Minutes - Harrow Cyclists February 2011 meeting

1: Campaigns
-Routes from Harrow into Watford: From Hatch End a useful route is from Sylvia Avenue along
a footpath up to Little Oxhey Lane. The reason the path is so useful is that it follows the path of the railway and is
therefore a flat route. Alternatives are Oxhey Lane or Potter Street Hill, but these are much higher and is the case of
Oxhey Lane, much busier. To make this footpath a good route you would need to put in two new gates and an all weather 
surface on the path. This would then be useful for those who commute from Harrow to Watford or vice-versa.
Veronica had raised the route with the council via the LIP. We agreed to do the same as well as mention it to the council
officers in our next meeting with them. Veronica will add an item to the webpage about this.

-Feedback from meeting with Portfolio Holder O'Dell and Council Officers in January.
 A positive meeting. 
 -Councillor O'Dell seemed in favour of a cheap solution to the College Road Contraflow as the bus station works
  could take many years to come to fruition. Tony agreed to write to Councillor O'Dell after Councillor Ferrari
  received a response from traffic engineers citing the difficulties in implementing this due to pedestrian flows 
  between the station and St Annes shopping centre. There must be a misunderstanding here as bicycles would be back
  on the road prior to this.
 -On potholes we learnt that these were now being fixed as road sections. They are also fixed according to some rigid
  criteria. The only issue with this criteria currently is that potholes close to the curb are seen as less important
  when in fact they can be the most dangerous for cyclists. Harrow Cyclists agreed to help with the reporting of potholes
  via www.fillthathole.org.uk. UPDATE: South Hill avenue has now been resurfaced. Colin also said that a pothole that he
  had reported on Eastcote Avenue had been fixed within a week.
 -On cycle tracks. Harrow does not have any mandatory cycle lanes and Councillor O'Dell was in favour of implementing one
  to see what the feedback from the public was.
 -On 20mph Councillor O'Dell informed us that the policy had changed and they were being considered for some residential areas
  as well as near schools.
  
-LIP submission
 -The consultation closes before the end of February. It was agreed that we would coordinate the writing of our submission by
  email over the weekend and aim to submit it on Sunday.
  
-Contact from Police
 -Commander Dal Babu had been in contact after receiving one of our leaflets. He is keen to get us involved in some community
  cycling projects involving bike maintenance. We agreed to help and are expecting contact from one of the Sergeants who
  is organising this.
 -We also asked Commander Babu about targetting the worst drivers in terms of speed and aggressiveness. He invited us to attend
  a speed enforcement exercise that they are conducting later this month.
  
2: Rides
  -Colin will lead the February ride to Hampstead
  -Simon had sent in a mail: he will lead a March ride into the Chilterns and we will join Watford Spokes Wembley ride in April.
  -On the France trip, we need to get more organised on this if it is to happen. Tony will investigate ferry crossing times.
   Colin will confirm if he can make it and with how many others.
   
3: Discussing the focus of the group in 2011:
   -We had a short discussion on this. It was agreed that it would be useful to build up the social cycling side of the group.
    In terms of the ride program we think that June, July and August are the months of peak interest. Therefore we will focus
    our efforts on producing a good weekly rides diary for these months and worry less about rides in Jan/Feb.