Wednesfield Road Bus Gate

2013. City Centre public realm consultation response from CTC Right to Ride Rep David Holman

The consultation response from David Holman  - the local CTC Right to Ride Representative to the proposals to change Wolverhampton city centre and make it nearly impossible to cycle across the city centre.  See :- http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/business/regeneration/public_realm_improvements

Briefing note to Cllr Waite for the 6 November Scrutiny panel meeting intended to launch the city centre Traffic Proposals. STRONG OBJECTION to these in draft form.

This is a consultation response by Wolves on Wheels to the WCC Road Safety Plan for 2009 to 2012. The campaign is pressing for broader targets that benefit the living [ quality of life improvements] as well as the reduction in casualties. A strong stance is taken in support of a default 20mph speed limit for the whole of Wolverhampton. A broader range of measures for improving conditions for cycling are also proposed.

Minutes of the ninth WoWcc Annual General Meeting 24th September 2008. Chair's annual report is in Annex B.

28 January 2002. Draft Regional Planning Guidelines for the West Midlands received  input from WoWcc

"I'm ashamed to have written a 20-odd page report on having a meeting" says WoWcc's David Holman. Nonetheless here is the only assessment of Cycle Fora in England and Wales and what Wolverhampton should do to improve on its then informal cycle forum.  What happened next? We have fairly effective cycle forum headed by a councillor and used as a consultative body on matters cycling. The infrastructure sub-group look over the highway schemes and ask for changes. The forum defined the city cycle map and helped get it ready. See the City Cycle Forum section on this website. No sign of the 'Cycling in Wolverhampton' group yet though. 

We lodged some objections to the Wolverhampton Unitary Development Plan. Our principal gripe was to preserve the railway trackbed between Low Level Station and Fowler's Park as a 'Greenway' to enable easy access for the hundreds of people who will be living in the Canalside Quarter to a green open space. The council mysteriously lost this sustained objection. Wednesfield Road now crosses a solid embankment in place of the old bridge and the trackbed is being filled to be part of the Springfield Brewery development. We may yet get a quiet route to the park but through the old brewery.

2007. The Cycling in Sandwell cycle network is shown on Sandwell's cycling map stopping halfway across the open ground called Weddall Wynd between Prince's End in Tipton and Batman's Hill in Bilston. This report presents first impressions of the problems of getting across this space on a W'ton to West Bromwich cycle trip. Since this was written we've found out that escaping horses and weekend motorbike scrambling are genuine problems. The report led to a site meeting and horse proof, improved cycle access across the Wynd is in the future works programme.

WoWcc response to the i54 development in Fordhouses on the cycling issues created by the proposed road changes and the ideas the developers have overlooked. December 2007

3rd September 2003

Letter by our Hon President Rob Marris MP to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on the appraisal methods for transport schemes. This method ensures e.g. that a sustainable transport scheme is assessed on how much fuel duty will be lost or places a higher higher value on motorists saving 10 seconds each on a bypass than people riding and walking on local trips. It even places a monetary value on something as priceless as a bluebell wood. It's a scandalous piece of background civil service working. The letter was passed from the Exchequer to the DfT and Rob is still waiting for an answer. CTC are working on a consultation response on NATA appraisals in 2008.

Letter by WoWcc member Alastair Hopkins about planning issues related to the Battle of Britain pub. However the real interest is the popular but prohibited cycle route between Coton Rod, Sutherland Road and Westminster Avenue that enables riders to get between Goldthorn Hill and Penn.

The Black Country Core Strategy is one of those lengthy consultation processes where officials get to repeatedly ignore the advantages of cycling for solving social, health and sustainable transport issues whilst asking voluntary groups like ours to invest hours of our time in telling them the blindingly obvious. Even if we get something worthwhile for walking and cycling in the final version, the secretary of state for transport may just delete the lot as s/he did with the West Midlands Regional Planning Guidance. Here is a 2007 consultation response from us to one of the stages where we try to make the Black Country a little more Dutch. Us - forlorn ? No limited expectations.

2003. WCC consulted on its new cycling strategy. This is the campaign's response.