SAVE HARDINGS WAY EVENT 4 JULY

Thank you to everyone who answered the Masterplan consultation despite the awkward website. As you know, one of few bad ideas in there was a car park on the edge of South Lynn that would be accessed by driving in the south end of Hardings Way cycleway/busway and turning right across outbound traffic, basically resurrecting part of an old plan which was abandoned due to opposition from the community including BUG.

The Community is staging a United for Nature Event for No Car Parks or Development on Hardings Way on Saturday 4 July 10.30 - 11 am at Hardings Way Bus Gate, near Wisbech Road, South Lynn, and we have been invited to attend by County Councillor Alex Kemp, Borough Councillor Charles Joyce and Kevin Waddington.

This will be a family-inclusive event, so please share the invitation with your family, friends, councillors and anyone who cares about nature, cyclist or not. Guest Speakers will be Wise Owl and other Animals.

The Community of South Lynn needs more, not less green space, for its health and wellbeing and in the recent consultation residents said they want more green space and safer cycle lanes. Putting motor traffic on Hardings Way would make the cycleway less safe, with drivers turning across cycle traffic to access the car park. Transforming the two brownfield sites into a Space for Nature, not a car park, would create more Greenspace.

Please go along and support the event on Saturday morning. We've stopped similar stupid ideas before and we can stop it again.

DayRide Sunday 5^th July 10.00amLynnsport A ride to Snettisham Beach. There is a café, also fish and chips, or bring a packed lunch for picnic on the beach. About 32 miles.

Chat and Plan Social meeting Thursday 9^th July 7.45 for 8pm at Ferry Lane www.KWLNBUG.co.ukfor details of current campaigns and comments on development places.

DayRide Sunday 12^th July 10.00amLynnsport A ride to Fork Handles café, Stow Hall. About 34 miles.

DayRide Sunday 19^th July 10.00amLynnsport A ride to West Raynham for their annual open day. There will be a hog roast, BBQ and café. About 40 miles.

Day Ride Sunday 26^th July 10.00am Lynnsport A ride to North Creake Abbey café. About 48 miles.

Vicky’s Pedal and Chat rides every Tuesday evening Lynnsport 6.30pm. Short sociable rides in and around town. See below:

Chat and plan meeting on second Thursday of the month Ferry Lane 7.45 for 8pm. See:
KLWNBUG.co.uk for details of current campaigns and comments on development places.

PEDAL & CHAT TURNS TEN!

This June marks 10 years since Pedal & Chat was formed! Since June 2016, there have been 439 rides. That's a lot of pedalling & chatting- potentially up to 4000 miles worth! Thank you to all of you who have been along for the ride.
P&C is going to be celebrating this month by doing some favourite rides again. Meet at Lynnsport on Tuesday evenings at 6.30pm.
Here's looking forward to making a great month of celebrations! 🚲🎉🎂

PLEASE SUPPORT CYCLING IN THE MASTERPLAN

There's a consultation now open on the King's Lynn Masterplan. Pete and MJ have been to stakeholder workshops on BUG's invitation and some key things to support are completing the town centre end of the Orange cycling/walking route along South Quay and King Street, completing the town end of the Green route by widening and reallocating pavements from Loke Road to Railway Road, creating better links to and around the SouthGate, and moving some car parking out of the historic centre to the edge of the docks, but we also need more cycle parking as planned in the Local Cycling and Walking Implementation Plan. On the consultation boards, most cycling things are on boards 2, 4 and 5. In the consultation or the strategy book, Strategies 5 and 6 are key for cycling. You can find the consultation at VisionKingsLynn.co.uk/have-your-say/ until Friday 12 June.

Please continue to the end of the interactive consultation and click the link to "ArcGIS Survey123" near the bottom of the page despite its description. That will take you to the page where you can give your views. It being a bit difficult and non-obvious to find might mean your voice carries more weight. I'd be very happy if people supported the Riverfront, Common Staithe, Port Area and Timber Yard and Southgates area plans. I don't agree with Land North of Wisbech Road as shown because it would mean a lot more cars driving on the south end of Hardings Way and an extra junction turning across cycle traffic, which is a safety problem when about three-quarters of all injuries to people cycling happen near junctions.

Maybe in extra comments, you might like to explain any votes, mention the need for more cycle parking and completing the orange (West Lynn / Freebridge / South Quay) and green (North Lynn / John Kennedy Road / Railway Road / New Library) routes, and maybe suggest there should finally be some sort of "rail to river link" for cycling and not only walking (there are multiple possibilities and any could work, but so far none are in the plan) because that really limits the benefits from cycle touring like the Rebellion Way and North Sea Coast Cycleway, as well as making everyday shopping more difficult for local residents.

The local news has reported the move of some car parking out of the centre as if it's a big reduction (it's not - it's just that some moves out of the official "town centre" planning zone to places like the docks or Southgates areas) and some social media people have lost their minds about it, so supporting what's good in this plan might be really helpful. The consultation was to end on Monday 8 June, but has been extended to Friday 12 June.

COUNTY ELECTIONS MYSTERY

The Norfolk County Council elections resulted in 40 Reform UK councillors, 13 Liberal Democrat (mostly in North Norfolk, but also Rob Colwell in Gaywood North and Central), 12 Green (mostly in Norwich), 9 Great Yarmouth First (all in Yarmouth), 8 Conservative, 1 Labour and 1 Independent (Alex Kemp in Clenchwarton and King's Lynn South).

We don't yet know what this means for cycling, walking or transport in general. Reform UK seem likely to run a minority cabinet, but they didn't publish a manifesto for Norfolk or announce any transport policies. Of the opposition groups, we know Rob Colwell and Alex Kemp both have fairly good track records, the returning Conservatives basically had run NCC for the last few years, and the Greens seem likely to be positive in line with their manifesto. Learn more about this as it develops, on our website and socials