Dear <<First Name>> 

We bring you news this month about the 20's Plenty initiative led by Jean Quinn of New Town – and she needs your support this Thursday (December 5).

Jean has succeeded in getting Colchester city council to consider backing area-wide 20mph limits on roads where people live.

If the motion is passed it will bring pressure on Essex county council, which holds the highways brief, to seriously consider improving safety and quality of life by installing 20mph areas.

The pressure is on. Data from Wales (which went to area-wide 20 last year) and Cambridge (which has large areas covered by 20mph limits) shows that lives are being saved, injuries being prevented.

The Colchester motion is  jointly proposed by Greenstead Labour councillor Julie Young and city centre Green councillor Mark Goacher.

Details of the meeting (with downloadable agenda) are here.

Jean says: "We're having a rally and holding up 20mph posters for a photoshoot. If you'd like to join us, please gather outside the town hall from about 5.10pm. We'd like as many people there as possible."

Note that 20's Plenty for Colchester is separate from the cycling campaign although for obvious reasons some supporters belong to both organisations.

The council agenda also includes plans for development at Middlewick. The 20mph lobby is likely to be outnumbered!

For more on why 20 is vital, see www.20splenty.org.

By now you'll be sick of rolling up in front of the barriers at Middle Mill to see whether the bridge is open again. That's why we are using a picture of how the bridge looked many years ago when the mill was active ... rather than the mess of signs and fences that are there now.

You'll be pleased to know that protesters have called on people to mark the one-year anniversary of the bridge's unplanned closure. 

They would like everyone to mark the date by mustering on the south (Dutch Quarter) side of the bridge at 12.30pm on Tuesday, December 10. 

The organisers will call on the city council to deliver an urgent repair or replacement within the next budget period, ie before April 2026. More information and a petition is at fixthebridge.org.uk or email tonybland@gmail.com.

For once the cycling campaign is squarely in Sir Bob Russell's camp when he calls for "action this day".

 

The closure of the multi-storey car park at Colchester station means that Greater Anglia has relocated cycle parking on the north side to the higher car park (access via Three Crowns Road off Bergholt Road or up the steps opposite the station building).

This provision is temporary while car park demolition takes place (concrete cancer had set in). The work is likely to last for several weeks.

 

There is still secure cycle facility on the London (up/south) side of the station.  

Greater Anglia said: "We appreciate our customers’ patience with us during this time." A statement (aimed at motorists) is here.

Anyone who is involved in cycle planning will know it involves a long, long, long fuse. Here is your chance to gee up the process.

Essex has revamped its cycle route plans for the county and you can take part in the consultation here. 

The Colchester page is here and you can download a report and (on the right hand side) PDFs of the proposed routes. Note that some of the cycleways are already in place (especially around the garrison) but these could be brought up to modern standards as part of this scheme.

Jargon alert! You will see mention of LCwips, which is the abbreviation for Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans.

Please take 30 minutes or so to give your considered response. Be imaginative -- no one knows their local area as well as local people.

This is your chance to help fund the campaign. Thanks to Nik Hughes for last month's donation.

From Tom Flood on Bluesky.

Please note that Kidical Mass is a separate organisation to Colchester Cycling Campaign although we do support its aims. If you'd like to help be a marshal at this or other rides please get in touch with Kidical Mass Colchester here https://www.facebook.com/groups/583946906992805

Wheels for All, which helps get people cycling whatever their age or ability, is opening a cycle hub in New Town in addition to its existing project at the Northern Gateway. 

Wheels for All is the national accessible cycling charity that promotes inclusive cycling. For more about the group and how it could help someone you know, see its site here. 

For more on the New Town hub, read the Gazette's story.

Colchester council encountered opposition when it said it would bulldoze the MTB jumps that young people have created in Iron Latch Woods off Halstead Road. The city put the destruction on hold to listen more closely to people's points of view. Let them know how you use the woods here: https://t.co/03JSG4gdtM

Essex County Council is looking for your views on the escooter and ebike hire schemes that have been operating as a trial in Colchester and other towns and cities across Essex. Give your feedback here: https://t.co/eZAdZdzVmA

The Active Wellbeing Society is seeking a part time mechanic for Essex Pedal Power. More information here. Applications close on December 14 and interviews will be held on December 20.

Getting a bike for Christmas? Tempted to commute by bike? Here are the  five most common bike commuting mistakes, courtesy of GCN Tech.

Are ebike retrofit kits safe and legal? This is an interesting article from the ETA breakdown group.

Workers leave EN Mason's Arclight Works on Cowdray Avenue in the mid 1960s. The traffic lights had only recently been installed and there wasn't a pedestrian phase: that came some years later. 

The cyclists and motorcyclists appear to be creating an advanced stop line of their own, giving them a chance to get ahead of the cars (Cowdray Avenue had a speed limit of 60mph). 

There was a path next to the allotments opposite that headed towards the town centre but most cyclists would have used the main road, perhaps darting down Serpentine Walk or Catchpool Road.

The service road ran fully east-west but the section where the Mini is was filled in when B&Q (now the Range) was built in the late 1970s. The building became the Cowdray Centre and housed various small businesses until a fire in the late 2000s. The site is now the Castellum Grange housing estate. 

Mason's began in the early 1900s after Paxman's draughtsman Ernest Nathan Mason (son Bernard) found a way to make photographic blueprints from engineering drawings. It was possibly the first company to develop a photocopier. After moving from Ryegate Road to Cowdray Avenue in the mid 1930s, Mason's produced paper and inks for maps and in the Second World War it also supplied equipment for aircraft reconnaissance. The company was taken over by Ozalid in about 1970.

If you want to try leisure rides, Colchester Cycling Campaign recommends both Cycling For Pleasure and Happy Handlebars. Both clubs run a variety of events for people of different abilities. 

Cycling for Pleasure: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1594722180845186

Happy Handlebars: https://www.facebook.com/HappyHandlebarsColch

Other clubs and local routes to try: https://www.colchester-cycling.org.uk/maps-rides-clubs.html 

Colchester Cycling Campaign has lots of LOCAL cycling advice on its website. If you have a question, make our advice page your first port of call.

Visit https://www.colchester-cycling.org.uk/advice.html

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

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

Chairman: Stuart Johnson
Vice-secretary: Will Bramhill
Treasurer: Catherine Johnson
Your committee: Alex Hooper, Chris Stevenson, Jean Quinn, Nathaniel Catchpole, Alan Spence and Paul Byrne