North taranaki Cycle Advocates
1 April 2015
MINUTES
Chair: Grame
Notetaker: Stuart
Present: Graeme, Stuart, Alan, Nigel, Joelle, Nathaniel, Jono, Liang
1. Bike kitchen
Discussed vision of bike kitchen as somewhere people can hang out, get their hands on tools and spare parts and learn to fix their own bikes. Need free or funded central location from 3-6 pm once a fortnight. Possible options were the bus station, Huatoki Plaza (with bikes and tools stored in basement below Petit Paris) or near Centre City with tools stored in the bike pods. Discussed approaching Lions Foundation or TSB Trust for funding.
Action: Alan will convene meeting of people interested in starting the bike kitchen to map out a plan and budget and email it to rest of the group.
Action: Alan will contact Yvette Batten about doing a Midweek article seeking a venue once the plan and budget are sorted.
Action: Jono will try to track Duncan down to see if he still has and parts and tools that NPDC funded.
2. Submission to NPDC Long Term Plan
Discussed status of existing Lets Go funding going forward. NPDC has submitted applications for 3 projects to the Urban Cycle Fund.
- First ($85,000) links Mangati Walkway to Coastal Walkway.
- Second $360,000 is for road widening (to make cycle lanes wider) past Highlands Middle School to Brooklands roundabout.
- Third ($250,000) would revise interesections between one way streets and Morley to make cycle lines continuous and improve safety for pedestrians.
With these grants, NPDC contributes 1/3, Transport Agency contributes 1/3 and Cycle Fund contributes 1/3.
Lets Go funding currently comes under the Projects Budgets - there was some question whether Lets Go operational budgets were going to be cut, but these were retained.
The Roading Minor Safety Budget is also really important in the long term plan as this also funds cycle safety.
Action: Graeme will draw up draft for NTCA submission to Long Term Plan and email it to group.
Action: Stuart will draw up some paragraphs opposing proposed cuts to community development and community grants and advocating that current budget problems can only be resolved by addressing New Plymouth unsustrainable rates structure (with fixed charges comprising 2/3 of the average rates bill).
3. Current Let's Go Projects (Nathaniel)
South Road revision (between Spotswood College and Belt Road) about to go out to re-tender.
New walkway fomr Spotswood College across Ngamotu Domain to Motorua complete.
LEDS lights being inserted in high impact pedestrian crossings such as East Devon St.
Let's Go has funded improvement in 8 areas on State Highway 3 between Vickers and Northgate to improve walking and cycling.