Luton & Dunstable Cycling Forum

The Luton and Dunstable Cycling Forum is a group of cyclists whose aim is to promote cycling in the local area, working with organisations such as Luton Borough Council, Central Beds Council and Sustrans.

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  • England's Economic Heartland

    http://www.englandseconomicheartland.com/

    "About us

    Stretching from Swindon to Cambridgeshire and from Northamptonshire to Hertfordshire, England’s Economic Heartland brings political and business leaders together in a strategic collaborative partnership with a shared commitment to realise the region's economic potential.

    We provide the region’s voice on strategic infrastructure and services. Our leadership is focused on addressing barriers to realising our potential.

    • We are the Sub-national Transport Body for the region. Our overarching Transport Strategy will be a 30 year strategic vision for our transport system that puts the needs of businesses and individuals at the forefront of investment decisions

    • Our work on wider strategic infrastructure is focused on making sure investment in transport, digital and utilities infrastructure is ‘joined up’

    • Our work with our delivery partners is focused on identifying investment priorities, getting the funding secured and then delivering improvements to budget and on-time.

    Working in collaboration with Government and partners across the Heartland, we are committed to creating places where people and business realise their potential, and are able to compete on the global stage for UK plc.

    Our 5.1m population and 280,000 business together generate around £155 billion GVA. We have a 21st century economy, particularly rich in high value engineering, science, technology and research. Most of our firms are small or medium sized enterprises with many based in rural or semi-rural areas.

    Overall, our economy is successful and we’re a net contributor to the exchequer. However, the National Infrastructure Commission believes our economy could double or even triple in size. But it also warns this opportunity cannot be taken for granted.

    Indeed, our success already comes at a price. Economic growth combined with underinvestment in infrastructure and services means that the pressure on our transport, digital and wider infrastructure networks has grown to the point where they operate close to capacity most of the time. The resilience of our networks has dropped, affecting business productivity and making travel for individuals increasingly challenging.

    Our transport system continues to be dominated by the legacy of investment that left us with a largely radial pattern of strategic networks centred on London. Travel across the Heartland – and in particular east-west – is hamstrung by poor connectivity and poor integration.

    Digital connectivity remains a challenge at a time when lifestyle and business changes mean our demands and expectations of digital infrastructure continue to increase. And economic success brings with it further pressure on wider strategic infrastructure, including power and water supplies.

    England’s Economic Heartland is the response of strategic political and business leaders to overcome these challenges, with investment in strategic infrastructure and services key to realising our potential."

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  • Highway Code changes

    sound+fury // 1 thread

    A bill is being put forward to sentence any cyclist convicted of dangerous cycling to a 14 year prison term.

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  • DfT Policy Paper - Inclusive Transport Strategy

    Created by Matthew // 1 thread

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-transport-strategy

    Lots of interesting stuff about inclusive transport regarding trains, buses, cars, public realm, streets and yes a bit about cycling too. Quotes:

    Shared Space:

    8.11 While we consider CIHT and DPTAC’s recommendations and how to take them
    forward, we are requesting that local authorities pause any shared space schemes
    incorporating a level surface they are considering, and which are at the design stage.
    We are also temporarily suspending Local Transport Note 1/11. This pause will allow
    us to carry out research and produce updated guidance.

    Objectives regarding Cycling:

    • Update Local Transport Note 2/08, which sets out the Department’s guidance to
    local authorities on designing safe and inclusive infrastructure for cyclists, to take
    account of developments in cycling infrastructure since its publication in 2008 and
    the responses to the draft AAP consultation and publish a revised version by early
    2019;
    • By 2020, explore the feasibility of amending legislation to recognise the use of
    cycles as a mobility aid71 in order to increase the number of disabled people
    cycling.

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  • South West Herts Growth and Transport Plan Consultation

    Created by JonC // 1 thread

    Hertfordshire County Council has developed a new transport strategy for the South West Herts area. The Draft South West Herts Growth & Transport Plan (GTP) proposes packages of transport schemes responding to transport challenges linked to planned growth across the area, and in support of the proposed objectives of this plan and the objectives of Hertfordshire’s new Local Transport Plan 4.

    The South West Herts GTP focuses on Hemel Hempstead and the Watford area as well as links to surrounding towns including St Albans, Harpenden, Luton, Bushey and Rickmansworth. The plan has been developed with support from HCC’s consultant AECOM and with input from local county councillors and district council partners.

    A Summary of the draft South West Herts GTP has been produced for this consultation. If you would like to explore the proposals and background in more detail this is set out in main document for the plan -- the South West Herts GTP Prospectus.

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  • Rate my route - software / app ideas anyone?

    Created by GG // 1 thread

    For a long time I have wondered about a crowd-sourced cycleability map.

    In this, people cycle along a link (accepting the first question of how to define the beginning and end of this) then give it a thumbs up or down. After enough people do this, then others can see how popular it is.
    Some people wonder about subjectivity but I think this should be less of a problem with more voters.

    The reason I am asking is because this method could apply to a potential commercial project for a Council which wants to drive around 100km of rural roads and use a panel of 4 experts to grade meaningful segments on a 1 to 7 scale according to their suitability for HGV movements.

    Any views on whether this is already done within an app I am not aware of, or could be it done by anyone as an add-on to something else, or is it something CamCycle could offer as a commercial package (there may well be more than one local authority looking for this sort of thing)

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  • Rumble strips instead of paint

    Created by Simon here // 2 threads

    Complete separation of cyclists and cars can't always be achieved. To make sharing of the road safer I would like to propose using rumble strips instead of flat paint to separate the bike lane from the rest of the road. It would act as a physical reminder for car-drivers that they are encroaching the bike lane. This happens particularly near pinch points like road bends or crossroads. So even just a selective application of rumble strips could have a very positive effect, I believe. What's the view of the cycling community? Has it been tested?

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