Cyclists in Merton are anticipating that council planners will decide against Safeway’s proposals for a new superstore at Plough Lane, Wimbledon, because of comments made by Chief Planning Officer Steve Clark.

Addressing a local food retailing conference in July 1998, Mr Clark gave tips to his audience (planners from other authorities) on using a development brief to secure a town centre supermarket presence. He spoke about how Wimbledon and other borough town centres are protected by discouraging out of centre retail and office development; how outside the town centre, expansion of food retailing has been limited; and how proposals for a major food store on the old Wimbledon football club ground at Plough Lane have been rejected. He made it clear that the way to achieve high quality food retailing in other town centres is to prevent new or expanded out of town food retailing.

With an imminent public inquiry on the proposal, at which Merton Council will give its views, Mr Clark’s comments lead us to believe that Merton can be expected to recommend against granting planning permission for the new Safeway superstore.

Merton council officers agree that not enough money is being awarded to this area to implement cycle friendly policies. In a recent meeting with MCC, a council officer lamented that Merton’s share of funding is going down, despite a slight increase in allocations by the Government Office for London overall.

Meanwhile a House of Commons Select Committee looking at the proposal published in the White Paper on integrated transport concludes that they will not be sufficient to tackle health, environmental, social and economic problems associated with road traffic.

In its report the MPs regret that there is "no mechanism" for achieving integrated transport policies and many local authorities were "ill-prepared". It added: "Although additional funds are to be provided for transport ...the increase is quite inadequate for the task." The report also said the Government was not clear what the role of new roads was and questioned that Railtrack investment was insufficient.

The report calls for local authorities to provide an extensive network of segregated and dedicated cycle lanes.

In an effort to discover exactly what the government intends to do about 20 mph zones, MCC has approached local MP Roger Casale to ask another question in the House of Commons about what plans there are to ensure that the police have sufficient resources to effectively enforce speed limits.

This follows up the unsatisfactory reply received to an earlier question in which the government confirmed that consent for 20 mph zones in residential areas will only be given if features such as humps and chicanes make the limit self-enforcing.

In drafting the question, MCC has pointed out that the biggest deterrent to people taking up cycling is road danger (real and perceived) and reiterated the statistic that a cyclist hit by a car at 20mph stands a fivefold better chance of living than a cyclist hit by a car at 30mph.

To coincide with the annual celebration of cycling, MCC traditionally organises a display in the foyer of Merton Civic Centre. This year a bold and simple frieze will combine images of a wide variety of Merton cyclists with catchy text to inspire passers-by to "join the silent revolution" and give cycling a try.

The exhibition will be on display throughout June.

MCC has teamed up with the council and a professional cycle training organisation to pilot a cycle training course for adults this summer.

Designed to train new cyclists or give confidence back to those who haven’t cycled for some time, the course will consist of 2-3 hour sessions on Saturdays 10 and 17 July at Dundonald School, Wimbledon. Two instructors will take a group of 8 adults in an introduction to road riding, starting off-road to teach control skill and moving on to local roads to teach traffic skills.

• 75% of nitrogen oxides
• 77% of particulates
• 29% of carbon dioxide
• 83% of benzene
• 53% of volatile organic compounds
• 97% of carbon monoxide

How do maintenance workers on the London Underground (LU) get around in the miles of tunnels at night, when power has been turned off? Until now they would walk, which is both tiresome and slow. But recently LU has invested in 10 railbikes, which they are using to save time on nightly maintenance tasks.

The idea came from Gary Day, track manager of the Bakerloo Line, who had seen similar devices in the 1950s, but the idea is probably originally Victorian. LU carried out trials and selected US-made Railcycles, which sit on the right-hand rail. A magnetic guide keeps the front wheel on the track while the stabilizer, fitted to the back seatstays, runs on the left hand rail. The bikes weigh 39 kg and have conventional rubber tyres. They are subject to a 10mph speed limit when in use and can be quickly converted into conventional bikes if necessary.

SUSTRANS, the British National Cycle Network charity, has published its 1999 catalogue featuring maps, guides and leaflets for all kinds of cycle rides. Maps are now available covering routes from the ports of Dover, Harwich, Hull and Newcastle, as well as Gatwick Airport.