Worthing Cycle Campaign > Newsletter > May 2001

First "Committee” Meeting

The first meeting of the Worthing Cycle Campaign was held on Monday 9th April. Eight members were present, and we discussed various issues about the campaign and how it should be run.

After some interesting discussion we decided that the shortest sentence to describe the Campaign's aims is:

"Making the Worthing area
better for cycling"

We decided that the campaign should not be particularly militant. It was felt that the occasional Critical Mass bike ride would be useful for publicity, but that we would not be aiming to deliberately hold up car traffic.

In order to raise some funds to pay for publicity and to cover the costs of producing the newsletter, it was decided that a small membership fee of £1 per year would be asked for.  Any extra donations would also be very welcome.

The next meeting will be on Monday 14 May, and future meetings will usually be held on the second Monday in each month. Please telephone or e-mail Anthony in advance if you'd like to come along.  The meetings are fairly informal, and anyone who wants to take a more active role in helping the campaign is welcome to come along.

County Budget for Cycling

Thank you to everyone who wrote to the council about the complete lack of funding for cycling facilities in Worthing for the next year.  Those who wrote will have received a standard reply from Guy Parfect. His basic argument is that because they haven't identified anything to spend money on, there isn't any need for a budget.

Progress of Worthing-Goring

Guy Parfect said in a recent letter "The second half of the Town Centre to Goring route is to be built this year, providing the crossing facilities and junction alterations to plug the gaps in the existing route."

The public consultation on the new features on the route will be done at the same time as the general consultation on the Worthing Cycle Strategy (see below).

Worthing Cycle Strategy

According to Guy Parfect, the delay in consulting about the Strategy was due to a lack of staff and the need to complete millennium projects.  According to his letter, "The public consultation on the cycle strategy is being arranged for early summer..."

Unofficial sources tell me that consultation will happen via exhibitions at the following places:

• Worthing Central Library
  Wed 27 June to Wed 11th July
  WSCC staff available from Thu 28 to Sat 30 June daily, from 10am until 4pm (5pm on Thu 28 June)
• Sainsbury's, Lyons Farm
  Wed 27 June to Wed 4 July
  WSCC staff available on Fri 29 June from 3pm until 8pm
• Worthing Leisure Centre
  Wed 4 July to Wed 11 July
  WSCC staff available on Fri 6 July from 11am until 9pm and on Sat 7 July from 11am until 4pm.

We should try to get as many cyclists as possible to go along to at least one of these exhibitions and make useful comments to the council.

Help Needed

We are looking for people to do the following jobs. If any of them appeal to you, please let Anthony know or come along to the next meeting on 14 May.

• Newspaper watcher - keep an eye on the local papers (Advertiser, Guardian, Herald) for articles and letters of interest to cyclists, letting me know if anything turns up.
• Newspaper contact or "Press Officer" - someone who knows, or can get to know, local newspaper editors and reporters.
• Sustrans contact - to keep an eye out for information relevant to the Worthing area, and to let Sustrans know what we're doing.
• Friends of the Earth contact - so we can keep in touch, and possibly plan events jointly.
• Worthing Environment Forum - we need someone to attend meetings and discuss cycling issues.  This is an active group with a regular newsletter.
• People willing to help organise and run events such as Critical Mass rides and Dr. Bike sessions.
• Letter writers - People willing to write letters when needed.
• Urban Transport Forum - sometimes I am unable to get to this meeting (held quarterly) and would like to be able to ask someone else to attend if needed.

Dr. Bike

The Festival of Cycling (was National Bike Week) is from 16 to 24 June this year. It's a good chance to get events organised, with extra publicity and support (including free insurance).

I'd like to run a Dr. Bike session in Worthing town centre, in conjunction with the Police and Borough Council. The most likely date for this would be Saturday  16 June.

This time I'd appreciate some help from Campaign members, either to talk to people about cycling, or to check bikes and possibly make minor adjustments. I can show anyone who's interested how to do the bike check - no technical knowledge is needed!

Urban Transport Forum

The following comments about cycling were minuted from the last Urban Transport Forum meeting, held on 24th January 2001:

"Town Centre - Goring. The necessity for traffic orders for Stage II is being investigated and will be followed by further local consultation which will include cycling groups. This scheme will be financed by funds carried over from this financial year.

"It was agreed that parking on cycleways is a problem as the restrictions are difficult to enforce in outer areas owing to a shortage of wardens.

"Concern was expressed that the straightforward sections of cycleway proceed more quickly than the danger spots at junctions. Chris Owen said the intention is to complete the existing schemes before starting others.

"Cycling Strategy Review. A joint members meeting on this long-term Strategy will take place on 13th February to discuss consultation proposals. This will involve an exhibition in the Spring at Worthing Town Hall where a questionnaire will be available.

"In response to a question on the duration of the review [I had asked why it was that, more that a year from the publication of the consultant's report, we still hadn't been consulted] it was explained that the 1994 strategy is not compliant with current practice, that the Safer Routes to School initiative will promote cycling and that the priority on funding at present is the maintenance backlog."

For anyone who is interested, the complete minutes are posted on the WCC web site.

The next meeting of this forum, which includes several very senior WSCC people, is on Tuesday 19th June at 6:00pm at the Town Hall. Perhaps a small group of cyclists outside the meeting might be an idea?

Cycling Facility Requests

Comments on these ideas are very welcome, as are any other ideas for facilities.

• A short cycle track past the north doors to C&A (between Liverpool Road and Shelley Road) would provide a means to cycle westwards from the town centre without having to use the busy coast road or Richmond Road.
• A short contra-flow cycle lane outside Barclays Bank to link Shelley Road to Chapel Road would provide a much-needed link for cyclists to cross town.
• Treatment of the roundabouts in Worthing Town Centre to make them suitable for cyclists to use!
• A dropped curb at the road closure in Carnegie Road would provide a most useful link for cyclists along this traffic-free road.
• A gap to allow cyclists to turn right from Chatsworth Road into the High Street would provide a useful link from West Worthing (Shelley Road) to East Worthing (Brighton Road).
• A contra-flow cycle lane in Broadwater Street East would allow cyclists to avoid the busy light-controlled crossing at Broadwater Road/Sompting Avenue. This used to be a popular cycle route until the current traffic system was implemented here.
• A gap in the central reservation to allow cyclists to go straight on when leaving Broadwater Street East to cross Sompting Avenue into Beaumont Road.
• Permitting cycling along pedestrianised streets before and after shopping hours (say before 9am and after 6pm), as in Chichester, would allow commuter cyclists to travel in safety. The increased presence of people in these streets would also discourage vandalism.
• A 20mph speed limit on all town centre roads, especially Marine Parade and Shelley Road.

Web site maintained by Anthony Cartmell.