This is my regular update and follows
an Away Day In November and the first Council of the year a couple of weekends ago.
Council matters remained busy through
to the end of the year. Our policy work has been very successful and our staff
have built good links with the new Minister for Transport Robert Goodwill and
his team. All political parties seem to support increased cycling, better
infrastructure and safer roads. CTC will want to see these promises delivered
and good consultation and quality implementation where new schemes are agreed.
The Road Justice campaign has highlighted the way courts fail to take injuries
and deaths of cyclists sufficiently seriously in sentencing and banning drivers
who cause collisions. Next year both prosecution and sentencing guidelines are
up for review and we will be lobbying hard on this.
Council has had to take a very close
look at our 2013-4 budget because of increased insurance costs and the decline
in external income as some major funded projects come to an end. Although we
have recruited many new members and the new “in- house” membership team is
working well we also lose members each year. We need to grow if we want to
achieve more for cycling and have a sustainable organisation.
A constant theme at Council was how
do we attract new generations of cyclists from diverse backgrounds to join us
at CTC – to ride, tour, campaign and develop new traditions that will sustain
cycling into the future. A working group was established to oversee the work of
Forster Communications who have been carrying out systematic research on the CTC
brand. This work has included desk based research, interviews, a brand
workshop, focus groups, used qualitative research through an online survey
completed by over 7000 members and further detailed research from a further 63
members/potential members. Forster have successfully engaged with as wide an
audience as possible of cyclists and potential cyclists. The working group has
used Skype to meet regularly and carefully monitor progress and the results of the research were discussed at Council meeting on 18th January. There is currently a period of reflection.
Team CTC was very successful in 2013
but we have not been able as yet to secure ongoing sponsors for the team in
2014.
A highlight of the Council Awayday in
November was a talk by Isabelle Clement of Wheels for Well Being. This is a
small London charity concerned with inclusive cycling and using adapted bikes
and hand cycles to enable people who cannot (or who can no longer) ride
conventional two wheelers to enjoy cycling. Council wants to see CTC attracting
a wider range of cyclists including younger people, urban commuters and
campaigners, members of minority communities and those who would like to ride
more often or explore further but are put off by the speed and volume of
traffic and safety concerns.
CTC Member Group AGMs
I managed to attend three of the
AGMs, one being the East Midlands CTC AGM last Saturday. It was good to see John
Allen looking and feeling so well and back in his seat as Chair. I was joined
by Paul, my partner, and there was some reminiscing with John and Keith on the
Leicestershire patch.
My Own Rides
Well it was a good year. In September
I joined an event jointly organized by Sustrans and Skedaddle to do the Coast
and Castles Challenge from Newcastle to Edinburgh. A stunning ride indeed with
a great group including some CTC members. In November I went to Lanzarote to
Club La Santa – this time for a very indulgent 3 weeks. I rode most days –and occasionally
had to walk the bike up the tough bits.
I haven’t managed to keep on my
wheels in December and January. I was tempted to join Terry’s ride in
Nottinghamshire last weekend but worried it may be a little fast. . . although I
was heartened when another member mentioned on Saturday, with some humour, that it
might not be good to drop your national councilor on a ride. . . .
and finally...
Don’t forget you can join almost 21,500 others
and follow all CTC developments immediately as they happen by following our
twitter feed @CTC_Cyclists. You can also follow me on @lowe1_jaki to see my
views and exploits on cycling but you will also see what I say about my day job
in human resources!
Want to ask me anything about CTC, whats in
this message or what you would like to see more of - then contact me:
jaki.lowe@ctc.org.uk
@lowe1_jaki
07873335516
Jaki Lowe
East Midlands Regional Councillor
CTC
