BARNET LOOP, BUS LANES and SCHOOL STREETS

At our July meeting we had a presentation from two representatives from Barnet Council.

A copy of their Powerpoint presentation is attached.

BARNET LOOP This will be 17 mile long environment to be used for cycling, running and walking with key links to green spaces and town centres. 1st stage is public engagement from 18 July to 30 August. GET INVOLVED AND COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED ROUTE. There will be drop in events, Stakeholder route ride/walk –

all information is on the Barnet Loop hub on ‘Engage Barnet’ webpage:

https://www.engage.barnet.gov.uk/hub-page/barnet-loop-engagement-hub

BUS LANES Five stretches of bus lane are planned to be introduced by early 2025. Cyclists will be able to use them.

SCHOOL STREETS  A Number of areas have been identified with different dates for submitting comments. See here for details: https://www.engage.barnet.gov.uk/school-street-engagement

LCC volunteers – please register

LCC needs to have a complete list of volunteers along with their current contact details so please fill out the volunteer registration form by 31 August! This will help LCC provide support and training to volunteers as well as send comms that are beneficial to volunteers. LCC will ask volunteers to do this annually so if you filled out the form last year, please do it again here: https://membership.lcc.org.uk/lcc-volunteer-registration-form

BARNET  FUNDS

Back in May we sent out an appeal for contributions to help keep the Barnet group going.

The response has helped but some, with very busy lives or other pressures weren’t able to respond then. We hope everyone can contribute around £10, as now, requesting different amounts depending on type of membership is no longer an option for us.

So please donate by direct bank transfer to London Cycling Campaign Barnet Branch (not just Barnet Cyclists) sort code: 60 83 01 account 20225687 with your name as reference.

Thank you for your support,   Peter R. treasurer.

Hertsmere Walking and Cycling Plan – have your say by 26 June

This is a brief reminder that there is less than one week left to leave your feedback on the Hertsmere LCWIP draft walking and cycling routes before 10am Wednesday 26th June.

Your local insights into the local walking and cycling routes regularly used by local residents and the improvements required to these routes are essential and we would be particularly grateful if you could review the location of the proposed main walking/cycling routes to ensure that the next stages of the process propose infrastructure in the right locations, feeding in any knowledge you have of required improvements, barriers to walking/cycling and interacting schemes or transport plans. We will use all of the feedback received at this early stage to inform the next steps of the project, including amending the draft walking/cycling networks and during our in-person audits to come up with specific infrastructure proposals.

To view the draft network plans and fill out the survey, please visit our online hub.

Should you have any questions or if you would prefer to respond with your comments via email, please get in touch with us by emailing Hertsmere.LCWIP@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Torrington Park and surrounding area road safety consultation

Barnet Council is consulting on introducing a 20-mph zone and other road safety measures around North Finchley between the High Road, Woodhouse Road and Friern Barnet lane. This is to be welcomed as the area is currently used as a rat run by many motorists and is used by many families and children walking to the numerous local schools in the area. It will also make the area safer for cycling, help to improve air quality, and reduce the number of accidents in the area.  We are encouraging as many people as possible to complete the questionnaire that the council has produced seeking views on the proposals, which can be found on the Engage Barnet website, along with more information about the scheme:

Torrington Park and surrounding area road safety consultation | Engage Barnet

(If you experience problems with this link, please google “engage barnet Torrington Park”)

Please feel free to use elements of our response when completing the questionnaire.

Copy of response as attached.

LCC Volunteer Registration

To support more volunteers and work with the public the LCC have been developing new strategies with people acting as volunteers. These include ride leaders, marshalls, committee members, campaign supporters, events organisers, etc. Members who will be acting in these and other public facing categories are now asked to register on the LCC Volunteer Registration Form.
Please contact Stewart Dring, Operations Manager for the details at  stewart.dring@lcc.org.uk

Wednesday 17th January: Barnet’s Citizens’ Assembly Action Group Kickoff

We have received the following invitation from the Leader of Barnet Council – anyone who is interested may attend – see the link within the text below to book a place

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I am writing to invite you to work together with us in making Barnet one of London’s most sustainable boroughs and to become a net zero borough by 2042. We would like to invite you to join us on Wednesday 17th January, 6:30-9pm at Middlesex University, to kick start our new partnership with residents and communities to drive positive action to tackle climate change in Barnet. We very much hope that you, and others from your community or organisation can join us in working together to make Barnet more sustainable.

Register your attendance and find out more via this Eventbrite link.

Barnet is full of creative, passionate people and organisations, who are already doing so much to build a thriving and sustainable future for our borough. We want to work with and learn from you in bringing together residents, communities, and businesses from across Barnet in action teams to ensure that our journey to net zero follows a path set by those that live, work or study in the borough, and not by the Council alone.

The event will include community organising trainingnetworking, and support from Barnet Council, Citizens’ UK and TPXimpact to develop and discuss action in your local area/community that is making change happen. Join us on Wednesday 17th January at 6pm to get involved. 

Tackling the challenge of climate change will be the most important thing our generation does, ensuring that we pass on a liveable planet to our children.

Barnet Council has declared a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, setting an ambitious target of making Barnet a net zero borough – putting no more carbon into the atmosphere than we take out – by 2042.

Earlier this year, our Citizens’ and Youth Assemblies on Climate Change and Biodiversity saw 60 residents aged 12-90 years old, come together and identify the key actions we need to take as a borough to make Barnet sustainable.

Barnet Council accepts all these recommendations and has already started work in a number of areas – you can read more about that work here. But the Council cannot tackle climate change alone. It will take all of us, the Council, residents, communities, and businesses bringing our ideas and energy to meet the challenge.

We need your help to ensure that the commitments we have made lead to meaningful action. Join us on Wednesday 17th January 2024 to help shape the future of our borough.

Register and find out more here

Please do share to members of your network who would be interested, there is a flyer for the event attached. For any further questions, contact BarNETZero@barnet.gov.uk.

We look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Best wishes,

Cllr Barry Rawlings
Leader of Barnet Council

New cycle path A602 at Sacombe, Herts

Those of you who cycle in Herts will be very glad to be able to use the new route alongside the busy A602 near Sacombe on the stretch between Ware and Stevenage. This route, that opened this year, was the result of a long campaign by Adam Edwards (Cycling UK Advocacy Network rep, a Sustrans Ranger and chair of WelHatCycling) and the late Jon Crosby (Cycling UK South Herts and BARNET CYCLISTS). Adam has written an excellent account of what was involved for Cycling UK. See the link below:

Sunday 3 March 2024: Women’s Freedom Ride

The date for next year’s Women’s Freedom Ride has been confirmed so put Sunday, 3 March in your calendars and do come along! It will be a fun family-friendly protest ride around iconic locations in central London where we call on the Mayor for gender equality in cycling in London. We will need help with feeder rides and volunteers for what we hope will be an all-female/non-binary ride marshal and lead team. If you’d like to stay updated on ride info and are planning to attend, please RSVP below.

https://lcc.org.uk/events/lcc-womens-freedom-ride-2/