AGM Report

The sun shone on the GB Cycle Embassy over the weekend as it descended on Bath and Bristol for its AGM (perhaps a little too much, judging by the rather red limbs on display on Sunday afternoon).

Starting in Bath on Saturday morning, we were escorted to the fantastic Two Tunnels Greenway (pictured above) by Tim Beadle and Mark Annand, before we progressed on to the Railway Path itself.

13 miles of glorious, relaxed, traffic-free cycling awaited us. Although busy with walkers, roller-bladers and cyclists of all shapes, sizes and types, the path was, for the most part, smooth and wide enough to accommodate everyone without conflict, and we were sped into the centre of Bristol in a few hours, stopping along the way for ice cream.

There was then the more serious business of the AGM itself, where after introductions and a report of progress from our chair, Jim Davis, the attendees agreed upon reaffirming our commitment to be a national lobbying organisation, aimed at influencing Westminster politicians and devolved administrations. The Embassy will highlight and disseminate best practice, making the case for the benefits of a genuine mass cycling culture, and setting out how it can be attained. We will provide support and guidance to local campaigns on infrastructure, principally through resources on our website such as our (developing) Wiki and links to documentation.

Our book will also serve a dual purpose, demonstrating to planners and officials what good infrastructure should look like, and showing  irregular or non-cyclists how our roads and streets could be safe and inviting for them to cycle on. The Embassy decided against becoming a membership organisation, preferring instead to have pledges of support for our manifesto and mission statement.

Steve Melia, of Living Heart for Bristol, then gave us a short but excellent tour of the good and bad bits of the centre of Bristol, explaining what has changed to improve the environment for walking and cycling, and what is proposed in the future.

Sunday morning saw Joe Dunckley lead us out of Bristol into the cycling wasteland of South Gloucestershire, where we saw just how awful things can get for cycling, with hostile road conditions and poor or non-existent infrastructure.

Guided safely back to the relative paradise of central Bristol, we resumed our discussions, this time about our website – how to make it more accessible and inviting – and also on technical aspects of current guidance that need addressing.

Looking to the future, we propose to continue two very different, yet equally productive,  kinds of cycling tours – sending Embassy members on David Hembrow’s study trips, to understand how Dutch infrastructure and planning really works, and also future infrastructure safaris to towns and cities in Britain, to see the good and bad bits of provision on our own doorstep. Maybe you would like to invite us to your area?

Full reports of our trips around Bath and Bristol will soon be appearing here on the Embassy website.