A plan to sell food and alcohol at the Cycle Heaven premises on Bishopthorpe Road has attracted opposition from some local residents.
The licensing application – which could see alcohol served until midnight – will go before a committee meeting on 14th September.
The change of use will also require planning permission.
Cycle Heaven have announced that most of their business is being moved to larger premises in Hospital Fields Road.
6.00pm – 7.00pm and 7.00pm – 8.00pm
Small group confidence sessions for adults who can not ride or who have not ridden for a year.
Bikes can be provided and booking is essential.
If you are using your own bike it will need to be roadworthy. Please wear clothes and footwear suited to cycling and the weather conditions on the day. Bring food and drink as required.
How do I take part?
Participants must be 16 years old or over. Booking is essential. Separate sessions for complete beginners and returners. Please arrive 15 minutes early to introduce yourself to the instructor and register for the session. All participants are asked to complete a health questionnaire.
Gillian Chefrad, Active Living Officer.
Sport and Active Leisure, City of York Council,
West Offices, Station Rise, YORK YO1 6GA
T: 01904 553377
The promotion of cycling has been a Council objective for over 15 years. Encouraging more people to cycle has played its part in preventing traffic congestion getting worse in the City (despite what some may claim, journey times have actually changed little over the past decade).
FULL cycle racks in parliament Street
The last government provided the City with £4.6 million and an opportunity to make a major investment in sustainable transport. We think that the Council got its priories wrong when it spent over £1 million on a cycle path in the Clifton Moor area running parallel to the A1237. Several months after it was opened there is precious little evidence that it is being used to any extent.
There is a lesson for the Council in this.
FULL – Davygate cycle racks
People will use a bicycle for certain types of journey but they want off road cycle paths to be safe, to follow the shortest possible route and to end at a popular destination.
A few years ago the Council decided to route a cycle path around the perimeter of Hob Moor. There was a clear “desire line” running from Thanet Road to the railway underpass. It was argued that a cycle path running across the middle of the moor would have disturbed ground nesting birds.
However a few years later and, although the bitmaced path is well used, the desire line continues to attract large numbers of pedestrians as well as some cyclists.
Effectively the wildlife faced a “double whammy”.
If the Council seeks, and is allocated, more sustainable transport funding then it will need to be smarter about how it uses it.
One obvious deficiency is the lack of cycle parking in the City centre.
Empty market stalls
A convenient and secure place to leave a cycle will be a top priority for most cyclists. On days when the weather is fine there are few cycle rack spaces available. Cyclists chain their bikes to a wide variety of bits of street furniture. Inevitably some are vandalised and the wrecked bike often remains for weeks as a testament to neglect while posing a minor threat to passing pedestrians.
Unused area near M & S
To often parked cycles detract for the appearance of our historic streetscape.
There is, however, space available for more parking in many areas including the in the Shambles market area.
Limited use of market area
Demountable cycle barriers (which retract into the footpath when an area is required for a special event) are one option that could be trialled.
Investment of this sort is one of the most economical ways of encouraging people to leave their cars at home.
Cycle parking next to historic buildings
It merits the allocation of more resources than ill considered gimmicks like “congestion commissions”.
The club sessions, organised by City of York Council, will take place at York Sports Village and start on Thursday 9 April from 2pm to 4pm. The sessions are suitable for young people and adults over the age of 11 years and will continue three times a week at the following times:
A range of different specialised bikes will be on hand to enjoy, including three wheeled bicycles and ‘steer from the rear’ tandems which help improve balance and cycling confidence. Flat bed bikes with platforms for wheelchairs at the front, mountain bikes and road bikes will also be available. The new club welcomes the support of local cycling organisations Get Cycling and Open Country, who are bringing additional bikes and with a fleet of 30 cycles available to the club everyone attending will be able to have a go.
This new Inclusive Cycling Club is one of the ways in which the council is working to reduce health inequalities in the city, help improve physical and mental health and provide financially sustainable health and wellbeing opportunities for everybody across the city.
The cost for club sessions is £5 per hour (free for carers), payable on the day at the Sports Centre Reception.
For more information on this and other disability sport opportunities call Glyn Newberry on 01904 553377, email glyn.newberry@york.gov.uk or visit www.york.gov.uk/disabilitysport
For more information on cycling in York visit www.itravelyork.info/cycling
Labour were accused of sneaking through their proposed “wide area” 20 mph limits when voters last went to the polls in 2011. Their plan was in the small print of a manifesto with most residents never saw.
The scheme in London is apparently aimed at “reducing cycling casualties”. Ironically a previous study in the capital revealed that the introduction of 20 mph limits there had resulted in an increase in average speeds.
In York, most cycling accidents in result in slight injuries, occur on roads where vehicle speeds are already low and often at road junctions (click for map). Accident levels have reduced in recent years to a total of 144 in 2013 (the last full year for which figures are available) following the introduction of more “off road” cycle tracks. There were no fatalities.
Cycling was 61% safer in 2012 than it was in 2002 (per mile travelled) according to the CTC.
Labour has spent £600,000 on implementing “wide area” 20 mph limits since 2012.
Out of the 535km of roads within York’s Outer Ring Road / A64.
Of the 333km of roads with a 20mph limit, 275km (51% of the total) have been created as 20mph ‘signed only’ limits during the last 3 years.
Prior to this the majority of 20mph limits were traffic calmed 20mph Zones.
The council has refused FOI requests to provide information on “before and after” accident rates on the “signed only” streets in west York or to provide information on the actual effect – if any – that the signs have had on driver speeds.
It is to be hoped that all candidates contesting the Council elections on May 7th will make their policies clear on how cycling can be encouraged and made safer.
In addition electors need to know which Party’s will extend 20 mph limits and which would focus resources at accident black-spots.
Stage two of the Tour de Yorkshire will see riders setting off from Selby, racing through the East Riding of Yorkshire before making their way to York. The peloton will enter York from the A166 before taking on two and half laps of a 20km finishing circuit, around the city from the Racecourse and out to Murton, with the finish expected to be between 3.30 and 4pm.
A professional women’s race will cover five laps of the same 20km finishing circuit in the morning, with the race starting at 11am at Knavesmire Road. This will give people another great chance to see world class cycling in York.
The fast-paced circuit will see the cyclists negotiate the city’s historic streets including the bar and cobbles of Micklegate and the beautiful bar walls along Paragon Street.
The circuit also makes a welcome return to Bishopthorpe Road to replicate scenes that were seen across the world during the Tour de France.
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It looks like Labour Councillors want to spend another £1/4 million on a 3 day cycling event next May. One of the stages of the new “Tour de Yorkshire” will finish in York with several local sprint races planned.
Taxpayers will be expected to pick up the bill, from the commercial rights owners, for a whopping £100,000 “hosting fee” for the event,.
A report which is being considered tomorrow, by the Councils Cabinet, shows no sponsorship or admittance fees aimed at offsetting the bills.
A decision will apparently be made before the Inquiry into the disastrous Grand Departy flop is completed.
Organisers were forced to admit a couple of months ago that the Huntington Stadium event – staged separately from the Tour de France start – had lost over £186,000. An inquiry into the event was subsequently ordered by the Council’s scrutiny committee.
The same Council Cabinet agenda talks of major cuts to basic service standards.
Road surfaces in Queenswood Grove already breaking up
£1.3 million a year will be cut from social care budgets.
As well as the much publicised proposals to charge for green bin emptying and move to 4 weekly residual waste collections, Labour are now admitting that more cuts are planned to open space maintenance.
Volunteers will apparently be expected to maintain bowling greens, tennis courts, flower beds and undertake rose planting. The report says that the “replacement of bedding plants with ornamental grass at 18 sites could potentially save 1,519 hours of labour”.
Ominously the report talks of York’s roads and footpaths being “better than average” suggesting that further cuts in maintenance standards are planned.
Many residents will view with incredulity any proposals which would allow a further deterioration in the standard of highways surfaces.
North Yorkshire Police and City of York Council have joined forces to help keep cyclists safe this winter.
During the dark nights, North Yorkshire Police’s Cycle Response Team are handing out free LED cycle lights to people who they stop riding without them while out on patrol.
Officers are giving the lights, which have been supplied by City Of York Council’s Road Safety Team, to people cycling alone to help keep them safe.
Not everyone officers stop will be entitled to the cycle lights. They will be given to youngsters or other vulnerable people who would otherwise have to walk home if they were forced to continue their journey without lights.
Officers are also giving out reflective back pack covers.
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With multi million projects providing little used now cycle paths in some arts of the City, residents are beginning to ask why existing facilities are being allowed to deteriorate.
Surfaces are cracking, rusting barriers need a coat of paint while some routes are now completely blocked by overhanging bushes.
The Council needs to get its supervision and maintenance procedures sorted out
Bushes block cycle path
Leaves need clearing from paths
Cycle barriers need painting
The 36-year-old Yorkshire cyclist, who won the 2013 National Circuit Race Championships in York, will return to the city on Sunday, only this time he won’t be racing. Russell will be lining up with thousands of local residents and visitors to participate in Sky Ride York big bike event on Sunday 14 September.
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