Minutes of CCAG Meeting
1. Present: John Hammond (Chairman), Allan Trigg, Jeremy Lager, Andy Sweeting, Peter Martin, Mike Whalley, Jim Fox.
2. Apologies for Absence: None
3. Matters Arising
Cycle parking at the railway station. Andy reported that there was still a notice warning that access fobs should be claimed. John said there was no news about spending the government grant to put racks in Arch23 near the Alehouse.
Victoria Rd Riverside inconsistent cycle/pedestrian lanes. Jeremy had spoken to Cllr Madden who took the view that it was a matter for the Local Highways Panel (LHP). This would likely take a long time to go through LHP processes. John said the segregation had been modified near the link to Waterloo Lane so we should try to find out who had done that and ask them to do similar north of Victoria Road. He suggested Essex Highways Development Management (perhaps Hilary Gore) might be able to help as a scheme rectification. Jeremy said he would try to speak to Cllr Madden and Cllr Stephen Robinson together to try to resolve it.
Broomfield Rd scheme. Jeremy confirmed that as suspected, the scheme had been considerably watered down. John had
asked for a meeting with Chris Stevenson to discuss it, and he said this could include considering wand posts or “armadillo/orcas” to segregate the cycle lane from traffic. Public Notices had appeared for the lanes and John had submitted concerns.
New London Road and Army & Navy Subways: There were still signs allowing cycling but negated by Cyclist Dismount signs. In an email to Jim on 29 November Cllr Bentley had said that they were about to initiate the consultation procedure.
Army & Navy new junction: John had requested a meeting with Chris Stevenson, who initially agreed but then said cycle bridge, subway or Toucan options could be considered after junction options had been firmed up. There was concern that the junction would be expanded to suit motor traffic leaving too little space for ramps for cyclists and pedestrians. Jeremy said Cllr Stephen
Robinson is the City Council rep on the taskforce and wanted priority for walkers and cyclists.
4. Essex Cycle Forum 30 January: to be held in Christy Room, Chelmsford
City Civic Centre at 1.30pm It is not known how many other people will turn up. There was a very limited agenda so it wasn’t clear what was in prospect. Andy wanted us to ask what had been achieved for cycling. Some of the topics we discuss seem to be intractable. It was suggested that inter alia a regular update on the progress position of highway schemes be requested, e.g the proposed contraflow in Market Rd. Also, we should request that the 2014 map of cycle routes be updated.
5. Potholes: Peter described an accident he had had in which the hollow in the road wasn’t big enough to satisfy ECC criteria for action. The meeting took the view that he should nevertheless report it because injury and damage had occurred. The fact that hospital treatment was required was indication that the criteria were wrong.
6. Any Other Business:
Website: Alex arrived with apologies for lateness. He said that he was now able to make arrangements to transfer the CCAG web site. John said when it is set up, Alex will need to contact Stephen Robinson to arrange redirection of the CCAG domain name. Alex will send passwords to Jim and John.
Leisure routes: Mike put forward the idea that a map would be useful to show potential routes for easy rides around Chelmsford. There was some discussion on this but no decision was taken.