Updated September 2017 All change at the COGS AGM AGM & Committee membership As you will know, Gill and Jimmy have stood down from the committee, we’re so grateful to them for all their work over the past 23 years and wish them a wonderful break away from all this! Hadrian Cook has taken over as Chair, with Richard Bolton as Vice-Chair and Paula Downard as Membership Secretary. Other roles unchanged (Rob Jacobs as Treasurer, Peter Durnan as Sustrans Liaison Ranger, myself as Secretary), plus we’re really grateful to the many other people who help organise and lead rides, count bicycles etc. A reminder that any COGS member is welcome to our monthly committee meetings – the next one will be on 31/10 (last Tuesday in October) at 7:00 pm – if you would like to get copies of minutes and agendas and don’t currently get them please let me know, it is a separate email list.  Jimmy and Gill receive a gift of appreciation from the new COGS chair Hadrian Cook Cycle contraflow schemes - From our Secretary Margaret Willmot You may recall back in May your views were requested on various cycle contraflow schemes which were proposed around the city. Numerous comments, some general & some in support of the various different schemes, were received as a result. These were very helpful, and were discussed with officers at the Cycle Liaison Panel in July, and subsequently schemes were raised as ‘Area Board issues’ so they could be progressed. Councillors in the affected wards, including City Councillors were kept fully informed and seemed broadly in favour so it was something of a surprise to find that rather than being carried forward for further evaluation by Highways officers (which would have been the next step) some of the schemes were vetoed by the City Council at a Planning & Transportation meeting in August. There is however an awareness that this step has caused some concern, and the Chair of the City Council’s Planning & Transportation Committee, Cllr Jeremy Nettle, has now started a public consultation on whether cycle contraflows are the best means to provide for cyclists in Salisbury. See the article on p. 27 of the Journal of 14/9/2017 (this does not seem to be available on the Journal webpage, I have scanned a copy into this link). The consultation which has started continues until October 9th, and views should be sent to info@salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk (see article). The comments which are attributed to me in the Journal were from something on contraflows which was created at quite short notice and sent in to the Journal without having seen Cllr Nettle’s specific comments. It would be very helpful if cyclists could make their views known in this consultation, since Cllr Nettle won’t know there are cyclists out there unless he hears from them. There may be aspects of what he has said which you may wish to take issue with (the allegedly ‘alien’ nature of contraflow for instance, or the comparative safety of routes & junctions which may be the alternative to contraflows [e.g. Devizes Rd versus Coldharbour Lane]. However the positive angle, for which Cllr Nettle is to be commended, is his ambition to make Salisbury more cycle-friendly in a safe way – an aim which COGS share and support. There may be more on this in due course, COGS resources are quite tied up with getting some detailed responses in re the Housing Allocations this week (see http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/spatial_planning/sites_dpd/draftwhsap). The COGS response will include points about the failure to implement the promised Salisbury Transport Strategy which was supposed to encourage a modal shift from motor cars, and the lack of a Green Infrastructure Strategy and high quality cycle routes linking new developments and city centre facilities. Further comments welcome – closing date 22/9. COGS AGM will take place on Monday the 25th September at 7:00pm in Room 1 SP2 Salisbury, Salisbury. Our esteemed speaker will James Cleeton who is a Sustrans Director and the theme of his talk will be ‘Car Blind’. Look forward to seeing all the COGS members at the meeting. Does this sound familiar The tacks have been dumped on the road regularly for two years, with the apparent aim of injuring cyclists - Read more.... As of September 2017 recurrent tack attacks are still occurring at Marshmead Close.This week COGS cyclist Paul Griffiths got yet another two punctures and picked up 77 new tacks. Whilst repeatedly reported to the police it appears that due to a lack of resources nothing can actually be done! Do you use this route - have you seen anyone acting suspiciously? Are you able to help identify who has been doing this since July 2014! Read about the problems that also occurred in February 2017. Salisbury cyclist and COGS Membership Secretary Gill Anlezark has been nominated as one of Cycling UK’s 100 Women in Cycling. 14th July ENGLISH Heritage has been given permission to delay the opening of a cycle and pedestrian path past Stonehenge despite an outcry from residents living nearby. The organisation which manages Stonehenge was due to open the path on a grassed over section of the former A344 by October 2016. The path was a condition of planning permission being granted for the new visitor centre built in 2013 which involved the decommissioning of the A344 between its junction with the A303 at Stonehenge Bottom and Byway 12. What is your oldest cycling heirloom? Believe it or not this trailer is over 50 years old. I borrowed it some years ago from Howard Piner. Howard and Elizabeth bought the trailer new on July 4th 1966 from a company called Payne & Boughton of Newark for the sum of £10 10s and fitted mudguards on it for 10 shillings so its now over 50 years old. We used it to carry camping gear behind our tandem on a few occasions, for carrying gear one Easter to the Scillies,moving belongings, when moving into our home when we got married and carrying the cat to my mothers behind the tandem in a converted beer crate. On one occasion we took newly born Allison on it from Holmbury to Milford YH in her pram body strapped to the trailer with bungys. In the 1990s it spent some months in the Scilly Isles kept in the sea air when Allison was living there so it has had a very hard and useful life even before it became the COGS display vehicle. So having used the trailer it had fallen into disrepair and the wood had started to rot - so I have given it a refurbishment it is time it went back to it's original home.  Further to the mention of this at yesterday’s (28/3/17) COGS meeting, Margaret Wilmot came through the Harnham Gate into the Close today and noted that the ‘Except Cycles’ sign is back – see photo. Many thanks to Peter Durnan for chasing this and for making it happen! We're a new company called Skill Shop (skill-shop.com) that's just launched in Dorset, to promote workshops and lessons with skilled local residents, and this course is only available through us. We will provide a 10% discount for COGs members too, if that's something that would interest you? New cycleway joining Bulford and Amesbury A new cycle link is now in place connecting Bulford to the roundabout just north of the A303 (Ratfyn, Porton Rd, Salisbury Rd junction). This traffic free route means that cyclists can now avoid the unpleasant and busy link betwe Solstice Park and Bulford – being both narrow and hilly this is not a pleasant stretch for cyclists. This key link is part of Sustrans route 45 as well as the Wiltshire Cycleway, and a useful link between Amesbury and the growing housing areas around Bulford, much of it associated with army re-basing. Currently however the path is incomplete and there is stepped access with a ramp for cycles to be pushed up/down alongside (see photo) at the northerm end. Proper ramped access will be put in and this is scheduled to be completed this summer.   Car Share Update If you are one of those COGS members who likes to use their bike for most short trips about town and who needs a car only occasionally then maybe Car Share is for you? A number of COGS members [including myself!] are already members, and the long-standing car share club in Salisbury – hOURCARS – has now joined up with Co-Cars, an Exeter based co-operative – to provide access to more vehicles and smart card technology which makes vehicle booking and usage even more straightforward. Joining up is easier too – with no deposit required, and annual individual or household membership fee of £25 giving access to two pay-by-the-hour cars available in Salisbury (York Road and Central Car Park), plus cars at numerous other locations across the South West including Exeter, Weymouth, Dorchester etc. And there’s more to come in 2016 as Co-Cars is expanding later this year to include electric bikes, e.g. at Exeter station, all bookable and usable via the same smart card. More details available in the latest Salisbury Co-Cars newsletter - Click here – and on the Co-Cars website at www.co-cars.co.uk. Previous news letter are available below - please note that these have been replaced by news that is updated via emails which are sent out periodically.
 Newsletter May 2014 downloadAffiliated membership of the CTC through COGS members COGS is affiliated to CTC, Britain's national cycling organisation, and can arrange Individual Affiliated Membership of CTC for COGS members at a cost of £16 per annum. The benefits are
For further information or to join as an Affiliated Member please contact the COGS Membership Secretary,
Latest News Update October 2012 downloadHighways Agency opens new crossing on A36 at Petersfinger Fantastic news for all pedestrians and cyclists - the Highways Agency offiicially opened the new crossing on the A36 at Petersfinger enabling a safe crossing across this very busy road. Oh what joy to be able to press a little button resulting a safe controlled crossing. Members of COGS, SUSTRANS and local walking groups were literally striding (just like that famous Beatles picture) and dancing across the A36 crossing in jubilation. After years of battling and over 1000 signatures on a petition the crossing in now in place. Thanks must go to Alistair Millington (Sustrans), Mike Ginger at the Highways Agency and all those in COGS who have been tenaciously beavering away with Wiltshire Council officers to achieve this outcome. Read the full story in the Salisbury Journal.
 Area Board Meeting 31st March 2011
The Area Board successfully agreed to support providing £7000 towards stage 1 of the Salisbury to Amesbury cycleway. Stage 1 will cover Ford to Hurdcott and will provide a route East of the river and if successful will provide a separate cycling route to the village and deposit you outside the the Black Horse in Hurdcott.
COGS newsletter archive
Pot Holes and Road Defects - Call CLARENCE ON 800 23 23 23 or email: clarence@wiltshire.gov.uk or report faults via the website at |
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