Where to report a pothole? The campaign has been asked this question often since Essex admitted two years ago that the highways network "is in a state of managed decline". 

Among the choices are Fix My Street, an independent platform, or Tell Us, the county council portal.

Chris Stevenson, a campaign committee member who used to work for Essex says the difference is that when you report direct to Essex, the complaint goes into a bespoke database straight to the maintenance team. They then allocate a highways inspector to look at the issue.

Fix My Street and other portals usually act as a letter or email. The problem is that the defect has to be manually transcribed and transferred to Essex’s database. On top of the extra work (all funded by the taxpayer) there is the chance that other people have logged the fault already. 

Chris says: "The most efficient and logical way of defect notification is to use the Essex Highways link. That way you will be sure your report will be on the database.

"We know that Fix My Street continues to  develop and more councils are taking up 'direct to database' reporting. We hope that Essex will tweak its system so that the two mechanisms are integrated.”

It is taking a long time for details of Labour's allocation to active travel to become clear following last month's spending review unveiled by Rachel Reeves on June 11.

This is against a background where progress in the UK is proceeding at a snail's pace.

The good news: both Active Travel England and local authorities will have four-year funding settlements, which will end the scattergun approach and bring much-needed stability.

Sophie Gordon of Cycling UK, the national cycling charity told the campaign: "The amount of money that will be available to councils is a bit of a grey area. It's likely that transport spending in England will become more devolved to combined authorities and metro mayors. 

"They might get funding they can use for a wider range of sustainable transport options, and choose how much they spend on buses, cycling etc."

Meanwhile Essex will be in limbo pending local government reorganisation, which will take at least 18 months. It is likely that Colchester, Tendring and Braintree councils will be combined and take on most of the powers that the county currently has. An Essex mayor will be elected and they will probably have the transport remit and more.

One advantage of this kind of government is that we should get better value for money. The Essex mayor could also appoint a cycling and walking commissioner, a post once held in the West Midlands by Adam Tranter. It's worth checking out Adam's view of the spending review here: https://www.fusion-media.co.uk/blog/spending-review-analysis-active-travel

An American P47 Thunderbolt plane at Boxted during the Second World War 

Boxted Airfield Museum (Station 150) is a short ride outside Colchester and can be an interesting family day out. The roads are quiet and most drivers are well behaved.

The museum, run by a charity, is open on the last Sunday of each month from now until October, 10am to 4pm. Watch out for a heritage weekend on September 13-14. The suggested donation is £5 for adults and under-16s go free.

See www.boxted-airfield.com and  

https://w3w.co/outs.marmalade.ropes pinpoints the museum.

The former airfield is actually in the parish of Langham but it was called RAF Boxted to avoid confusion with RAF Langham 30 miles northwest of Norwich.

We don't ask for money for memberships so this is your chance to help fund the campaign. If you can spare us a "drink", please do.

Will Bramhill, the campaign secretary, supports the fitting of trackers such as Apple AirTags to your bike to help trace them if they are stolen and he wrote to Pam Cox, the Colchester MP, to ask if this could be made mandatory for new bikes.

Simon Lightwood,  a transport minister, replied to say that although the DfT was aware that cycle theft is a major problem, "there are no plans to change regulations to make cycle trackers a mandatory requirement". He sad: "We would encourage people to register their cycles with existing databases or cycle tracker companies."

No change on the horizon, then. This is how to best protect your bike: https://www.colchester-cycling.org.uk/how-do-i-stop-a-thief-taking-my-bike.html

A campaign member snapped this boat moored at the Hythe in Colchester. Look closely and it not only has a kayak for short boat trips, but also a tandem stored on deck. Truly multimodal!

Essex County Council seems to do well in giving Bikeability lessons to Year 6 schoolchildren (10 to 11 year olds). The only problem is what do they do then? Mums and dads are often not keen on letting their child loose on the roads on their own.

Bruges, Belgium, has come up with this cracking idea. It has identified safe routes in each locality which are detailed on signs placed around the city.  Children can ride the routes knowing that car traffic will be minimal.

Colchester council please copy!

The Kidical Mass ride on June 14 had a large turnout. Cyclists rode from the Richmond Road play area to Old Heath Recreation Ground.

KM is supported by the campaign but is not part of it. You can find details of its activities here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/583946906992805

Thanks to Eric Shaw for allowing us to use these pictures.

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 USD (about £12). 

You can try electric bikes and borrow cargo bikes here: https://www.spokesafe.com/colchester-ebike-hire

Thanks to Mat of the Sunshine Coast Greenway Project for representing the campaign at a meeting to discuss a cross-Mersea cycleway.

He writes: "I went along to the Mersea meeting last night. Yes it's very early stages and really just looking at how they can use the work being done on the King Charles Coastal Footpath to further their ambitions of having a safe cycling/walking/riding route anywhere on the island.

"I don't know if anyone has ever looked at how Mersea is (isn't) connected to the mainland and Colchester in terms of cycling infrastructure, but to me this would be a good idea as it was pretty clear to me there's not much, and there's an opportunity to get what should be a lovely place to walk and cycle a bit better connected.

"I will keep in touch with them and go along to the next meeting about it and report back if anything happens of interest, but for me the priority should be connecting the island to the mainland cycling-wise (but I am no expert in either part of the world, Colchester or Mersea).

Following this, Nat Catchpole, a committee member, wrote on the campaign email group about routes to Mersea and agreed that the really bad spot is the Strood, which connects Mersea to the mainland. Nat is in touch with Jane Thompson of Colchester council to look out previous plans for a cycle route to Mersea. We are always watching for planning applications that could give money for such a scheme.

Jean Quinn, a campaign committee member, tried to park her bike at Sainsbury's in Priory Walk last week but the stands were so full that she had to lock up on the trolley cage. Jean is to approach Sainsbury's/Colchester council to ask for more stands at this spot.

Electric bike bans spreads to UK's largest property groups and looks set to affect people riding to work: https://www.cyclingelectric.com/in-depth/electric-bike-ban-trend-spreads-to-uks-largest-buildings-and-real-estate-groups

The City of Cars film dedicated to young lives cut short by motorists: 
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-city-cars-film-dedicated-31863700
This has had its premiere in Birmingham. The campaign has asked if the Essex road safety team will arrange for this to be shown at Firstsite in Colchester.

Government's cycle fund cuts unlawful, a judge in the Court of Appeal rules ... but Labour look set to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
https://road.cc/content/news/governments-cycling-funding-cuts-unlawful-314371

Work at the hospital and need your bike checked over or tweaked? The Repair, Reuse, Recycle community interest company, led by Chris Blomeley, runs maintenance sessions at Colchester Hospital every Wednesday 9.30 to noon. "Last look" is 11.30. At noon the team catch the train to visit Ipswich hospital.

This month we head north out of Colchester to a scene that has hardly changed: the village centre in East Bergholt. Two cyclists are riding around the corner from the church into the Street as a gaggle of girls talk and play. Sadly the scene today is dominated by parked cars, many with child seats, although it is still a pleasant place to cycle.

Watch out for events in the Dedham Vale to mark Constable 250, the 250th anniversary of the birth of John Constable, the Haywain artist, next year.

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

... but at last there are signs of progress. See https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/25263019.outcry-colchester-weir-900-years-decision-not-made/

A stress test had been due to be held in the next few days but this has been cancelled without explanation by Essex Highways.

Councillor Lewis Barber met officers on June 26 and found that they are to commission another contractor to do the test.

Meanwhile the inconvenience continues ...

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