The wide shared-use areas behind the bus stops at the Hospital Lane stop on the Northern Approach bus road. The segregated cycleway continues in red in the distance Picture: Will Bramhill

Dear <<First Name>> 

We're now in June and, boy, May has been a quiet month. We did however enjoy a "live" Bike Meet at the Three Wise Monkeys with about 16 people attending.

Work on the Northern Approach Road bus lane is due to finish any day now, which means the cycle path from Bruff Close northwards will be open too. We may hold a "ride and a pint" social event for this month's Bike Meet on Tuesday June 17, riding up the NAR then down Mill Road, Nayland Road and Mile End Road to the Bricklayers' Arms (in the beer garden if the weather allows). Details will be emailed to you closer to the date.

We're waiting for the government's spending review announcement on June 11 to see what happens to the active travel budget nationally (see MP Pam Cox's take on this below) and we're also looking forward to the result of the consultation on the changes to East Hill. We'll flash the info on each item in an email when it comes through.

Finally as we go to press news has come through that exercise can help keep cancer from returning. Yet another string in the bow for cycling as part of everyday life.

Have a lovely June,

Editor

Does anyone fancy organising a  Big Bike Brunch this Bike Week (June 9-15)?  

Across Britain, cycling groups will be hosting Big Bike Brunches – riding together, sharing good food and making memories. 

#bigbikebrunch  

More details and links here.

The crossing at the Spring Lane roundabout, at the western end of Cymbeline Way, is still a barrier for many cyclists ... basically because it is not a zebra or toucan and you have to gauge the speed of cars before riding across two wide traffic lanes. Sometimes, though, a courteous driver will slow down to let you go.

Bode Akanbi, who started a petition for a safer crossing, says in an update: "I have reviewed the Colchester local highways panel minutes and Spring Lane roundabout is listed as a safety scheme ... but this dates back to at least  2016! 

"There have been almost ten years of planning but no improvements. Please can you help me get more signatures? Facebook groups, SMS chats, X, email and WhatsApp all work great. 

"If more of us sign, we can’t be ignored!"

The cycling campaign says that what would wipe out the problem at a stroke is switching the cycle-pedestrian route to the southern side of the road, which would then link in with Glen Avenue and Hilly Fields and connect to the toucan crossing north of St Helena School. Only a very few people would then need to cross at Spring Lane. 

Nudge, nudge to our readers who happen to be county councillors! Can we see some action please?

Sign the Spring Lane petition here

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

Confiscated bikes are taken away to be crushed in the Welsh capital

It would seem that many in the media dislike bikes and cyclists but fortunately the usual suspects, the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph, have a new focus for their grumbles – food delivery riders.

They are largely justified in this. Many of the bikes used by the Deliveroo crowd are not ebikes but illegal motorbikes, and the riders should have insurance, wear a motorcycle helmet and have their bikes registered. 

That said, there is a lot wrong with the gig economy model and we can understand why some riders want to get from A to B as fast as possible to maximise meagre incomes.

In Leicester the police have seized more than 200 illegal bikes and Suffolk has promised a policy of zero tolerance. More on that here.

Essex Police outline the definition of ebikes here, although some throttle-controlled bikes sold up to about 15 years ago might slip through that: they were legal then and they are legal now. 

Essex Police pointed us to these two pages:
Stops, seizures and prosecutions for escooters 2019-22, and
Collisions involving ebikes and escooters in Essex 2019-24

If the campaign wants more up to date information we apparently have to submit a freedom of information request. 

• It will be interesting to see which way the figures go after Basildon axed its hire escooter scheme. That council's comments were interesting. They cited "safety issues" while seemingly ignoring the 4x4-sized elephant in the room.

Many of you will have written to your MP to ask for better funding of active travel in the forthcoming spending review announcement, so thank you! 

Pam Cox, the Colchester MP, above, responded to Stuart Johnson's official letter from the cycling campaign. 

She writes: "I agree that it is vital that we set our sights high on active travel. It is a great way of improving people’s health, which can ease pressure on our NHS. It also has other benefits, including supporting economic growth, reducing congestion and helping to decarbonise transport."

Ms Cox pointed out that the government has increased the active travel budget for 2025-26 by £100 million compared with the previous year, taking it to £300 million (although the £200 million was all that was left after Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt slashed the amount in a pro-motorist drive).

She added: "We must break down the barriers to active travel including for older people, disabled people and children. I am pleased that the government has been clear that this is something that they are focusing on.

"More widely, I welcome that we are giving multi-year funding settlements to local government so that local leaders can make long-term plans for transport in different areas."

Kim Barnetson writes: "The New Town Bike Hub has been successful in winning a £5,000 grant from Active Essex for a cargo trike. We've chosen a Family C from Aitour. It's on order and we hope it will be here ready to loan out for the summer holidays."

Colchester Cycling Campaign uses Email Octopus to create this newsletter. If you would like to do the same for your organisation please use this link https://emailoctopus.com/?urli=XN4MS. The campaign and the new group each get a "new joiner" benefit of 15 US dollars (about £12). 

How cyclists can make the best report to the police: https://www.willcycle.com/2023/01/18/making-a-good-op-snap-report/

Ignore all the myths about low traffic neighbourhoods:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/15/ignore-myths-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-ltn

No local picture this month but seeing as May marked 80 years since the end of the Second World War, this advert for John Bull tyres, which appeared in The Bicycle magazine, might interest some of you.

Your editor's father was on the Harwich ships from 1946 and used to do a roaring trade in contraband to help smooth out the long-lasting wartime shortages each side of the North Sea: he took onion seeds one way (I think to the Netherlands) and brought back bike tyres – or maybe it was vice versa.

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

Work had been due to start ... but then the discovery of a bird's nest and eggs has delayed matters for another month. Meanwhile the problems at the weir have led the city council to drain the boating lake.

Campaigners still hope to retain the original bridge. Tests are to be carried out to see if it can be saved. 

Meanwhile Tom Cunningham of Essex County Council wrote to campaigners.

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, Kristin Bradley and Paul Byrne