You’ve done as many of the preparatory steps as necessary: you’ve found a venue, you’ve promoted the meeting, you’ve got people curious about the movement… here is a draft agenda for your first WalkRide meeting.
Welcome & introductions
What is WalkRide GM?
- A new regional campaign advocating for nicer, safer, healthier streets to walk and cycle, particularly for children
- Founded December 2019 after police refused to investigate a series of muggings of cyclists and pedestrians on the Fallowfield Loop
- Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, made the bold decision to spend £160m on walking and cycling
- Chris Boardman was appointed walking & cycling commissioner in 2017. He has made it clear he wants communities to make their own proposals for getting more people walking and cycling to build the Bee Network, a city-region-wide cycling and walking network made up of more than 1,000 miles of routes, including 75 miles of Dutch-style segregated bike lanes.
- People in Greater Manchester make around 250 million car journeys of less than one kilometre each year – the equivalent of a 15-minute walk or a five-minute bike ride.
- A large proportion of these trips are school runs. In the Netherlands, 50% of children cycle to school every day – in Greater Manchester the number is less than 2%. Bee Network aims to make walking and cycling the natural choice for short journeys.
Why our area?
- We all love living here but if there is one bad thing about it: traffic, congestion, exhaust fumes
- What can we do to our existing streets to make them more enticing for people to walk and cycle?
- Earlier this year residents of Levenshulme in Manchester put together their own £3.2m bid for a radical redesign of their streets. There is nothing stopping us doing the same.
- What area should the group cover, i.e. is there a neighbouring village that we could include and work with?
- We need to make sure walking, cycling and public transport provision is a central consideration in any future commercial or residential development scheme.
What are the problem streets and junctions?
- WalkRide GM has a particular focus on encouraging children to walk, scoot and cycle to school. What is the school run like around our schools?
- Why do so many people drive to the local high street? Or to amenities such as leisure centres or cinemas?
- Are there any rat runs?
- Are there particular streets irresistible to boy/girl racers?
- Are there any junctions that are particularly intimidating to cross?
- Are there problems with existing footpaths/bridleways?
- How easy is it to get about without driving? What are the transport links out of the area like?
- Are there any usable off-road routes for walking and cycling?