To receive any apologies for absence.

 Apologies were received from Mr Harry Bodenhofer.

To receive any Declarations of Interest.

None received.

To confirm the Part I minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED: That the part I minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2017 be approved subject to the duplicated pages being removed.

Actions from previous minutes

Ø  The figure the Borough spends on cycling per head of population is approximately £1.54

Ø  The Principal Transport Policy Officer confirmed that he had not been able to breakdown the data on cycling accidents in the Borough and he was still working on it. The data on cycling accidents would be brought back to a future meeting.

Ø  Officers had found some trial sites for additional cycling crossings in Windsor and one of those was in close proximity to King Edward VII Hospital.

To receive an update on the cycling Strategy.

The Principal Transport Policy Officer stated he had made changes to the Strategy that were requested at the previous meeting. He added he had received 88 responses to the online survey on Cycling prior to the deadline with a further nine responses received thereafter. Two thirds of the respondents were from the Borough and were of various ages. One per cent of the respondents listed themselves as disabled. Most of the people that responded to the survey were regular cyclists and the majority of residents were agreed on the vision of the Cycling Strategy. Cyclists requested new dedicated cycle routes and suggested there was strong support for more cycling parking in town. There was high levels of support for the Borough to work with Network Rail to provide more parking for cycles at train stations.

The Principal Transport Policy Officer confirmed he had been working on proposals to provide 300 cycle parking spaces at Maidenhead train station. He stated the parking would be under cover with two tier racking. He hoped there would also be CCTV coverage. The Chairman confirmed there was a paper going to Cabinet regarding the changes to the Borough’s CCTV network but he was hopeful that Maidenhead train station would still have CCTV in place.

The Principal Transport Policy Officer stated that residents wanted safer routes to schools with a 20mph speed limit in place on roads outside schools. They also wanted extra curricular activities around cycling to be available also. He added that residents also showed support for businesses to adopt workplace travel plans that included cycling with facilities for changing and securing cycles when parked. People felt there were enough cycle ride leaders but showed enthusiasm for cycle scheme referrals from GPs. The Principal Transport Policy Officer confirmed that the Cycle Hub in Maidenhead had been training ride leaders.

One of the highest priorities that came out of the survey was training in Bike-ability for adults. Funding could be sought through corporate sponsorship. Responders also felt that the targets quoted in the Cycling Strategy could be a little more challenging, so the Principal Transport Policy Officer amended those to reflect that.

The Principal Transport Policy Officer received responses from other groups and Bucks County Council which were covered in the main report.

v  Action: The Principal Transport Policy Officer to look into recruiting Sky ride Leaders each year to maintain numbers of Leaders.

The Chairman went through all the amendments made to the Cycling Strategy and the following main points were highlighted:

Ø  The vision statement was amended to show that it was a future state of the vision and not the current state.

Ø  To increased from 15% to 20% the SMART target to increase cycling trips between 2015 and 2020.

Ø  To reduce from 10% to 20% cyclist casualties between 2015 and 2020

Ø  The SMART target figures on increasing cycling trips would be collected and compared year on year and would be carried out in September each year during term time.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

To receive information on the Ascot to Windsor Cycle Route.

The Principal Transport Policy Officer stated that the need for a cycle route from Ascot to Windsor was punctuated by the death of a cyclist on Winkfield Road. There were existing road links through the Great Park but there was no lighting provision for cyclists and during the winter months, it was not pleasant for cyclists during the darker mornings and evenings. The Principal Transport Policy Officer confirmed he did not know the details of the fatality other than a car drove into the back of the cyclists.

The Principal Transport Policy Officer stated that when cars drove from Ascot to Windsor, they passed through Bracknell Forest Council so, his team had partnered up with them to look at solutions. There were four routes through Windsor Great Park and at present it was a long route to get to Ascot and cyclists exit through Ascot Gate. The Great Park was subject to special areas of conservation and the number of visitors to the Park had increased which made it increasingly difficult to cater for the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. There were also rules in place for cyclists which meant groups of cyclists could not exceed six members at a time.

The Crown Estate had said they would not increase the number of cycle routes in the park and there were a number of issues using highway verges as it was not possible to get the correct width on parts of the routes. Routes would need to be lit but, it was not possible to do that either due to the route being in a conservation area; the lack of lighting would make it fail a safety audit.

What was thought to be highway land on Winkfield Road turned out to be Crown Estate. The Crown Estate recognised the challenges faced by cyclists and had agreed to open up routes through the Great Park at night time. The Principal Transport Policy Officer confirmed that it was unfortunate that he was unable to find a scheme for the Ascot to Windsor cycle route that worked. he added that the accident took place on the northbound carriageway which was Crown Estate land.

Cllr Yong stated that it came back to the fact that Heathrow was expanding with an additional 40,000 people working there, there were significant air pollution issues and the Great Park would rather have drivers through the Park and not cyclists. She did not think the Crown Estate were realising the impact; plus there were over 700 home proposed to be built up by Lapland UK. There had been a petition regarding cycling through the Park and the Crown Estate had gotten very upset by it and the petition had to be withdrawn. There had been over 1,000 signatures included on the petition. The Chairman added that the Crown Estate refused to acknowledge the petition and said it was inappropriate. The Principal Transport Policy Officer reminded Members that Windsor Great Park was private land and although there were ways of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

·         Maidenhead Cycle Hub – Luke McCarthy

·         Hibbert Road – Ian Taplin

·         A308 Braywick Road / Stafferton Way – Ian Taplin

·         Maidenhead Waterways – Ian Taplin

·         Engaging Non-Cyclists – Mike Gammage.

Maidenhead Cycle Hub

Luke McCarthy, Chair of Trustees at the Maidenhead Cycle Hub addressed Members and gave a brief summary of the activities which had taken place over the first year since opening the Maidenhead Cycle Hub. The main points of the summery included:

Ø  Educational Support – At Furze Platt Senior School with Roger, the Hub’s mechanic. Roger visited the school once a fortnight to work with a group of four students who were at risk of exclusion.

Ø  Work Experience – the hub had developed a specialised timetable for a year 11 student who was at risk of exclusion. The hub were supporting the work experience by offering the young person a work placement which took place for two hours per fortnight.

Ø  Bike Riding Lessons – Maidenhead Cycle Hub volunteers have attended a local school during PE lessons to support one student who was unable to ride a bike.

Ø  Maidenhead Cycle Hub and One Housing had been working together to provide activities during the school holidays.

Ø  In October, the Hub ran a Dr Bike session with a difference as part of their activities calendar. They attended their local One Housing Centre and worked with the children on their bikes to check them over and make sure that the bikes they were riding were safe. The Hub also taught the children basic bike maintenance.

Ø  The Hub have worked with Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Guides to deliver cycle maintenance and safety sessions. The activities including showing the children how to repair a puncture.

Ø  Organised Rides – in 2016, Maidenhead Cycle Hub ran a total of 17 rides around the Borough with 86 people taking part.

Ø  Regular rides were aimed at families and adults and were held on the first and third Saturday of the month from July until October 2016.

Ø  Second Hand Bikes – in 2016, the Maidenhead Cycle Hub refurbished 188 bikes with the majority of those already sold at cost-effective prices to local residents to lower the costs of people to own a bike.

Ø  The Maidenhead Cycle hub also worked with corporate partners such as Lexis Nexis, Adobe, GSK and Abbvie.

Ø  The hubs plans for 2017 included:

o   Continuing to offer Dr Bike sessions

o   15 organised rides with community groups

o   20 sessions of work experience

o   20 sessions of curriculum support.

Ø  The Hub will also continue to refurbish and sell bikes, will take part in offering opportunities through the Duke of Edinburgh Award and will continue the organised rides from July to October 2017.

Ø  The Maidenhead Cycle Hub received a total income of £34,248 for 2016 and their total expenditure for the same year was £31,059.

The Chairman stated he was very pleased with the activities of the Cycle Hub as the Council had support the initial set up of the organisation. Susy Shearer said that it would be good to have something similar set up in Windsor. Luke McCarthy confirmed that the average  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.