Dear RCC members
Writing this at the start of November, I can already say “what a year it has been”. We have a new Government in Westminster who, if not showering money on sustainable transport, at least are not demonising cyclists and playing the ‘anti-car’ card. The political complexion of RBC has not changed, although the Green Party is now the largest opposition party, and we do have a Lead Councillor for Transport who is very sympathetic to cycling and our Campaign. The Mayor also joined us as a member, which is a great step forward.
Both WBC and WoBC now have LibDem majorities, and we expect them to bring forward more cycle friendly measures than previous Councils have done. There is a general feeling that our voice as a Campaign is no longer falling on deaf ears.
The big question therefore that we have to address is how can we be more effective? There are several parts to this. The first is to grow our membership, especially among the younger generations and help make their voices heard. I’m pleased that we already have a couple of younger people who have joined the Committee and are playing a full role.
We need more like them to take the Campaign on into the future and allow us older folk to hand over the reins. I was somewhat amused recently when Keith Elliott, our Secretary, found an old membership database which revealed I had the membership number Life02. If anyone here knows who Life01 was, I’d love to know.
Another part is to find out how to increase our leverage with our local authorities. Yes, we can attend the Cycle Forums and respond to consultation exercises, but are there other ways in which we can become more pro-active? Can we become more embedded in the way that cycling infrastructure projects get planned and implemented?
I am sure Reading is far from the only town where the good intentions of the planners have led to developments of questionable value. I would like to see if there is any research being done to find out how councils can deliver projects that provide real benefits to the cycling community and what other things can campaigns like ours bring to the process.
The Campaign has kept its membership subscriptions at a low level since its founding, and our finances are reasonably healthy, although our current expenditure is only just matched by our income. It is becoming obvious that if we want to achieve more, we will need an increase in our income.
To this end the committee are putting together a short list of what we believe are achievable targets over the coming years and we hope to present these to the membership at an Extraordinary General Meeting as part of the case for raising the subscription income.
Ideas currently being considered are for a bigger PR campaign, more research into local cycling patterns and problems, and more activities such as workshops, rides and protests.
I am very much open to ideas for what other things we can to do increase our effectiveness as a pressure group. If you want to contribute to this debate, please contact me directly via email. Otherwise – watch this space.
Joe Edwards
RCC Chairman
(chair@readingcyclecampaign.org.uk)