Merton Cycling Campaign

MCC News, Issue 1, December 1996

Welcome!

This is the first newsletter from Merton Cycling Campaign. We hope to publish at least four times a year, with a bit of luck, distributing it either in London Cyclist or in the post. If you’re a London Cycling Campaign member living in Merton, you’re automatically an MCC member. And you should automatically get a newsletter. If you know of a deserving person who didn’t get theirs, please let us know. If you want to get more involved with the group, contact one of the people listed in this sheet or come to a meeting or a ride (see back page).

1996: the highlights

The year started with disappointment after the rejection of our bid for state-of-the-art bike parking at Wimbledon station. With Merton Council we bid for Ł40,000 of government Cycle Challenge cash to create a staffed bikepark/repair shop/hire service along the lines of BikePark in Covent Garden. We didn’t make it, but plans to improve the miserable parking at the borough’s no.1 cycling destination aren’t completely dead. They do seem, however, to be buried somewhere in the confusion that is the privatised railway system...

April saw the birth of Merton Cycling Campaign as we changed our name from London Cycling Campaign (Merton) for more local impact. No complaints from the cricketing bunch with the fancy ties yet received.

MCC got Merton’s mayor, Slim Flegg, onto a pedal-powered vehicle for National Bike Week in June. We gave him a lift in a purpose-built wheelchair tandem as part of a charity ride for asthma research around Morden.

Cycling issues - and MCC - have gained valuable publicity in the local papers this year. But there can be a price to pay... In July, after one muscular exchange of letters in the Wimbledon Guardian, MCC co-ordinator Richard Evans found himself dubbed the ‘bicycle preacher’ in type large and bold enough to make him wince...

Cycling around Raynes Park could soon be easier after our lobbying this year over the ‘cattle arch’ - the tunnel under the railway line next to the station. Our argument is that BR should allow the cycle route to go through here, and not through the larger tunnel further up the line (the ‘skew arch’), as now. The argument against was that cyclists (theoretically banned from the cattle arch by BR) would be in conflict with pedestrians. But video monitoring by Merton Council has just shown there is no conflict, despite many cyclists using the arch already.

A Year Of Paradox
by MCC co-ordinator Richard Evans

It‘s been a funny old year. On the national scene we’ve had the first Green Paper on transport for 20 years - and it was green in a sustainable sense too. We’ve had a national air quality strategy, primarily focused on cutting noxious vehicle exhaust emissions. And of course we’ve had the National Cycling Strategy, setting targets to double cycle use by 2002 - and double it again by 2012.

However, when it comes to government putting its money where its mouth is, that’s a different story. Due to constraints across the whole of public spending, we were told, no more than Ł3 million was available this year for the on-going implementation of the London Cycle Network.

Odd then, given the tightness of public purse strings and the new green outlook from Marsham Street, that a spare Ł101 million was found to desecrate a huge swathe of beautiful rural Berkshire to make way for a bypass around Newbury, which will by all accounts be jammed solid with new traffic within five years.

Is the political will there or isn’t it?

The paradox seems to be reflected at the local level too. On the one hand we have a draft Local Agenda 21 plan (a legacy of the Rio earth summit), full of good intentions, which we have been assured will incorporate MCC’s amendments and additions.

And yet, on the other hand, Cycle Route 1A, from Kingston to Wandsworth, remains in a state of semi-completion. Construction of this flagship east-west route began three years ago. I have never known such dilly-dallying on any major road scheme - I bet the Newbury bypass will be built more quickly, despite the eco-warriors’ valiant opposition. All sorts of minor problems remain unattended to - the kind of problems that you feel would get sorted in a week’s hard graft by anyone on the council who really thought cycling was important. The kind of problems which we repeatedly discuss at our quarterly liaison meetings with the council, such as inadequate signposting and the barriers across the route at Westcoombe Avenue.

Still, it keeps us out of trouble and on our toes. I like to think we keep the council on their toes too...

Hope to meet some of you during 1997, at one of our meetings or out on a ride perhaps.

Merry Xmas, happy New Year and safe cycling.

Richard

Got something to say?

We need letters, articles, cartoons, illustrations and clippings for the next issue. Tell us how you think the borough could be improved for cycling. Unload your feelings about that nasty encounter with a motorist. Pass on your tips. Share that funny story. Or just have a gripe. If it’s got local relevance, we’d like to see it. Just contact John Millard.

Cycle Clips

In 1885, Karl Benz constructed the first automobile. It had three wheels, like an invalid carriage - and ran on alcohol, like many drivers." Heathcote Williams, Autogeddon.

Cyclists are treated with notorious disrespect by motorists and by traffic planners." Rough Guide to Britain.

While one group of technicians sought... to increase the performance of motor vehicles, others were designing and building interruptions to the roadway... Speed humps may not be very tall but for the human race they represent new heights of tail-chasing futility. The hump is there because the 20th century fantasy of unlimited mobility proved impossible and died..." Patrick Field, Cycling & Mountain Biking Today.