£94million!!
- Thread starter Eaglerider
- Start date
Not a lot if Sustrans gets involved, but whatever. As token gestures go, this one probably looks good on paper, but it'll be interesting to see what benefit actually accrues where, when and to whom ...
Well, one of the proposed schemes to be financed from it is a dedicated cycleway from Exeter ( alongside the A38 )to Dartmoor......pity I wont be in the area then to enjoy it......
Lynda
Lynda
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I've also read they are going to create a coast to coast cycleway across Devon. Look forward to that
Precious little in the way of actual cycling infrastructure, that's what we will get.
Almost all of that money will be channeled into the dozens of "charities" (Quangos) both local and national, set up to boost the uptake of cycling as an alternative form of transport.
These various bodies, who know sod all about cycling, will then appoint consultants to carry out feasability studies, wildlife impact studies, financial benefits (worked out on a beer mat), and good old Sustrans will be in there, cap in hand. Ask any cyclist in Bristol where the £12m grant to create Britains first cycling city went. ( Sustrans were in there like shot )
Just the same here in Swindon with the awarding of a £4.3m grant to upgrade the cycling infrastructure. You-know-who now have a rent-free office in the town. Cartographers were commissioned to draw up a new cycle map (there's nothing wrong with the existing one) and some nice new signs were put up. the "Western Flyer" express cycle route was started and promptly stalled due to "unexpected problems".
Another example of smoke-an'-mirrors pie-in-the-sky projects, "The Cricklade Country Way". Nice website set up, but not updated since 2011. The last £10k grant to that project was spent on no less than fourteen wildlife impact studies, and not a single barrow load of scalpins got laid.
We are very lucky in Swindon to have a vast network of safe cycling routes, routes that are rapidly falling into a state disrepair. Overhanging hedges reducing existing shared paths by 60% in places. Just cut the flippin' hedges.....all right!!
Anyhoo, back to my number one hated quango. (scroll up to read the article)
SUSTRANS SUSSED
Almost all of that money will be channeled into the dozens of "charities" (Quangos) both local and national, set up to boost the uptake of cycling as an alternative form of transport.
These various bodies, who know sod all about cycling, will then appoint consultants to carry out feasability studies, wildlife impact studies, financial benefits (worked out on a beer mat), and good old Sustrans will be in there, cap in hand. Ask any cyclist in Bristol where the £12m grant to create Britains first cycling city went. ( Sustrans were in there like shot )
Just the same here in Swindon with the awarding of a £4.3m grant to upgrade the cycling infrastructure. You-know-who now have a rent-free office in the town. Cartographers were commissioned to draw up a new cycle map (there's nothing wrong with the existing one) and some nice new signs were put up. the "Western Flyer" express cycle route was started and promptly stalled due to "unexpected problems".
Another example of smoke-an'-mirrors pie-in-the-sky projects, "The Cricklade Country Way". Nice website set up, but not updated since 2011. The last £10k grant to that project was spent on no less than fourteen wildlife impact studies, and not a single barrow load of scalpins got laid.
We are very lucky in Swindon to have a vast network of safe cycling routes, routes that are rapidly falling into a state disrepair. Overhanging hedges reducing existing shared paths by 60% in places. Just cut the flippin' hedges.....all right!!
Anyhoo, back to my number one hated quango.
(scroll up to read the article)SUSTRANS SUSSED
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my opinion is that you can have grants for many grand schemes, but it won't matter a monkeys cuss for all the good that it will do,unless you educate the moronic b'stards who drive with out due care for cyclist when we have to share the road with them( by that I mean most of drivers),
Educate the motoring masses, then maybe the roads will be safer for all.
Educate the motoring masses, then maybe the roads will be safer for all.
Nice to know I'm not the only one here with utter contempt for those wonderful folks at Sustrans
OMG thanks for opening my eyes, although I had always been a bit critical of sustrans as they didnt seem to be actually getting down to the nitty gritty and doing something, my idea had always been that they were there to encourage traffic free routes but in actual fact they just seemed to be encouraging me, via their cycle maps, onto various A and B roads which I felt I was quite capable of finding myself.Precious little in the way of actual cycling infrastructure, that's what we will get.
Almost all of that money will be channeled into the dozens of "charities" (Quangos) both local and national, set up to boost the uptake of cycling as an alternative form of transport.
These various bodies, who know sod all about cycling, will then appoint consultants to carry out feasability studies, wildlife impact studies, financial benefits (worked out on a beer mat), and good old Sustrans will be in there, cap in hand. Ask any cyclist in Bristol where the £12m grant to create Britains first cycling city went. ( Sustrans were in there like shot )
Just the same here in Swindon with the awarding of a £4.3m grant to upgrade the cycling infrastructure. You-know-who now have a rent-free office in the town. Cartographers were commissioned to draw up a new cycle map (there's nothing wrong with the existing one) and some nice new signs were put up. the "Western Flyer" express cycle route was started and promptly stalled due to "unexpected problems".
Another example of smoke-an'-mirrors pie-in-the-sky projects, "The Cricklade Country Way". Nice website set up, but not updated since 2011. The last £10k grant to that project was spent on no less than fourteen wildlife impact studies, and not a single barrow load of scalpins got laid.
We are very lucky in Swindon to have a vast network of safe cycling routes, routes that are rapidly falling into a state disrepair. Overhanging hedges reducing existing shared paths by 60% in places. Just cut the flippin' hedges.....all right!!
Anyhoo, back to my number one hated quango.
SUSTRANS SUSSED
Those Merchant Venturers mentioned are scary stuff, oh, I hope I live long enough to join the revolution which is surely coming.....
Lynda
C
Cyclezee
Guest
Similar problems in MK where we are blessed with over 270 Km of Redways, I along with some other cyclists here sometimes carry a pair of secateurs to snip off particularly annoying bits of vegetation and wear a helmet to prevent being bonked by branches.We are very lucky in Swindon to have a vast network of safe cycling routes, routes that are rapidly falling into a state disrepair. Overhanging hedges reducing existing shared paths by 60% in places. Just cut the flippin' hedges.....all right!!
The worst problem though is the breaking up of the tarmac surface, this happens over a number of years as tree roots grow under the Redways. In some areas it is so rough that I take to the roads.
Of course, the cost of maintaining this is network is enormous and someone has to pay for it.
I'm guessing it will cost around 90 million in consultancy fees to decide how to spend the remaining 4 million in the most ineffective way !!
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Bonked by branches eh ?......nasty.....
You are lucky, though, to have all those redways and when you say its enormously expensive to maintain.....is it ? really ?
Just think of the difference a tiny amount of that 94 million would make.
Surely 1 million would transform it, but I think in reality , as we are finding out, that pen pushing paper pile makers are costing WAY more than repairs would......
We should take a leaf out of the French and Spanish books and actually 'put our money where our mouths are' and get some publicity, demonstrate, call the press, again and again until something is done.
The Avon and Kennett could do with some demonstrations as well.
This would be a good time to demonstrate to try to get funding where it is needed, with all this cycling publicity in the news......Im up for it if you are......
Lynda
One could purchase a lot of paint to mark out cycle tracks for £94m., but I expect that to mark out one mile of new cycle track will cost just over that amount ... Nurse! Pass the anti-cynic pill, please ...
Tom
Tom
Before we all get over cynical I must say that London is now a cycling success story,if they can roll out the success of London to our other larger cities it will make a big difference. What has happened in London is that it is now easier to get around by bike than car,you then get a pendulum effect towards bikes,less cars and the swing continues towards bikes. I often have to drive up to London but would never consider driving in central London,that is reserved to bikes and public transport but if I have to travel to say Birmingham I always drive into the city....maybe the £94 million would be best spent deterring cars as well as promoting bikes.
But like others I think it will probably all be wasted on consultancy fees
KudosDave
But like others I think it will probably all be wasted on consultancy fees
KudosDave
hmmm, i'm not sure i'd class London as a cycling success story, especially not in comparison to our peers in europe.
sure they've made it hard(er) to drive in central london, but i don't see significantly more cyclists on the streets of london than i used to 20 years ago, yes i see a lot of parked up boris bikes......but not so many in use
sure they've made it hard(er) to drive in central london, but i don't see significantly more cyclists on the streets of london than i used to 20 years ago, yes i see a lot of parked up boris bikes......but not so many in use
Either you have to be joking or you've found some patches without bikes!
In fact I find the official story that London cycling has doubled ten years an underestimate, in many areas it's gone from near zero only ten years ago to vast hordes of cyclists today. The large increase in bike sales outlets and/or outlet size over your twenty years underlines that.
or i don't see an increase, i didn't say there were none - there were quite a few people aside from me that used to commute, but compared to copenhagen, munich, stockholm, amsterdam, (in fact any non southern europe major capital) it was and still is tiny.
Even compared to some other uk cities, it still seems that London is doing poorly, yes its growing, but "success story" is still far from true.
thats a fair point, and a quick google search proves you're right and i'm wrong (doncha hate it when that happens
) its interesting that my perspective is obviously wrong, most of my work is around the city, so maybe the % hasn't increased so much there, but i sit corrected Related Articles
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