Cycle Forum needs a new Chair

Cycle Forum needs a new Chair

The  Chair of the Cycle Forum,  Ian Smith, is moving on. Many thanks go to him for this voluntary position which he has served with dedication and thoroughness. Commenting on behalf of the Forum on many a planning document and persevering through all the bureaucracy set in our way.

It is important that this group continues as it is a key link between the cycling groups and the community and the councils.
We have input from Sustrans, SDNPA, the Selsey cycling group, Friends of Centurion Way, CDC and WSCC.

The Forum was founded in 2010 as I noticed that we didn’t have a Forum but Worthing and Crawley and other places in Sussex did. The Cycle Forum brings together campaigners and the councils and the community a few times a year to share news and updates about cycling. Over 30 people turned up on 6th July 2010 (I think that was the date) in County Hall. This was an impressive start and we have had various Chairs in the intervening years.

It is really, really important we find an individual who can step up to this role. There is a lot to get involved in – 27th Feb is a key stakeholder meeting for sustainable travel plans. We ideally need a representative to go along to this meeting (afternoon).

We cannot afford to let this really valuable Forum fade away. If you can get involved and come to the next meeting or speak to me to find out more that would be great.

The next meeting of the Cycle Forum itself is 25th March at 6 pm at County Hall. The Forum doesn’t meet every month but has various sub-groups that work underneath it that meet up in between times – eg the Friends of Centurion Way Users’ Group.

Yes, there is a bit of reading of council documents involved but it really is a unique opportunity to get the voice of people on bikes heard – and it also plays a key role in standing up for people on foot too as so often their voices are not heard either in the room where the “Growth” plan seems to be the main motivation for everything.

If you think you would like to get involved, please do email me sarah.ccc13@gmail.com or phone me on 07789 843556 for a chat about the role.

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