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Volunteer ranger (Sustrans via Twitter).jpgSustrans appeals for donations to keep National Cycle Network open this Christmas
Sustrans is appealing for donations to help cover the cost of maintenance work which will be carried out on the National Cycle Network this Christmas. Money raised will go towards tools, high-visibility clothing, safety equipment, new signs and volunteer training sessions.
Winter weather can often have a major impact on the network. Last year, two cycle bridges were destroyed by Storm Desmond in Cumbria, but there are plenty of less dramatic issues to deal with as well.
Sustrans hopes to have 2,500 volunteer rangers out and about over the festive period with tasks involving everything from clearing leaves to replacing faded or damaged signs. Groups of volunteers will cover large stretches of the network and could find themselves mending gates and fencing, picking up litter or unblocking drainage ditches.
The charity’s Christmas donation page lists what different sums might provide. £20 can buy 20 new plastic information signs to replace those that are worn or damaged; £30 could equip a group of volunteers with a set of safety tabards; while £50 can help train a volunteer so that they can organise a day’s maintenance on the network.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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17 comments
I'm sure the volunteers do a good job, but my experience of new sustrans designed routes is poor. As others have pointed out, the organisation isn't exactly a hive of activity!
Most cycle routes near me that are any good were due to local councils and parish councils. They upgraded a section of the A14 and moved it to avoid some notorious bends, and the old section was re-used. One carriageway was made into a normal road, and the second carriageway was made into a cyclepath. The road is in a good state of repair, but the cyclepath is riddled with potholes, gravelly sections and getting narrower each year as the grass and moss creeps across it. Of course it initially had those awful a-frame restrictions at the end of each section but thankfully those have gone, but it doesn't matter now as the only people that use it are dog walkers!
I will be supporting British Cycling and Cycling UK instead.
I'm sure the volunteers do a good job, but my experience of new sustrans designed routes is poor. As others have pointed out, the organisation isn't exactly a hive of activity!
Most cycle routes near me that are any good were due to local councils and parish councils. They upgraded a section of the A14 and moved it to avoid some notorious bends, and the old section was re-used. One carriageway was made into a normal road, and the second carriageway was made into a cyclepath. The road is in a good state of repair, but the cyclepath is riddled with potholes, gravelly sections and getting narrower each year as the grass and moss creeps across it. Of course it initially had those awful a-frame restrictions at the end of each section but thankfully those have gone, but it doesn't matter now as the only people that use it are dog walkers!
I will be supporting British Cycling and Cycling UK instead.
It couldn't be more obvious that you miserable buggers have zero idea how provision for cycling works in this country.
Its all down to funding, both for quality design and construction. The poor state of cycle paths in the UK is purely down to money and acceptance of schemes from your local authorities. Sustrans is the 'charity' that constantly pushes them for provision and occasionally gets pitiful handouts to build a small bridge here or a cycle connection there. Indeed Sustrans is actually responsible for a fraction of the NCN network. You want a glorious superhighway everywhere then you get Westminster or your LA to fund cycling infrastructure.
Do you realise that whilst BC and cycling uk are merely talking about cycling, Sustrans is actually getting out there with spades and shovels and doing it, with as little resources as a charity would have?
I've no doubt that there's a committed group of people involved, unfortunately they appear to have leadership that don't understand how to design or deliver decent cycling infra.
Until they get people involved who understand this, they (as an organisation) should probably take a step back and stop wasting the meagre resources they're given on delivering sub-standard routes
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-budget-idUKKBN13F003
just to give some context
I was thinking exactly the same, and although most of the riding I do now is on the road this cash will go into the motorway infrastructure that we can't ride on.
keep up the good work Sustrans!
They'd have to do some in order to be able to keep it up
There's a path near me that I had the misfortune to use this autumn. Looked good on paper. In practice it was almost unrideable - pothole after pothole. Not a fun ride at all.
Tweeted the local sustrans and the national with my concerns several times and nobody replied.
I've had a standing order to them for 20 plus years. I think I might keep the cash in future.
The sustainability officer for Swansea council revealed to me yesterday that they allocated £44,000 for the year to improving cycling infrastructure. That's a massive 18 pence per person. And this is why we have to rely on charities tidying up cycle paths.
Before or after salaries?
Don't forget taking circuitous routes (here it's 14 miles & 9 miles to the next towns by road - or 22 & 15 by NCN; 59 by road to Newcastle - 111 by NCN)... And inserting non-DDA compliant entry restricting gates that are tough to pass even with a flat bar bike...
It's not as if Sustrans actually run most of the NCN, they've for the most part designed it badly then palmed it off on the local authorities.
It's the LA's responsibility to keep them operational - which is all the more frustrating when you've got routes that go through multiple LAs each of which have a different attitude to maintainance
When was the last time volunteers and donations were used to fix roads or motorways.
The government say they want to increase the modal share of cycling, but apparently only if it doesn't cost them anything, so nothing willl change and we will still be be choked by pollution and stuck in congestion while people get fatter.
Looks like the best chance of cycling modal share increasing is if someone in power finds a magic lamp, even then it probably wouldn't come in the top 3 wishes.
I used to support them with a monthly subscription but cancelled it after a year. The only comunications I received after joining were further requests for money under a thin veneer of news about their fairly limited achievements, at least in my location. The whole organisation has the same feel as the AA or National Trust. That's not a compliment.
1. The volunteers working on these paths are wonderful examples of generous, public-spirited and thoughtful people.
2. The fact that our national cycle network exists solely because of charity, and is not centrally funded, built to be much more extensive, and maintained by professionals, is a tragedy.
2. The routes sustrans put together have never been anything but useless in my experience.
FTFY