CTC

Some 10,000 cyclists are expected to descend on the historic city of York in June to visit the annual York Cycle Show, the curtain raiser to National Bike Week, which will feature thousands of bike-friendly events across the UK.

Laid low by Labour? Conned by the Conservatives? If you don't know which way to jump at the next election, there's only one solution, according to the CTC – Vote Bike!

The UK's national cyclists' organisation has launched a campaign of that name which aims to encourage riders to push all Parliamentary candidates to commit to cycling.

Moves to put cycling 'at the heart' of public transport and health policies were announced by the government today, but lack of timetable or earmarked funding disappoints the CTC.

As well as making cycling and walking mainstream transport choices the Department for Transport's Active Travel Strategy also wants to see every child trained to ride a bike, and every major public sector employer signed up for the Cycle To Work scheme.

Other proposals include:

New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have thrown fresh light on cycling’s role in Britain’s changing travel patterns in recent years, and has also revealed that the number of cyclists killed on the country’s roads over the past 15 years has halved when measured by distance travelled.

A report by the House of Commons Transport Committee has urged the government to accelerate the integration of other forms of transport with the rail network to get fewer people using their cars, but cyclists’ organisation CTC warns that in order to achieve this, “substantial investment” is needed in cycling infrastructure at railway stations, such as providing access to cyclists as well as bicycle parking, hire and storage facilities.

A congestion charge needs to be implemented in York, a regional spokesman for the CTC has argued.

Paul Hepworth, the North Yorkshire spokesman for the CTC, says the city has made huge efforts to stave off gridlock by encouraging car-sharing, short-term car hire, Park&Ride services and installing priority measures for public transport.

He also says that a grant from Cycling England will enable the completion of York’s cycling network.

A CYCLE route that runs into a sand-trap is a good reason not to build a controversial bridge across Rhyl Harbour in North Wales, protesters say.

Fishermen and boat users have already registered their objections to the £4 million bridge, claiming that it will signal the end of the harbour.

Now, however, they say that sections of the path between the harbour and Kinmel Bay are constantly blocked with sand, which would need to be cleared on a daily basis to make the path passable.

A record number of potholes was reported to the CTC in January, almost 3,000 more than during the same month last year.

More than 3,500 holes were reported to the CTC's dedicated pothole website, www.fillthathole.org.uk reflecting the harsh weather over Christmas and the New Year that gouged great holes in road surfaces across the UK.

Cyclists’ organisation CTC has said that the case of a teenage driver who repeatedly drove at a cyclist in an attempt to run him off the road is just one example of the dangerous driving that bike riders face on a daily basis, and has urged cyclist to continue to report bad driving.

Yesterday, we reported that 18-year-old Benjamin Harrison had received a suspended sentence after aiming his vehicle at off duty police inspector Melvin Martin as he cycled home from Burnley police station.