RosieBell

Pedal on Parliament - Sunday 19th May 2013 3pm

I took part in the Pedal on Parliament last year. It was a heartening sight, with thousands of cyclist meeting in the Meadows and then cycling down the Royal Mile to a rally in front of Holyrood Parliament.  Just for once, we owned Edinburgh's narrow, dangerous streets.

Pedal on Parliament is happening again, on Sunday 19th May.  Assemble at the Meadows to take part in the ride, which kicks off at 3pm.

What we want

1. Proper funding for cycling.
2. Design cycling into Scotland’s roads.
3. Slower speeds where people live, work and play
4. Integrate cycling into local transport strategies
5. Improved road traffic law and enforcement
6. Reduce the risk of HGVs to cyclists and pedestrians
7. A strategic and joined-up programme of road user training
8. Improved statistics supporting decision-making and policy

Manifesto

Making Scotland a cycle-friendly nation

The great city is not the one that has highways, but one where a child on a tricycle or bicycle can go safely everywhere. – Enrique Peñalosa

Cycling should be the obvious solution to many of Scotland’s ills. It is cheap, healthy, democratic and convivial, benefits local economies and makes the streets a safer place for all. Cyclist benefit themselves – physiologically their bodies are, on average, many years ‘younger’ than non-cyclists’, and they suffer less from the ‘western’ diseases that beset Scotland so – and  they benefit others, cutting congestion and improving air quality. And yet bikes barely seem to be taken seriously as a mode of transport while the majority of Scots don’t cycle, simply because they feel it is too risky. Although statistically the benefits of cycling vastly outweigh the risks, poor design and maintenance of roads and cycle routes, dangerous driving, and lack of enforcement mean those risks remain unacceptably high. Making Scotland safe for cycling and walking, and – more importantly – making it feel safe, could transform our cities and villages and the lives of the people who live in them.

The Scottish government has already made a start. It led the world in signing up to a low-carbon future, part of which will include much higher levels of cycling. The Cycling Action Plan for Scotland (CAPS) set the target of having 10% of all journeys in Scotland made by bike by 2020. Whilst many of the individual points in CAPS are welcome, CAPS does not add up to a coherent, researched and costed path to reach the 2020 target – and nor has it received anything like the necessary funding.  Furthermore, even the existing funding levels are under threat. The history of UK cycling policy is full of strategies which have been quietly shelved when it becomes clear that their targets are not going to be met. We hope the Scottish government will not join Westminster in this hall of shame.

We call on all Scotland’s politicians, of all parties, to sign up to the following eight point manifesto in order to make cycling a realistic choice for everyone, from eight to eighty – and show the rest of the UK that cycling doesn’t just belong on continental Europe, but in the country where it all began:

1. Proper funding for cycling, with a high and rising share of the transport budget committed to cycling nationally, and locally.

If cycling is to reach 10% of all trips then there needs be serious investment. We ask the Scottish government to to commit a minimum of 5% of its transport budget – revenue and capital – to cycling within an overall commitment of 10% of the transport budget to active travel. Further, local authorities should also commit a share of their transport revenue and capital budgets to cycling at least in proportion with the percentage of people cycling to work or school in their area until in total, spending on cycling from all sources reaches a target of £25 per head per year.

To put this into perspective, 5% of the £2bn annual Scottish transport budget equates roughly to £100m, or £20 per head, which is comparable to the £1.32bn over 11 years that the Low Carbon Scotland report proposed spending on active travel (including walking). At the moment in Scotland actual spending is nearer £2-£3 per head. In contrast, in 2010, the Netherlands spent €30 per head (around £25) on installing and upgrading its cycling infrastructure which is already streets ahead of anything found here. Cycling England’s 2005-2011 Cycling City and Towns project invested around £10 per head and achieved significant growth in everyday cycle use, saving around £2.5 for every £1 spent, principally in reduced congestion. Other studies have shown that money invested on cycling and walking networks can pay back up to nineteen times the amount spent, a better rate of return than any other transport investment. If cycling levels rise to 13%, the benefit to Scotland would be between £1-2bn.

2. Design cycling into all of Scotland’s roads and junctions, with improved and strengthened national design guidelines in line with best practice internationally.

Improved provision for cycling must include a commitment to transforming Scotland’s roads and junctions. The existing design guidelines, Cycling by Design, should be revised in line with best practice internationally – particularly drawing on the experience of the Netherlands where 25% of trips are by bike. These standards should be incorporated into the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and local authority road design guidance and should form minimum national standards for any new road or any road being substantially maintained or upgraded, whether local or trunk road. In addition, the Scottish Government should investigate whether it is possible for these standards to be made binding on roads authorities. Each local authority should commit to creating a dense network of direct and dedicated cycling routes with separation from traffic where needed, particularly on busy roads. Cycling infrastructure should be suitable for cyclists of all kinds, whether fast commuters or children on their way to school. Importantly, it should not bring cyclists into conflict with either pedestrians or heavy traffic. Such designs don’t just benefit cyclists, they benefit everyone who uses the roads.

3. Safer speeds where people live, work and play.
There are significant road safety benefits to a 20 mph speed limit. In residential areas, the presumption should be that roads authorities should apply 20mph speed limits as the norm in these areas. Lower speed limits should also be considered for unclassified rural roads where all road traffic faces a completely unacceptable risk of accident.

4. Build increased cycling into local transport strategies.
Local councils are best placed to know how cycling and active travel can be improved in its own area. Each local authority should be required produce its own local cycling action plan with clear targets to increase cycling levels in line with the national target of 10%, using the existing cycling levels as a guideline. Funding to support this should be ring-fenced and councils required to report against their progress every year. As well as working towards a coherent joined up network (see point 2), plans should include integration with public transport, including buses and trains, making cycling a seamless and practical part of even longer journeys. Local authorities should take cyclists into account when drawing up their maintenance plans, with a duty to give equal consideration to off-road tracks and infrastructure when planning gritting, road cleaning and repairs. Resurfacing roads and fixing potholes should take cyclists’ needs into consideration as well as motorists.

5. Improved road traffic law and enforcement.
While acknowledging that road traffic law is effectively reserved to the UK Government, traffic law must do more to protect the most vulnerable road users such as cyclists, pedestrians, children and older people. The CAPS already includes a commitment to investigate the feasibility of introducing ‘strict liability’ – we would reiterate that this must not be sidelined. Restrictions on parking in bike lanes and on pavements should be strictly enforced and, given a lack of police action on these issues, those local authorities that have not requested decriminalisation of parking enforcement should be encouraged to do so. Where 20mph zones have been brought in they should be properly policed and sentencing must be appropriate when drivers cause harm.

6. A comprehensive package to eliminate the risk of HGVs to cyclists and pedestrians.
This is a pressing problem. Heavy lorries are associated with a disproportionately high risk of death or very serious injury to cyclists and pedestrians. For example, despite being just 6% of road traffic, lorries were involved in around 20% of all cyclists’ fatalities in London. CAPS already has targets for reducing cycling casualties but the onus must not just be on the cyclists to keep themselves safe. The Scottish government should engage with the UK Department of Transport with a view to developing a comprehensive package of measures to reduce the risk to cyclists and pedestrians, based on up to date evidence of what works. These might include better training, mirrors, sensors and warnings, or limitations on movements of large freight vehicles during the morning and evening peaks. Equally they might include complete redesign of junctions to remove conflict between bikes and lorries.

7. A strategic and properly funded programme of road user training.
Much is made of developing training for cyclists in the CAPS yet Bikeability is not fully funded, and Cycling Scotland is dependent on volunteers to carry out vital training in schools. But training should not be confined to children – nor even just to cyclists. All Scottish residents should have access to affordable cycle training, whether children, adult returning cyclists, and those in later life. Further, HGV drivers, bus drivers and other professional drivers should be required to take an on-bike qualification (or a theoretical module if physically unable to cycle) as part of their licensing requirement and be made aware of the needs of both pedestrians and cyclists, and the Scottish government should press the UK government to introduce these measures .

8. Solid research and statistics on cycling.
We can only improve decision-making and policy development with solid research. The information that records how many people are cycling is very poor at the national level and inconsistent at the local level. This makes it difficult to monitor what is happening and which interventions have greatest impact. At a minimum counts should be carried out twice a year using standardised protocols for data collection and handling, taking into account cyclists using off-road facilities as well as those on the public highway. Where possible electronic counters with public displays should be used, as in Copenhagen and other cities, which count the number of cyclists passing through certain areas as these can provide both feedback and encouragement. These would become a talking point and a public reminder to cyclists that they are part of a growing band taking control of their health – and their freedom.

There is all to play for and so little to lose. Proper investment in cycling is not a zero-sum game. It will bring so much more than the expenditure put in, benefits which will gradually be reflected in a changing, healthier population. We all know our natural resources are not infinite and we would irresponsible not to think of ways of making them last, but cycling is hardly a hair-shirt option. Rather it is a joyous way to get about – but one that has become confined to a hardy few because of the conditions on our roads. From Kirkpatrick MacMillan onwards, Scotland has a long history of popular cycling which has been all but forgotten. We believe these times can come again and Scotland can once more be a beacon for the world.

Full article with footnotes here.

Spokes Public Meeting

Spokes Public Meeting: Future of Local Transport

Cycling as a form of transport needs to be seen in the wider context of local transport as a whole, and at our meeting on Monday 8 April Professor Iain Docherty will set the context by describing current trends and policies in local transport as a whole.   Jim Eadie MSP will outline cycling developments at Scottish level, followed by Cllr Jim Orr describing the Edinburgh situation.   There will then be a panel discussion, with questions from you the audience, chaired by Paul Tetlaw.

Date: Monday 8 April
Venue:  Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh
Time:  7.30 – open 6.45 for coffee, stall, exhibition and chat

Iain Docherty is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Glasgow, with interests including sustainability and transport.

Jim Eadie MSP  is Co-Convener of the Scottish Parliament Cross-Party cycling group, and Parliamentary Officer to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Nicola Sturgeon MSP.

Cllr Jim Orr is Edinburgh City Council’s Transport Vice-Convener, has responsibility for cycling, and is a Spokes member.

Paul Tetlaw is a long-standing Spokes member, also board member and former chair of Transform Scotland.

Easter Monday

On Easter Monday I was cycling through the Dalmeny Estate.  There were still snowdrops out, and daffodils have not really got started. The Pentlands and Ochils were very white.  The paths had been cleared of snow, which was piled in heaps here and there on the verges.  A flock of heavily pregnant ewes. A couple of the ewes had given birth and very young lambs were feeding.  One ewe was licking a pile of snow - perhaps it had been salted.  Several cock pheasants were wandering about and in one field I saw a dozen curlews among the first, faint green - barley, I think. So the late spring has arrived.

Snowdrops in Dalmeny Estate

The Pentlands from Kirkliston

Edinburgh's Environs

Over the weekend we had beautiful weather - sunny, windless, almost cloudless.  Before sunrise I could look out to the promise of a clear, bright, still day, as if it was perfect summer. Of course it is well into autumn, and being awake at sunrise is not just for dairy farmers and insomniacs.

On Sunday I dragged Carl out for a cycle - his choice of route, only I wanted to see some woods with the trees changing colour.  Carl lives on the south east side of town, and has a good cyclist's knowledge of East Lothian and Midlothian.  He led the way along partly official cycling routes and then some muddy tracks and back roads until we got to the scrappy edge of the green belt, between Edinburgh proper and the bv-pass.  As far as I'm concerned this is cycle-through territory, to be endured until you hit the proper countryside.   We ended up at  the edge of Danderhall, an ex-mining village.  I looked at the map and saw serious A roads and the impossible by-pass, and that we had still barely left the city streets.

We were opposite some big ornate wrought iron gates that were locked. We went a little further along and found a farm gate that was open and then we were on a public path - as unadvertised as possible - that went through farmland and suddenly we were opposite a perfect Robert Adam house -not one of his grandiose palaces like Hopetoun House, but neat, small-scale ashlar classicism, and looking as fine as possible under the sun as it faced us square on.  It's Drum House and belongs to the Somerville family, who go way back and turn up in Walter Scott's Tales from my Landlord.

We went on past the farm where red hens were running about.  There were only a few people walking.  I think only the very local would know of this path, which came out near Gilmerton, a dodgy part of town.  To me that meant we had not yet escaped the city, however along the road a little way we stopped and pushed our cycles through scrub and thorn up an embankment on to an old railway line - sadly not tarmacked or even gravelled or left as mud but with the tracks removed and the ballast remaining - an uncyclable surface as far as I'm concerned.  Carl had warned me I would not like riding it - but he too couldn't stay on his bike so we mostly walked this, for a stretch of four pylons that were standing in the ripe barley, until we could see a tunnel and tarmac on the other side.

The tunnel was covered with graffiti - which is nothing odd - but a lot of it was quite good.  Not just slogans, and words, but some attractive pictures, the colours very strong.  There were some particularly good faces that were a bit Vettriano like, though sadly some lesser artists had half covered them with inferior works.  Producing these  seemed quite a challenge for surreptitious spraying.  I was very sorry I hadn't brought my camera. 

And it did seem incredible that the artists would come out this distance to do the graffiti - but on the other side was a good tarmacked path, where we passed a few people walking, as we went past scrap yards so evidently it would be guys from the local villages.  However, they were definitely better quality than your average urban graffiti, possibly because their makers could work without interruption.

The path became lovely, crossing a deep glen at one point, and then we came out and we were right by the Rosslyn Hotel for lunch, a very pleasant eating place in Roslin.  Since Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code Roslin attracts tourists to the carved chapel where the are clues to the Code, and there were plenty of Americans and Germans who once would not have bothered with an excursion to the village from Edinburgh. 

After lunch we cycled down the very steep road through Roslin Glen, which is as heavily wooded as I wanted to see, but still green - a little too early for the full October colours - we need a few more frosts.  I kept on exclaiming at the day - there was a chill but you could feel a warm sun, as bright as summer, but with the long autumn shadows in the mid-afternoon.  So a couple of miles of this and then we were back at the edge of Edinburgh and the spread of new-built suburbs.

Carl consulted the map again and found another path, this one pretty much pure mud and so my wheels were well gummed up when we hit the road.  We got to Dalkeith and cycled through the woods in the country park.  This is horse country, and what with riders hacking on glossy backs, one on a Clydesdale as big as en elephant and huge Limousin (?) cattle browsing, among the trees of the park it was a pastoral painting.

 Carl said he had the idea of another short cut, but we had been cycling for about 5 hours, it was getting late, and we didn't want any more mud, so after the usual pot hole dodging of this back road from the country park and with the low sun was doing strobe lightings through the hedge - October suns hit a cyclist's eyes and I have lost the visor of my helmet. - we hit familiar streets and were back by Carl's estate.

I was really impressed with Carl arranging this magical mystery tour containing the unexpected brilliance of the Adam  house and the grafittied tunnel , as on the map this terrain looks completely hostile to cyclists - all A roads and the by pass and stretching suburbs.  Sustrans could do a little tarmacking and signposting and joining up to fill in the cycling network in Edinburgh's environs, though that would take away our sense of being in the know  - like when the obscure band you have been following goes viral.

I cycled the 5 miles back to my place, calculating that while we had done about 25 odd miles together , I tacked on an extra 10 miles going from Murrayfield to near Portobello and make from it a quite respectable 35 miles cycle.  It was 6:15pm when I got home and the sun was setting.  No more cycling after work - not that I've managed many in this appalling wet summer - until late March now. 

From fringes to the mainstream

I'm sorry I didn't take my camera to the Pedal on Parliament event yesterday.  It started in the Meadows, and the lines of cyclists under the avenues of cherry blossom were a splendid sight.  The police estimate for numbers was 2500.  Spokes estimate 3000.



There are some great copy-proof pictures on Flickr. 

It was a bright day with a freezing north east wind, and the clothes you wear for cycling are not the warmest ones for standing around in waiting for the pedal march to begin.  All ages there - small kids on cycles with stabilisers, smaller ones on bike seats or in buggy-trailers.  Bikes of every descriptions - old roadsters, mountain bikes, racers, unicycles and tandems for three.   People in smart, sponsor-logoed club clothing or in tweed suits, though of course day glo yellow cycling jackets predominated.  Then through the Meadows, and down the Royal Mile.  To the motorists we must have been their nightmare - the contemptible speed-impediments bunched together, in huge numbers.  To me, used to being a minority on the literal fringes when cycling through the streets, it was heartening to be in the mainstream for once and part of a dominating majority.

Then down to Holyrood.  The grass area below the new Scottish parliament is a good area for rallies - it's spacious, and also sheltered from the wind. 

The politicians who addressed us had won clout for their activities on behalf of cycling.   One stressed that they were not talking about "funding for" but "investment in" cycling - that is, cycling is not an add on, but as an integral part of transport and the economy in general.  Others (I didn't note who said what) evoked Stockholm and Scotland's climate change measures. 

In Edinburgh cycling has increased from 1% to 7% of road use and it has been assigned  5% of the transport budget.  Pressure from local groups like Spokes, along with some effective councillors, have made a great difference.  My naked eye has seen far more cyclists commuting and, as a spin-off, more cycle shops opening.  Near where I work two more have opened in the last year.  I'd say there were six within easy pushing-your-cycle distance.

Updated:- There was a similar event in London - turn out of 10,000. A couple of accounts here.

Pedal on Parliament - April 28th

Pedal on Parliament: a mass ride on Holyrood
Gather at the Meadows on April 28th
(2pm for a 3pm start)

Pedal on Parliament will be gathering cyclists from across the nation to cycle on Holyrood to tell our politicians that cycling matters, to show our need for safer cycling and cities fit for people. Please join us and help make a Scotland fit for cycling!

Background

In February, up to 2000 cyclists gathered in London to cycle on the Westminster Parliament in support of safer cycling and cities fit for people. On April 28th, to coincide with a follow-up ride in London, Pedal on Parliament will be gathering cyclists from across the nation to cycle on Holyrood. We’re asking everyone who cycles in Scotland – or who would like to cycle, or would like their families to cycle, but who doesn’t feel safe – to join us for a big ride of our own – and a big picnic. Young and old, keen commuter or weekend pedaller, fit or not – you don’t even need to be on a bike. You just need to show up and add your voice to help make Scotland safe for cycling.

What do we want?

We have created an eight point manifesto to help Scotland’s devolved government reach its target of 10% of journeys by bike by 2020, a target which is now also embedded in its low carbon and obesity strategies. The government’s present Cycling Action Plan [CAPS] is far too limited to achieve the target, whilst the proportion of the transport budget allocated to cycling remains wholly inadequate at under 1%. Our manifesto covers:

•     Proper funding for cycling.
•     Design cycling into Scotland’s roads.
•     Slower speeds where people live, work and play
•     Integrate cycling into local transport strategies
•     Improved road traffic law and enforcement
•     Reduce the risk of HGVs to cyclists and pedestrians
•     A strategic and joined-up programme of road user training
•     Improved statistics supporting decision-making and policy

More info here.

Now from Weegieland

I have to say I'm amazed at the amount of coverage Fritz has been getting.  Here's another obituary, this one from the Glasgow Herald, showing him as a child of the punk era, with its 'zines, noisy bands,  gigs in scruffy venues and opportunities for the creative:-

Flushed with the sense of reinvention the punk era inspired, [Fritz] took his diabolic nom de plume from Dracula's vampire-slaying nemesis usually played by Peter Cushing in Hammer's increasingly camp restyling of Bram Stoker's original Gothic novel. Van Helsing took on the very of-its-time pen-name of Lou Kemia for his excitable scrawls in Wrong Time, but kept the eventually legally acquired Van Helsing name to the end, his former pre-teen identity a closely guarded secret.

Where others of his generation moved on to more respectable outlets, Van Helsing kept the faith throughout the next two decades, be it through his zines Asylum and Full Moon, or playing drums in equally wilful bands including FRAK and Nicotine Fingers. In 2000, with two friends Van Helsing began the Full Moon Club in the suitably labyrinthine confines of Bannerman's, the former folk pub in Edinburgh's Cowgate. For seven years on the last Thursday of each month, the Full Moon operated an anything-goes speakeasy policy that could see solo troubadours on the same bill as stand-up poets and punk guitar duos in an off-radar cabaret that attracted a loyal fan-base without ever attempting to curry favour with the rest of the city's music scene.

[I don't know if we started the Full Moon Club in Bannermans, though we were there for part of the time  We held it in The Maltings, the Canonsgait and a huge, rather grand place down in Leith, where our FRAK video was recorded.  My memory is of lugging amplifiers up steep stairs from pub basements.  There were some great gigs - and some terrible ones.]

Evening News Obituary

Another piece on Fritz here:-

Mr Van Helsing was born in Inverness, where he attended Millburn secondary school. He moved with his family to the Oxgangs area of Edinburgh when he was 16.

The name Fritz Van Helsing was adopted by the musician, who was a huge fan of Hammer horror movies. Family and friends remembered him as a creative, eccentric individual.

Sam Barber, 28, a member of the band FRAK with Mr Van Helsing from 2003 to 2004, said: “He had a habit of putting duct tape on the surface of his drum kit.

“It sounded horrendous but he insisted that was the sound he wanted. As if he wanted it to sound really cheap and nasty.

“Most people you speak to in the Edinburgh music world will tell you that he did a lot for the scene.

“In terms of living the rock and roll life on a minimal budget, he took it about as far as you can. He was a punk first and foremost – it was his whole life."

Fritz was a great enabler of other people's talents.  It's a talent in itself.

 

Remembering Fritz

A lovely obituary for Fritz Van Helsing written by Norman Lamont (musician, not politician).

I never knew his real name, but then he wasn’t a guy you would ask. He lived punk, all torn shirts, black leather and spikes, with a Keith Richards sway, and he tried to convince you he was a badassed mean sonofabitch.

“How are you, Fritz?” one might ask. “Too damn sober,” would come the reply. But it only took the briefest conversation to penetrate the image, and find a friendly, considerate – and very organised – character underneath.

From the late 1990s till 2005, he ran the Full Moon Club and fanzine along with Rosie Bell and Malcolm McLean. In Bannerman’s bar in Edinburgh and various other venues he would invite bands he liked and bands he wanted to give a chance to.

It’s a fair bet that more than half the sets I played for a good few years were at his invitation. Because if Fritz liked what you did – and it didn’t have to be anything like punk – he would do everything he could to get you an audience.

Fritz, Rosie and Malcolm were a dream team: organising venue, equipment, instruments, photography and a fanzine write-up, all for the love of it. They just called you, you turned up, plugged in and played. They gave you a great intro and a warm reception. And when you weren’t playing, there were people to meet and great bands to see.

A night in the Full Moon could offer you anything from the power of Shock and Awe, Mutterfly and the Z-28s to solo acts such as Electra Smith and William Mysterious. Vanhelsing wasn’t one for introverted singer-songwriters, but if you did what you did with conviction and even a smidgin of devilry, he was your fan.

At the Full Moon, I played solo and with various bands, any which way but get up there and play.

For a while, Fritz was even the drummer in my band The Innocents, and not in a polite and reserved way. He loved a song we did called The Ballad of Bob Dylan and took manic glee in propelling it to new speeds where I could barely spit out the syllables to keep up. That was fun.

He really came to the fore as a drummer in his own bands, FRAK and Nicotine Fingers. Probably the finest moment in the history of the Full Moon is FRAK’s The Last Band to Play Top of the Pops, which you can still find on YouTube.

When Fritz stopped promoting gigs and long-term illness began to get the better of him, life wasn’t easy and many said he was his own worst enemy. But during his last years, he did get out to enjoy gigs without the pressure of having to organise them. Whatever we heard, it was clear that he loved music, loved his bands, and loved his wife Mary and daughter Jet. If you’re anywhere, Fritz, wherever you are, rave on – and thanks.

Fritz died peacefully in the Royal Infirmary, surrounded by people he loved. Of the last few years, his wife Mary said on Facebook: “He was not just stoical – he was having a good time. He was some machine.”

Fritz loved Norman Lamont's song The Ballad of Bob Dylan.  Norman can never get to play a set without including it.

 

Obituary

Fritz's obituary in Other Lives:-

My friend Fritz Van Helsing, who has died aged 51, was a writer, DJ, musician and champion of the music scene in Edinburgh for the past 35 years. He was renowned for giving breaks to acts who were just starting out, helping them with photography, write-ups, equipment and contacts. His energy and enthusiasm for music never waned.

By Louise Bolotin (who I remember as Spike working on an Edinburgh rag called City Lynx).