Council Reports Myland Access Group I received an email today from the Chief Planner – Active Travel England – (I presume it was also received by every planning authority and highways authority in England). It explained that Active Travel England (ATE) was a new Executive Agency which supports the Government’s ambitious strategy for walking and cycling, as set out in Gear Change 2020. It went on to invite stakeholders and local authorities to take part in a survey about how best ATE could support local planning authorities in promoting active travel in the planning system, boosting cycling and walking and delivering a healthy, safe and carbon-neutral transport system. I wonder how Essex County Council and Colchester Borough Council will respond to this survey. I wonder if they will mention the loss of a couple of kilometres of footpath in Myland due to road planning? Or the several kilometres of “shared use” pavements which ECC have imposed on us? Incidentally, although ECC has, (very quietly), said that any new infrastructure would comply with Gear Change, existing non-compliant cycling infrastructure would not be affected. Here is a reminder of the Key Design Principles of Gear Change: • Cyclists must be separated from volume traffic, both at junctions and on the stretches of road between them. • Cyclists must be separated from pedestrians. • Cyclists must be treated as vehicles, not pedestrians. • Routes must join together; isolated stretches of good provision are of little value. • Routes must feel direct, logical and be intuitively understandable by all road users. • Routes and schemes must take account of how users actually behave. • Purely cosmetic alterations should be avoided. • Barriers, such as chicane barriers and dismount signs, should be avoided. • Routes should be designed only by those who have experienced the road on a cycle. 11
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