Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall - Maidenhead

Contact: Nabihah Hassan-Farooq  01628796345

Items
No. Item

51.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies of absence were received from Councillor Lion.

52.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To receive and Declarations of Interest.

Minutes:

None.

53.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 87 KB

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

Resolved UNANIMOUSLY That: The minutes be amended to include apologies of Harry Bodemhofer and that the minutes of the meeting held on 24th January 2018 be approved.

54.

Close Pass Initiative pdf icon PDF 920 KB

To discuss the above initiative.

Minutes:

Gordon Oliver outlined the report on the ‘Close Pass Initiative’. The Forum were reminded that details of the close pass initiative had been discussed previously at the last cycle- task and finish group. The Panel were reminded that the ‘close pass’ initiative had been pioneered by West Midlands Police and that it had involved plain clothed officers cycling a pre-determined route to identify and recorded video footage of motorists who had given insufficient room when overtaking. Motorists who had failed to give sufficient space were pulled over and shown the footage of the incident and given the option of prosecution or a short education session; this had proved highly effective. There had been a large reduction in the number of ‘close pass’ incidents reported in the West Midlands and 20% reduction in cycle casualties since the initiative was introduced.

 

Subsequently, many local authorities had now begun planning or had already adopted similar ‘close pass’ initiatives due to the success of the West Midlands initiative. The task and finish group had asked whether Thames Valley Police could consider adopting this scheme for RBWM. Inspector Louise Warbrick had attended the Cycling Action Plan Task and Finish Group and had reported that there was a ‘close pass’ operation (carried out by Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Police) but that the targeted locations were Oxford, Southampton and Portsmouth as these had the highest number of reported cycle casualties. There were limited resources available for this and it could not be rolled out to all areas. A copy of the leaflet used by Thames Valley Police to raise awareness had been included within the report and Members felt that with some work this leaflet could be used more widely to engage targeted individuals better. Members were also informed that  facility had recently been introduced by Thames Valley Police that allowed Members of the public to report traffic incidents/offence online and that they could also submit video evidence.

 

The forum were informed that through the Safer Roads Partnership that work with Agilysis (road safety consultant) had begun in developing a proposal for a campaign to promote safe and considerate overtaking by motorists when passing cyclists. The current ambition was to create a campaign that could work cohesively with any ‘close pass’ initiative run by Thames Valley Police or as a standalone initiative. It had been suggested that the following be considered as part of the campaign:

 

·         Purchase of a close pass mat

·         Production of a leaflet

·         Production of a video/other multimedia content

·         Use of the above at road show events at local business parks/shopping centres

·         Use of roadside advertising sites, for e.g. bus shelters (road facing advertisements)

·         Use of roadside variable message signing on the approaches to the town centres and mobile signs at high casualty risk sites.

 

At the end of the verbal presentation, members discussed a range of issues as follows:

 

·         To ensure that any bus shelter advertising is road facing and targets vehicular users and cyclists.

·         Better education was needed to highlight the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

55.

Public Bike Share pdf icon PDF 136 KB

To discuss the above proposed bike share scheme.

Minutes:

Gordon Oliver outlined the item and informed the Forum that the Highways Task and Finish Group had looked at in September 2017. The task and finish group had received presentations from NextBike and Mobike (leading providers of docked and dockless bike share schemes). The report summarised work that had been undertaken to date and the guidance provided by both bike share scheme providers.

 

The forum were informed that public bike sharing schemes had proved popular and there had been an uptake in the number of cyclists and increased frequency of use. Trends data had shown that the uptake was attributed to journey purpose which included commuting (21.5%) improving levels of fitness (18%) and shopping(12%). It was highlighted that there had been a significant increase in the number of female cyclists nationally, and that in RBWM there was currently 1:5 female cyclists to male cyclist ratio. Women had been traditionally under represented in cycling, accounting for 25% of all cycling trips but this figure had risen to 41%. It was also highlighted that there were motivational factors such as; convenience (79%), fresh air and exercise (68%) time saving (56%) which had also contributed to the uptake in cyclists. Public bike share schemes had also been used in conjunction with public transport and 40% of respondents had used a public bike share scheme with a train journey and 25% had used the scheme with a bus journey. Previously 23% of scheme users had previously used a car or taxi for their most frequent trip in urban areas and there was also evidence that bike sharing had taken trips from other sustainable modes of transport such as walking or bus journeys. 23% of the surveyed respondents stated that they previously made their journey by bus and 44% had previously walked.

 

The forum were informed of four main operational methods used by bike share schemes which were self-service(docking stations) self-service (dockless), rail station hubs and lockers as follows:

 

Self service schemes (docking stations), for e.g. the Santander Cycle scheme in London was operated by Serco. Bikes were hired and returned to fixed docking stations. There were also costs associated to the docking stations and there was frequent redistribution of cycles to ensure availability across the network.

 

Self-service(dockless)- This model does not have fixed locations and bikes were fitted with GPS devices. Users were able to leave bikes in location as specified by an app on their phone. There were no physical infrastructure costs associated with this scheme, however the scheme user would need to be smart phone enabled.

 

Rail station hubs- This scheme had been designed to provide onward travel for rail travellers to enable them to reach their final destinations. Bikes were hired and returned to the station, which had encouraged all day trips.

 

Lockers- This scheme was often operated at rail stations and transport interchanges and were also designed to facilitate inward travel. Lockers contained folding bikes and were hired and returned to the lockers sites.

 

Advantages and disadvantages were outlined within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

56.

Cycling Action Plan Update - Task and Finish Group

To receive the above update.

Minutes:

Gordon Oliver, Principal Transport Planner gave a verbal update to the Forum on the Cycling Action Plan- Task and Finish Group. The forum were informed that recommendations made at the task and finish group were to be taken to the next meeting of Highways and Transport Overview & Scrutiny Panel ( May 2018). An overview of the work that had been looked at by the Task and Finish Group was outlined as follows:

 

·         Existing documents had been reviewed along with the date and had been amended to include the latest figures.

·         The text of the document had been improved and incorporated.  

·         Within the appendices of the document, a list of current schemes had been collated and implemented/non-priority schemes would be removed

·         Next steps included an updated list of schemes and Maps for the upcoming years.

·         The schemes would be circulated and mapped out against criteria such as sources of employment, schools, residential areas, tackling areas of high casualties.

 

ACTION- That Gordon Oliver would circulate an updated list of schemes for comment to Members of the Task and Forum Group and that a Task and Finish Group would be arranged once comments had been received.

 

Members discussed that the next Task and Finish Group would be scheduled after the Transport and Highways Overview & Scrutiny Panel had been held.

 

Resolved UNANIMOUSLY That: The update was noted by all members.

 

 

57.

A.O.B

Minutes:

Harry Bodemhoefer raised whether there were any national incentives or schemes for public bike share schemes or whether there had been a push for more use of cycles from National Government. It was discussed that a letter had been written to the Minister for Transport and a response had been received. The letter detailed whether funding could be sought through the Local Enterprise Partnership and that this letter would be circulated.

 

ACTION- That the Letter and response from the Minister of Transport be circulated to the Forum.

 

Gordon Oliver informed the Panel that lobbyist groups had discussed the need for encouragement of electric bike use and that currently the Government focus had been for more use of electric cars.

 

Members discussed Highways Schemes within the Royal Borough had secured funding through the Local Enterprise Partnership and that they had been sympathetic to most reasonable cases. It was also discussed that a business plan could be formulated for the consideration of the Local Enterprise Partnership. Most schemes that had been funded by the Local Enterprise Partnership had been supported by a strong business case and where there had been a case for growth. It was also highlighted that all funding available was capital funding and not revenue funding.

 

** Susy Shearer drew to the meeting's attention a petition started by Ria Brisland entitled "Make Roads Safer for Bikes"which is seeking revision of the vehicle theory test to include a mandatory section on how drivers and bikes can be more aware of each other. This had already received 75,000 signatories, with the ambition of reaching 100,000 and being presented to Chris Grayling, the Minister for Transport.

 

ACTION - That Susy Shearer will provide details of this petition for circulation and to be added to the Members' Bulletin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** Minutes have been amended to include new wording which had been agreed unanimously on the 02/07/2018 by the Cycle Forum.