leedscyclingcampaign's blog

A really interesting, and rather worrying, blog post from 'Leeds Cycle People' about traffic growth and the risk of cycling in Leeds. Our city appears to be second only to Bradford (what is it about West Yorkshire?!) and twice as dangerous as Manchester and Liverpool in terms of risk to cyclists. These findings are a sad confirmation of what it feels like to cycle in Leeds, "the car-sick self-proclaimed ''motorway city of the 70s'".

It was heartening to see such a good turnout at Roger Geffen's talk at Leeds University last week (13th March). Roger is the Cycle Touring Club's 'Campaigns and Policy Director' and obviously knows his stuff. Only a couple of years ago, the idea of Dutch-style cycleways would have been unthinkable.

We met with Mark Robinson, Leeds City Council Cycling Officer yesterday, to discuss the Cycle City Ambition funding. Mark indicated that Leeds will make a bid to the funding, as Leeds alone, not as part of a joint West Yorkshire bid. They're thinking of bidding for about £10m (the pot will have to be shared between all the successful bidders). Cycle links to Bradford may be considered as part of the bid. They are considering asking York for technical expertise. (We have some concerns about exactly how good the cycle infrastructure is in York and whether they really are 'expert'!)

On my commute into Leeds I regularly observe taxis parking in the cycle lane, and sometimes on the pavement, outside the Tapas bar on Kirkstall Road in order that the passenger can use the cash machine (photo from 14th Feb this year). This obstructs my passage and means I have to move out into the carriageway - which is very busy and moving at speed. The cycle lane is mandatory and road marked with double-yellow lines. Parking on the pavement I believe to be illegal. 

The first official meeting of the Leeds Cycling Campaign will be held in The Adelphi Hotel (http://www.theadelphileeds.co.uk/) in Leeds. We have an upstairs room which will be ideal for combining a dedicated space for discussion with rapid access to the bar.

Following a “Go Dutch” workshop hosted by transport planners from the Netherlands, Mark Robinson described a possible approach to Regent St. Mark reported the workshop had recommended “build stuff” – the attendees had asked about training and awareness and the Dutch had said “build quality stuff” – that’s more important. The proposal for Regent St is a “hybrid cycle lane” which would have on-road sections, with priority over side streets, and where no side streets exist, shared use on pavements. Detailed survey information should be available shortly.