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York’s Cycle City bid

YORK has cleared the first hurdle in its bid to become a Cycle City.

City of York Council has expressed its delight after its recent bid for funding from Cycling England to help promote cycling in the city was passed.

Representatives from the city council have been invited for interview by Cycling England in Birmingham later this month as part of the next stage in its funding bid.

If successful, the authority could receive between £5 and £10 per resident to develop cycling infrastructure, increase training and promote cycling as a means of transport. This could mean around £1 million additional money per year for a minimum of three years to provide improvements for cyclists and create initiatives to encourage people to cycle.

Cycling England received 74 applications for funding, and City of York Council's bid has now been put on the shortlist for interview.

The interview, which will be conducted by representatives of both Cycling England and the Department for Transport.

The aim of the interview will be to explain to the panel the key issues of the bid and to convince them that they will be able to deliver the overall programme in the council's area.

The Transport Minister will make the final announcement of successful towns and cities next month.

Bill Woolley, City of York Council's director of city strategy, said: "I am delighted that we have been invited for interview.

"The council is optimistic that we will be presenting a high-quality bid which deserves serious consideration to receive Government funding."

The news comes the day after calls were made to allow cyclists to be allowed to pedal along some of York city centre's pedestrianised streets.

Paul Hepworth, of the North Yorkshire branch of the Cyclists' Touring Club, has suggested an experimental period of 24/7 cycling along Fossgate and other streets.

"We would also like options to be examined for 24/7 cycling on selected cross city routes, where this helps avoid significant detours along busier peripheral roads," he said.

2:56pm Friday 9th May 2008

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Posted by: Mr_Soul on 3:05pm Fri 9 May 08
Thanks to Mike Usherwood
Posted by: GoodramgateTerrier, York on 3:30pm Fri 9 May 08
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land

Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

Will the last non tree hugger turn out the lights when leaving the city.

Posted by: Paul Hepworth, York on 3:44pm Fri 9 May 08
On yer bike......
Posted by: GoodramgateTerrier, York on 3:49pm Fri 9 May 08
very good lol!
Posted by: GoodramgateTerrier, York on 3:52pm Fri 9 May 08
quote
The council is optimistic that we will be presenting a high-quality bid which deserves serious consideration to receive Government funding."

And how much of my rate paying money will be spent putting this high quality bid together out of interest?

Posted by: GoodramgateTerrier, York on 3:54pm Fri 9 May 08
"The council is optimistic that we will be presenting a high-quality bid which deserves serious consideration to receive Government funding."


sorry messed the quotation box up in previous post
Posted by: Jason on 4:20pm Fri 9 May 08
And how much of my rate paying money will be spent putting this high quality bid together out of interest?


Enough to annoy you I hope.
Posted by: GoodramgateTerrier, York on 4:32pm Fri 9 May 08
Jason wrote:
And how much of my rate paying money will be spent putting this high quality bid together out of interest?
Enough to annoy you I hope.
You really are an odious little man aren't you Jason.

Even though you won't particularly care It won't 'annoy' me as you put it, in the slightest, but as a council tax paying resident who has seen a decline in services across the city I would like to know where my money is going, think I'm entitled to that don't you?
Posted by: bernard on 4:36pm Fri 9 May 08
If petrol and deisel prices keep going up we'll all be on our bikes before long.
Posted by: BL on 5:06pm Fri 9 May 08
Can I have my 5 or 10 pounds to spend as I see fit thanks? ;-)
Posted by: Peter, york on 5:50pm Fri 9 May 08
Lets have a look at CYC's track record on designing layouts for cyclist. The supposed cycle lane opposite the station seems dedicated to the back end of buses, and the junction of New Lane & Malton Road is a complete joke, since the so called 'improvements'.
Posted by: spalt, YORK on 6:07pm Fri 9 May 08
Great More cycles on the footpaths with out lights !!!
Posted by: thin libby, york on 6:57pm Fri 9 May 08
if york isn t a cycle city i d hate to live in one that is.with preferential treatment given to cyclists,non-prosecu
tion of cyclists on footpaths and cyclists using pelican crossings to cross the road.enough is enough and on top of it all that prat hepworth.
Posted by: wildthing666, york on 7:46pm Fri 9 May 08
bernard wrote:
If petrol and deisel prices keep going up we'll all be on our bikes before long.
yes then you will be paying road tax on your bike to cover the lost tax from petrol & diesel
Posted by: stevexbooth, Clifton Moor on 7:59pm Fri 9 May 08
I am fed up of this council pushing cycling as the be all and end all of being a green city. If the planners had made the ring road a dual carriageway with under/over passes then traffic would not be left standing poluting our atmosphere. It has been proved that moving traffic causes significantly less polution than traffic standing in queues. If a private company had made such a major mis-judgement as to the traffic that would travel along the outer ring-road then they would be sued for compensation as being incompetent. As it happened they advised the council so bottomless pit springs to mind and we all have to suffer. Whoever agreed with a single-lane by-pass should be made to resign and stop covering up their mistakes!
Posted by: stevexbooth, Clifton Moor on 8:12pm Fri 9 May 08
Can I just say that I seriously cannot understand these people who put their children in seats (or even worse, those trailers!) on the back of push bikes. They may live in an 'ideal' world but the fact is that the number of cars on the road is rapidly growing and, as much as their views may dictate the way they feel, they are seriously putting their children at risk. How many motorists now seriously look out for people on bikes? When you see them are they not just a nuisance when they're on the road? Don't get me wrong, I was brought up in Huntington in the days when, at 4pm, the road was filled with push bikes leaving Rowntrees...Unfortun
ately those days are now long gone and people on bikes seriously need to be extremely cautious when they ride on any road in the UK
Posted by: Bemused, York on 8:37pm Fri 9 May 08
but as a council tax paying resident who has seen a decline in services across the city I would like to know where my money is going, think I'm entitled to that don't you?

My sentiments entirely.
Posted by: sensationalism, Fulford on 9:59pm Fri 9 May 08
To "stevexbooth" who said "...I seriously cannot understand these people who put their children in seats (or even worse, those trailers!) on the back of push bikes..."

The first thing to look at would be the statistics of children carried by bike who are injured or killed each year... Low, I think, though I have no figures on this.

However, I recall a very nasty incident a few years ago where a car driver deliberately reversed into a family cycling group who had angered him with a "please slow down" hand signal on a country lane.

So is it better to strap the offspring into car seats and add to the congestion, pollution and danger to non motorised road users? Are you saying there is no safe alternative to the car, even for short/medium journeys?

I think transporting kids by bike is excellent; there is always the slight risk of being anahilated by a criminally incompetent motorist (the sort that may also mount the pavement and run into a bus queue). But in general I think your comment is based on perceived, rather than real, danger.

I no longer transport my offspring by bike, as they have all survived to adulthood! But all cyclists daily face these same dangers: carelessness, arrogance, incompetence, by those "in control" <sic> of potentially lethal cars, buses, lorries.

I am grateful to the morons who ride bicycles at night without lights, for they probably tend to increase car drivers' observational powers. I am likewise supportive of parents who currently transport their children by bike as they send out a clear message "we are vulnerable: please drive responsibly"
Posted by: Lawrence Dudley, Dubai on 10:40pm Fri 9 May 08
This coming straight after you reported on one of my friends dying on her bicyle after being hit by a truck.
York a cycle city? Hmm... They'll do anything for the publicity. It has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with persuading more tourists into the city.
Spend your money on improving the place, not on press releases.
Posted by: sensationalism, Fulford on 11:20pm Fri 9 May 08
to Lawrence of Dudley or Dubai or wherever, it is tragic that your friend died.

However, the circumstances are not known.

I cannot see any link between this tragedy and a bid by York to improve cycling facilities.

I would have expected you to welcome such a move...
Posted by: Gromit, South Bank on 6:59am Sat 10 May 08
Seems to me that there are a lot of unhappy motorists out there, who are jealous of cyclists. They choose to commute to work in something that gets completely more expensive to run. They sit in traffic jams, pay extortionate petrol prices, complain about the state of the roads and when the highways agency fix them, they grumble about the roadwork’s.

I own a car, its insured for social, domestic and pleasure purposes only. Its been parked on the street for 6 months because I don’t need to use it around York. I choose to cycle to work everyday, I have a rack on the back so I can go shopping.

I pay to use the roads, its called council tax, I pay road tax for my vehicle which covers the cost of the emissions I produce when I use it.
Posted by: Cruddass is a muppett on 10:15am Sat 10 May 08
Gromit wrote:
Seems to me that there are a lot of unhappy motorists out there, who are jealous of cyclists. They choose to commute to work in something that gets completely more expensive to run. They sit in traffic jams, pay extortionate petrol prices, complain about the state of the roads and when the highways agency fix them, they grumble about the roadwork’s. I own a car, its insured for social, domestic and pleasure purposes only. Its been parked on the street for 6 months because I don’t need to use it around York. I choose to cycle to work everyday, I have a rack on the back so I can go shopping. I pay to use the roads, its called council tax, I pay road tax for my vehicle which covers the cost of the emissions I produce when I use it.
Well done. I think im going to nominate you for a CBE
Posted by: Jason on 12:53pm Sat 10 May 08
You really are an odious little man aren't you Jason.


Probably qualifies me to stand as a councillor
Posted by: Lawrence Dudley, Dubai on 6:35pm Sat 10 May 08
Yes, you're right, I overreacted and was in shock, I just though it kinda horrible that a city is trying to promote itself as one suited for cyclists just after one has died.

And yes, Dubai, because I got bored of rain and cold and became an ex-pat.
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