Andy Bebington nominated Cllr Maggie Mansell as Chair. The nomination was seconded by Jim Bush.Jim Bush nominated Andy Bebington as Vice-Chair. The nomination was seconded by Ian Plowright. Cllr Maggie Mansell and Andy Bebington were duly confirmed as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Cycle Forum for the ensuing municipal year.

All attendees introduced themselves. Cllr Stuart King explained that he held the portfolio for transport, which includes cycling, but that this activity links in with a range of other portfolio such as health, culture, housing, etc.

Cllr Sara Bashford and Sue Ritchie had presented their apologies.

Councillors in attendance confirmed that they had recorded their pecuniary interests on the Council's register of interests.
 

The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

A map of potential cycling corridors in Greater London was displayed at the meeting. Officers explained that it had been produced using data from a number of different sources to identify current popular cycling routes. Officers explained that the data on the map was underpinned by the results of annual TfL travel surveys, which were based on a small sample of respondents but which had been running for a number of years. Panel members observed that there was no strategic cycle network in the south of the capital and that cycle movements along the A232 were not recorded on the map. While the map showed limited data for Croydon, council officers have identified routes with the borough's Growth Zone which might be worth developing further. They will be looking to use TfL's modelling to gain a better understanding of needs and opportunities in Croydon.

Officers commented that the Mayor's draft transport strategy was disappointingly unambitious for cycling and that there was a worrying lack of interest in developing cycling in Outer London. The Cabinet Member suggested that the draft strategy offered a lobbying opportunity for all parties involved in cycling, particularly as Croydon had been acknowledged in the Mayor's draft transport strategy as having great potential for encouraging a wider take-up of cycling.
 

Forum members were given a presentation on the key elements of the Mayor's Draft Transport Strategy, which included the following:
- The local context - Croydon's population is forecast to increase by 10% between 2016 and 2026
- The draft strategy's three key themes are: healthy streets and health people, a good public transport experience, and new homes and new jobs
- The aim is for 80% of all journeys to be made by cycling, walking or public transport
- Croydon is considered to have the highest potential for cycling, with 400,000 "cyclable" trips, although only 50% of journeys are currently made using sustainable forms of transport.
- Funding of up to £770,000 is available to the borough for the period 2017/18 for walking and cycling schemes
- Final Mayoral approval of the borough's LIP3 programme is scheduled for March 2019

Officers explained that Inner London was close to achieving the target for sustainable travel, having reached 78% of journeys, only 2% short of the target.

In order to boost levels of sustainable travel in the capital, the Mayor is also considering introducing parking levies and additional congestion charging zones.

As regards LIP cycle funding, Forum members were advised that it would be shared between cycle training and other cycle initiatives. In addition, £300,000 have been allocated to Croydon for quietways.

Cycle Forum members were invited to put forward their contributions to consultation on the strategy by 2 October.

Officers stated that they had invited the commissioner for walking and cycling in the capital to see proposals for Croydon, and had been told very promptly that there was no additional funding available for these proposals.

However, they highlighted the new "Liveable Neighbourhoods" funding through which they might encourage more cycling (and walking). They added that there was technically no upper limit to this funding but TfL are looking at no more than £10m for any one scheme, which constituted a real opportunity for encouraging healthier and more sustainable transport choices.

It was suggested that main roads which were red routes offered the best potential for some segregation of cycle lanes as there were no parked cars along these. Mitcham Road was also being considered as a cycling route, although this might represent a loss of parking spaces.

Forum members were invited to give their views on whether to aim for a costly "gold standard" in cycling schemes or a lower standard aiming to encourage a critical mass of people to take up cycling. It was observed that driver attitude to cyclists could change and become more considerate if a sizeable number of residents in the borough took up cycling on the borough's roads. Forum members asked "what does success look like?" and it was felt that it would be seeing a lot of cyclists on the road rather than underused "glitzy" cycling facilities. The best approach would be to implement designs which would encourage many on to their bicycles and could be upgraded at a later date when funding became available.

Officers informed Forum members about the standard to which cycling schemes would be implemented:
- Principal cycling highways have to be planned to London Cycling Design Standards
- Quietways would also have to be planned to London Cycling Design Standards, but at a lower cost
- There is a third tier of cycling routes, namely, Greenways, which link up the green spaces in the borough.

All the above will require significant levels of funding and will be implemented over a number of years.

Forum members discussed the impact of lost parking spaces on business vitality. Officers were asked to find out whether the reduced number of parking spaces on South End had had a negative impact on local businesses.

Forum members discussed areas in the borough representing a particularly high risk to cyclists, such as the "Lombard" roundabout. Officers announced that TfL representatives were due to attend the 12 September Cycle Forum meeting to present detailed designs for the Fiveways junction.

Officers highlighted joint work between Croydon and TfL on making the A23 "more cyclable", by redesigning footways so that they are shared between pedestrians and cyclists. They added that TfL were partners in Croydon's "Growth Zone".

The Chair suggested that a draft response to the TfL consultation be produced for the 12 Sept member Cycle Forum meeting. She encouraged all Cycle Forum members to send their views on the strategy to Malcolm Smith as soon as possible.

Officers outlined the elements of the programme, which had previously been shared by e-mail with Cycle Forum members.

Forum members were reminded that evidence had been presented at the Streets, Environment and Homes Scrutiny Sub-Committee and that recommendations had been made to Cabinet on the Cycling Strategy. The final strategy document is due to presented at the 16 October meeting of the Cabinet.[post meeting note this has been deferred to November Cabinet meeting]

It was observed that a key aim was to increase the take-up of cycling, which in turn would encourage more people to be tolerant of cyclists. Forum members cited the example of the Netherlands, where citizenship training included learning to be courteous to cyclists on the road.

Forum members commented that fear was a major obstacle to cycling, with junctions presenting a particularly high risk to cyclists. They stressed that cycling on the highway had to become considerably safer for large numbers of people to take up this means of transport.

Officers explained that the 12 June announcement in the papers had omitted to mention the funding required to implement the cycle route building programme. Significantly expanding the cycle route network is likely to take a lot longer than five years.

Wheels for Wellbeing: The group has suspended its activities during the period of school sports days but will soon be resuming its rides every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

Cycle Instructor: There will be 160 places spread between four different locations available for cycle training over the summer. Some bicycles will be available on loan. Forum members were informed that Croydon was far more active in terms of cycle training than most other boroughs.

Faiths Together in Croydon will be holding an interfaith bike ride on 9 July at Croydon Arena, followed by a picnic. Cycle Forum members were encouraged to take part.
 

There was none.