Click here for the Hampshire Highways report on the Butser cutting cycle route.
Category Listing: Campaign update
QE and Staunton Country Park surveys
Hampshire County Council is conducting a survey of the views of visitors to their country parks. This is an opportunity for us to express likes and dislikes of aspects of the parks.
There are two - very similar surveys:
Portsmouth: A City to Share
Last Monday I attended the launch meeting of the Portsmouth Cycling Forum cycling strategy for Portsmouth which was well attended by City Counsellors and senior Officers as well as Representatives of British Cycling and other interested parties. Jon Spencer as chairman of the PCF made the launch presentation and emphasised that it had been formulated by the PFC in response to a challenge by Donna Jones the leader of the Council and covered five key action areas: Safety; Transport; Equality; Leisure; and Planning.
You can see the strategy document here.
This is obviously a very important forward move for Cycling in Portsmouth and Donna Jones has responded very favourably and wishes to progress the city policies to incorporate the strategy and will be holing further meetings to this end with John in the near future.
The next meeting of the Portsmouth Cycling Forum, at which the Strategy will be presented, is on the same day as our AGM 13th November. Even so, it would be good if Portsmouth were well represented.
Havant Thicket path improvement
The attached Portsmouth Water Company newsletter touches on 2 or 3 cycling issues I have made in magazine items over the last year. In particular PWC have made improvements to the east and west sections of the cycle route around the proposed reservoir site.
Consultation on proposed cycle routes at Longmoor
You may be interested in responding to a consultation for cyclists displayed on the East Hampshire District Council web site at http://www.easthampshire.org/2014/04/mod-and-shipwrights-way-partnership-working-together-provide-for-cyclists-longmoor/
Portsmouth North Quarter Development
Portsmouth City Council is seeking comments prior to submitting an outline planning application for a major development of the temporary car park which was once the Tricorn Centre (just to the north of the Cascades).
The Portsmouth Cycle Forum have already raised issues on problems with cycling access and you may want to make your own comments at: http://www.northernquarter.info/index.html
Cycling In Surrey
You may have already read about Surrey locals complaining about the high level of cycling on their roads. This has led to a petition from the residents to Surrey County Council to place limits on cyclists by banning cycling events. There is now a counter petition from the cycling lobby to put the other point of view. If you want to read all about it and support Surrey cycling campaigners go to: https://www.change.org/petitions/surrey-county-council-interact-and-give-knowledge-to-those-you-represent
Staunton Country Park / Havant Thicket
Thicket Car Park to Durrants Rd
The cycle infrastructure built in Havant Borough over the last 4 years has been a success but the amount of cycling has not increased as quickly as hoped. Feedback indicates that many people are uncomfortable cycling in cycle lanes on busy roads and are concerned that there are few off road cycle routes that could be used to gain confidence.
Staunton Country Park and Havant Thicket is a 1000 acre site adjacent to Leigh Park and Rowlands Castle with easy cycle access from Cowplain. A reservoir is planned for the centre of the site. The surrounded area is a mixture of woodland, meadow and scrubland that includes cycleable tracks. They have not however been marked out, mapped or publicised and include several short muddy sections, consequently few people use them.
Butser Cutting
In the early 1990s the A3 road north from the A3(M) was replaced by a dual carriageway that, for the vast majority of cyclists, does not offer an acceptable safety level. The Highways Agency built cycle tracks alongside the A3, south from Queen Elizabeth country park to north Horndean and from Petersfield to Liphook. The critical section for cyclists, through the Butser cutting, was left without cycle provision with the loss of the primary cycling route across Hampshire’s South Downs. Over 10 years of campaigning by a large number of cyclists failed to get this unacceptable road design rectified.
CTC organised a petition to gauge support for the cycle route. Several local cycling clubs and Queen Elizabeth Country Park supported the initiative. 3894 people signed the petition. The comments provided have been analysed to estimate the value of the route to the community. That assessment was used to support the South Downs National Park Authority bid to improve cycling in the national park. The bid was successful and a total of £788k was obtained from the Department for Transport and local funding to construct the Butser Cutting route. Work has to be complete by 1st April 2015 to meet the conditions of the funding
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park Authority has obtained £5.1m (including £3.8m from the Department for Transport and £1.3m local funding.) to improve cycle infrastructure in the national park, announced 12th August.