Dear <<First Name>> 

Maybe by the time you read this it will have cooled down a bit. As it is, it's so hot today that I've given up on the idea of a long leisure ride and I'll be mowing the lawn instead. That said, it has been a marvellous start to September. You can guarantee the weather will turn in the week the children go back to school.

August was quiet cycling-wise – it usually is as so many campaigners, councillors and council officers take their holidays. 

We're looking forward to a busier September and, as always, your help with any tasks and projects will be appreciated.

We hope to start a new newsletter feature called My Beautiful Commute. If you love your bicycle commute, please share the details with the newsletter team via the admin address above.

Will Bramhill

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Picture: Kim Barnetson Please send your seasonal snaps (with your bike as the star!) to admin@colchester-cycling.org.uk and we may use them in the next newsletter. 

This lane in the countryside north of the city is used by cyclists and walkers. It goes down to the Black Brook, which flows from Great Horkesley to Dedham. The little bridge over the brook is great for playing pooh-sticks, especially after a bit of rain. Can you pinpoint it on a map? Answer below.

We'll bring you a special report on the Eco Festival in Castle Park and Kidical Mass 3 in next month's newsletter.

Essex Highways is installing a one-stage pedestrian/cycle crossing over the A134 between Tesco at the Hythe and Elmstead Road East. It will be on the line of the current crossing but the central road hatching will go, leaving more pedestrian/cyclist space on the western (Tesco) side of the road. Essex spoke to us before going ahead and we made our views known. The plans have also been approved by Active Travel England. As this newsletter goes to press we are told that a start on the work is imminent. Overall we give it 8/10.

By Stuart Johnson

Ever needed more luggage or people-carrying space on your bike but you're not ready to commit to buying a cargo bike yourself? If so, Colchester City Council may have the answer. The council has launched an eCargo bike hire service and I was lucky enough to be one of the guinea pigs asked to try out the process.

The bikes are housed in the secure cycle park in Portal Precinct, just off Sir Isaac's Walk. Bikes are booked through Spokesafe – the same company that runs the cycle parking for the council. You'll need to have taken an advanced Bikeability training course (free through Essex County Council) and had a short induction course run by Colchester Council.

There is a choice of four bikes: a regular ebike, a long-tail bike and two front loading bikes with space for cargo or children. The process was very easy to follow and after getting the code for the cycle park I was away on the Riese and Muller Packster 60 eCargo bike that I had chosen.

The bike was a delight to ride with semi-automatic gears, a powerful motor, responsive steering and great brakes. All in all, this is a fantastic new facility being provided by the council and I look forward to using it again soon.

Essex County Council is about to start work to make the bidirectional cycle lane on Station Way under the railway bridge permanent.

Apart from the work on Head Street, this is all that is left of the ambitious plans for a safe north/south active travel route from Mile End Road to Butt Road.

While we are pleased to see this important connection being made permanent we are disappointed that so little is being delivered using the grant of several millions of pounds from the Department of Transport.

The plans for Station Way are limited and still include a shared foot/cycleway between the bus stops and the wall of Wickes.

We rate this 7/10 for the bidirectional cycleway under the bridge but only 2/10 overall as it fails to join up with safe cycling infrastructure and continues to force pedestrians and cyclists to share space and come into conflict. 

If Essex County Council joins this up to form a coherent and safe north/south route, as was promised when funding was given by the Department of Transport in 2020, we will happily raise our score.

This scene from 1946-1950 is still recognisable today. It shows the corner of High Street and Head Street from the corner of the Fire Office.

Both roads were still two-way. Two cyclists pass each other. They are walking their bikes quite possibly to avoid having to wait for the policeman on point duty to signal them on.

Boots was on that site for many years (and stayed there in a new building). Ultimately it ended up in Lion Walk in the late Seventies. Look carefully on both High Street and Head Street, however, and between the first and second floors you can still see stone-carvings of chemists' flasks.

A new cycle lane is currently being built on Head Street that will allow riders to use it in both directions for the first time since the one-way system was put in place in the early Sixties. We hope that it will soon extend through Headgate and up into Butt Road.

How do we know the date of the picture? If you look closely at the nearest bike it has a 10cm long white patch on the rear mudguard. This was introduced as part of blackout restrictions.

Work on the Northern Approach Road busway (to the right of the road in this view looking south) starts this month. Already the barriers are in place to allow the road makers' plant to operate safely. The lane between Hakewell Way and the hospital will stay open throughout the work although pedestrian access via Dickenson Road and Wallace Road has been stopped for the next 18 months or so. The NAR busway will feature a two-way cycle route and separate footway. By spring 2025 it will mean protected cycling from the station roundabout all the way to the hospital for the first time. If you have queries on this scheme, contact will@colchester-cycling.org.uk. We give it a 9/10. What's needed next is a connection from this lane to the bidirectional lane on Station Way.

The campaign needs your help to provide feedback to Essex County Council on its plans for walking and cycling routes in Colchester.

The council has published its proposals in its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).

Please fill in the consultation and let the council know what you think they have got right – and importantly what is missing.

The consultation allows you to add your own proposed routes to the map.

Find the consultation here https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/sustainable-travel-planning-team/local-cycling-and-walking-infrastructure-plans-lcw/.

... but we are pleased to report there is some movement towards a solution. Essex Highways published its principal inspection report at the end of August. This reveals substantial corrosion but it also gives an estimate for the cost of repairs. We hope that Essex County Council will respond with urgency to reopen the bridge as soon as possible. We still can't understand why cycles and pedestrians were barred as well as motor vehicles!

The new tarmac is being laid in Head Street as this edition of the newsletter is written (picture shows Head Street heading north with Crouch Street east and St John's Street running horizontally at the bottom of the picture. When it is complete, by Christmas, we hope, we will have a protected two-way cycle lane from High Street to St John's Street/Crouch Street.

This will make cross-town journeys far easier. There was nothing so annoying than to be on North Hill heading to the pharmacy on Crouch Street and having to divert through St Mary's (especially before the Balkerne Hill bridge was widened). This particular route needs better connections before it can be used fully, so we rate it 7/10.

Did you get it? The lane is the bridleway between Cage Lane and Langham Moor known as Hundred Lane (Boxted Cross is top left and Chapel Road and Old Mill Road at in Langham Moor). If you do cycle that way, visit Harper's Caffe (on King George's playing field) It is open 8.30am to 4pm on weekdays (until 7pm on Thursdays), and 8.30am-2pm on Saturdays and Sundays.  

Have you signed the Colchester Cycling Charter yet? If not, please do. If you work or volunteer, please ask your organisation to sign itself. The more people on bikes, the fewer traffic jams will snarl up our city.

We now produce this newsletter using Email Octopus. If you want to use it, use this code -- https://emailoctopus.com/?urli=XN4MS -- for USD15 off your first order. The campaign gets USD15 too.

Please feel free to pass on this newsletter via email and social media using the link at the very top ... and encourage your friends to join the campaign so they receive their own copy every month.

If this newsletter leaves you thirsting for more cycle news, here's the latest from Cycling UK.

Chairman: Stuart Johnson
Vice-secretaries: Alan Spence and Will Bramhill
Treasurer: Catherine Johnson
Committee: Alex Hooper, Chris Stevenson, Jean Quinn, Mike Polom, Nathaniel Catchpole, Paul Avison, Paul Byrne