The trained staff would then lead rides for school children (with help from sustrans volunteers?).
Stephen Dyster to provide list of schools with trained staff and consult them on best time/date for a ride.
DarylColbourn (Sustrans “pocket places”- ends April 2015?) is running a community engagement projectin Newcastle and would like volunteer help for a Halloween themed ride from the town centre on Friday afternoon 31 October .
MB to circulate details when available
Andrea McCann (Sustrans workplace project - – ends April 2015?) is promoting sustainable travel in 8 main employment areas in North Staffs, including UHNS.
CTL/Velo-M are currently being paid to provide cycling element e.g. bike checks, bike training, try a bike, led rides and bike commuting support.
MBto investigate scope for volunteers to help
Schemes – new link from NR55 to Caldon canal at Birches Head to be complete March 2015. Caldon Canal towpath upgrade from Stockton Brook to Endon now complete. Rest of towpath to Cheddleton + on road signing to Manifold Trail to complete March 2015. Upgrade of Leek canal arm + on road signing to the Roches to be done in 2015/6.
MB to check with Ed Healey (Sustrans WM area manager) re any future Sustrans schemes/aspirations
If you have suggestions for schemes then please let me know
3Our ranger group activities in 2015
Suggested activities for 2015 would be similar to 2014 withan average of 1-2 activities per month.
Please let me have your comments and suggestions for our2015 activities draft programme (see page 3 below).
3.1 Route maintenance
NR5 at Burslem seems to be the worst section of NCN for litter and path leafage and therefore is suggested for the first workday.
Please let me know if you
a) have any queries about reporting problems on your sections of the NCN to the responsible agencies (CRT, councils etc).
b) may need a workday on your section of the NCN
3.2Signing
The signing rides will check route signing continuity, signing at access points and also destination signing. We can check each other’s routes and/or get neighbouring rangers (Cheshire and Stafford) to do joint checks. To cover our patch could take 4 rides e.g. NR5 (Stone to Stoke – 10 miles), NR5 (Stoke to Kidsgrove – 9 miles), NR555 (Stoke to Kidsgrove – 8 miles) and NR55 (Hanley to Whitemore – 10 miles). We could aim to do 2 (or more?) of these in 2015.
Also 2 new routes(NR550 – Caldon canal and NR551 – Stoke to Nantwich) will need signing.
3.3Promotion
The Leisurely rides (5-10 miles) aim to promote awareness of the NCN but turnouts were lower in 2014, particularly on the experimental Saturday rides, than in previous years. This could be due to poor publicity by Stoke Council (+ Mike Barr losing the rider email list!) but maybe also be due to competition from other rides such as SkyLocal and less public demand.
There appears to be demand for medium (20-30 mile) rides and it is suggested that we alternate easy and medium rides and do more publicity ourselves to promote the rides. Medium rides would incorporate sections of NCN e.g. NR55 to Congleton, NR550 to Leek or Cheddleton and NR5 to Stone or Sandbach
It is suggested we again have a Sustrans stall at the Stone Festival and also have one at “Midsummer Mayhem” in the Lyme valley, Newcastle. Need to consider options for unmanned (or part time manned) Sustrans displays e.g. libraries
3.4Support for other groups
Stafford rangers will be organising a ride at the opening of the last section of NR55 (Stafford to Newport) andSouth Cheshire rangers may organise another picnic ridein 2015.
The Green door project at Westport Lake that hires special bikes to the disabled is short of volunteers.
CRT maintains the canal parts of the NCN and has a Stoke Towpath taskforce of volunteers.
3.5 Social
Next social/pub meeting is at 7 pm on Wednesday 7 December 2014 at “The Greyhound” PH, George Street, Newcastle under Lyme ST5 1JT.
North Staffordshire Sustrans ranger group
Draft of suggested activities in 2015
Date and Activity / Social2014
November
December / 10 - Pub meet - the greyhound, Newcastle
2015
January / 3 – Workday – NR5 Burslem
February / 7 – Workday - ?
March / 8 – Workday - ?
? - Trained school staff ride
? - signing ride 1 / 4 - Pub meet - ?
April / 19 - Led ride
? - NR550 Caldon canal inaugural ride
? - NR55 Stafford inaugural ride / [Easter Sunday = 5th April]
May / 17 - Led ride
? - signing ride 2
June / 13 - Sustrans stall – Stone Festival
14? - Led ride (Biddulph Grange CP) / 3 - Pub meet - ?
July / 19 - Led ride
? - vegetation cutback
August / 16 - Led ride
? - Sustrans stall – Lyme Valley
September / 20 - Led ride / 2 - Pub meet - ?
October / 18 - Led ride
November
December / 2 - Pub meet - ?
Note:
The led rides would be on 3rd Sunday of month from April to October and could alternate between easy (5-10 miles) and medium (20-30 miles) rides.
Workdays would be on the first Saturday of the month from January to March (+ a July vegetation cutback if necessary) with venues to be confirmed the week before.
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