A beginners guide to Green Energy

The next Deal With IT meeting on the 22nd March will be a quick presentation from local micro-generation supplier (Advent Green) on options for the home, an overview of how the Feed-in-Tariff works, the view of 'doing-your-self' from our local group of selfbuilders and the experience of people who have installed their own Green energy locally.

The meeting is at Dealability, 43 Victoria Road, Deal - All Welcome

Victoria's Green Matters - 9th March 2011

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has warned that the UK must move quickly away from oil dependency and embrace ‘clean, green and secure energy from low-carbon sources’. The Department of Transport has been charged with producing a nation wide strategy to promote infrastructure for electric cars by June. New deadlines for the building of low carbon homes will be set and the new ‘green investment bank’ will be established and operational by September 2012. Non-governmental organisations such as Greenpeace will be asked to monitor the progress of individual government departments that, in some cases, have not been taking their green responsibilities seriously enough.

At last, it seems that the government has seen the light! Rapidly rising oil prices, with the spectre of the £2 litre of petrol not far away, has galvanised them into action. Well, we will wait and see. Even if you do not accept that climate change is man-made, oil scarcity and price increase is sufficient to encourage you to use less of it.

A new report is published tomorrow which shows that rising sea levels are becoming a serious problem and residents have seen coastlines retreating during the last few years. Coastal regions that already experience social and economic problems will have the additional threat of climate change to cope with. The east of England will be the most vulnerable because of its low-lying shores.

For whatever reason you choose to limit your use of oil, or maybe price will limit it for you, the result will be the same. Hopefully, you care enough about our lovely coastline to want to keep it, if possible. We can attempt to halt the warming of our planet by keeping our use of fossil fuels to a minimum and adopting a low carbon lifestyle for the future.

Happy Birthday Transition Heathrow....

Transition Heathrow celerabated its first birthday this Feb and made a great video on their transition project:


If you cannot see the video use this link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWDerzFiqOo

Deal International Women's Day - 8th March

Join us to celebrate the

100th  Anniversary of 

 International Women's Day in Deal 

Meet at Deal Town Hall on Tuesday 8 March 2011 at 10.00 a.m

A great chance to wear those Suffragette colours of Green & Purple...

Followed by a Fair Trade coffee & biscuits..

Dover Bid - DWI Open Letter to DDC

From Deal With it to Open letter to DDC
Green group presses for flyover at accident blackspot on A258 and safer cycling.

Wouldn’t it be great for walkers, riders, and cyclists , locals and tourists, to be able to cross from St Margaret’s to Martin Mill station on a flyover or underpass avoiding the A258 cross roads, and to have safer access to National Cycle Route 1. Or to have a flyover linking the two halves of Ringwould on either side of the busy A258, or a cycle path linking North Deal to Fowlmead; wouldn’t it be lovely!

These could be part of a new Local Sustainable Transport scheme to develop safe cycle routes from stations at Deal and Sandwich and increased train services. An impossible Dream? Not necessarily. KCC has recently sent out invitations to District councils to bid for a Local Sustainable Transport Grant of £5 million. In Dover and Deal we could be the lucky winners if DDC put in an application by March 11 2011.

The narrow, congested A 258 is still a danger to cyclists and causes delays in the journeys of bus users. Relieving the pressure on it, by improvements to rail and cycle services can only improve our quality of life, reducing injury and air and noise pollution. For Deal, Walmer and Sandwich residents, the ever-rising cost of fuel when driving to work, education and health care, makes a sustainable transport scheme more needed than ever. We need to help youngsters whose EMAs are being cut, travel to jobs and education more easily, more safely.

These are the reasons why Deal With It says we badly need a coherent network of safe, shared walking / cycling routes with better connections between these routes and the trains and the bus services; also a reduction in congestion and parking problems and waiting times. We need SAFER, healthier, walking / cycling routes to get around within the Deal / Walmer area, and we would like our DDC councillors to put in a bid to KCC next week to meet the deadline.

The bid should include the start-up costs of a new rail service, to be achieved cost-effectively using existing rolling stock and infra structure, a service not allowed for within the franchise ending 2014. It should bring about the KCC Action plan for Rail (2011) which prioritises the extension of the Dover High Speed Train service to Deal. This would double the service frequency on the local Dover-Ramsgate line and improve connections to Canterbury, Maidstone and Faversham at Minster and Dover.

There are convincing arguments put forward by Trains4deal (www.trains4deal.com) backing such a bid for reasons of urgently needed regeneration. Deal With It believes the arguments in favour of putting in a bid to KCC for reasons of environmental sustainability are as clearly convincing. (www.transitiondeal.blogspot.com)

Emails can be sent to councillors via democraticservices@dover.gov.uk or send to councillor nigel collor - cllrnigelcollor@dover.gov.uk

Victoria's Green Matters - 3rd March 2011

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

The crisis in the Middle East really makes us think about our oil dependant society and what will become of it.

Perhaps you are thinking about buying a new car. There are many things to consider when investing such a lot of money. It is worth calculating the running costs over the coming years as much as possible as the cost of fuel will continue to rise. Car manufacturers have developed models for today that perform very well but they still use petrol or diesel and this still has to be paid for. Several new models have carbon emissions so low that they attract the advantage of no vehicle excise duty and sometimes upwards of 60 miles per gallon. These are the obvious models to choose, as they are the most economical and the least polluting.

As our whole lifestyle is affected by the price of oil, not only our own transport but the transport of food and other necessities, surely now is the time for massive investment in alternative forms of energy. Wind power is the obvious option that has encouraged investment in this country but wind power will not drive the lorry transporting your food. There are many options around the world that need serious investment if we are to adopt a low carbon lifestyle for the future. For example, bacteria can be encouraged to produce a diesel that is 80% less polluting that oil-based diesel but the power of the oil companies must be overcome with any scheme to replace oil-based fuels. This is no mean task.

We can produce electricity at home with photo voltaic cells on all south-facing roofs and this should be encouraged by the government for our long-term future.

Saving energy as much as possible not only makes economic sense but is good for the climate too.

Back the bid - Sustainable transport in Dover District!

Back the Bid!  
Deal With It are backing the bid are you?   

Tell DDC they should put in for a LOCAL SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SCHEME for DEAL and SANDWICH by 11 March!

On Feb 17, KCC asked districts to put forward bids for £5 million to improve local transport - only ONE will be chosen go forward as the Kent bid!

Revitalise our town centres
Each of these seaside market towns has compact residential areas and an historic centre in need of revitalisation.Following job losses in the former East Kent Coalfield, in Dover Port , and now the Pfizer closure, there is considerable net travel to work out of both towns.
Travel to work
New employment areas are mainly accessible by car, and often in out of town locations (Pfizer complex, Betteshanger Business Park).

Conservation and congestion
This bid aims to make a coherent network of safe shared walking and cycling routes into each town
centre, linking existing and potential employment areas (including the Pfizer site) to reduce congestion
and parking problems, and conserve the character ofthe historic central areas, whilst widening access to
work, education, health care and other opportunities, and shift travel behaviour.

Attract tourists
It will develop an inland shared route between thetowns, improving access to Fowlmead Country Park’s cycling facilities, and to Betteshanger Business Park. By making a circular route with the coastal NCR1, this will further boost the local economy through attracting walking and cycling tourists and leisure visitors to the area.

Existing cycling plan
Much of these schemes have been thoroughly developed and widely consulted on in the Dover Cycling Plan (KCC, DDC, 2008).

Under-used local railway
Central to this bid will be developing the presently very under-used local railway line as the heart of of an integrated driver of local regeneration.

A258 problems
The Dover­ Ramsgate line gives Deal and Sandwich the slowest journey times and poorest frequency
service in Kent (1 train per hour). With more trains, it could offer attractively fast inter-town journey timescompared to poor local roads such as the A258 (Dover ­ Deal ­ Sandwich) which is not scheduled for improvement.

High speed trains
KCC’s Action Plan for Rail (2011) prioritises the extension of the Dover high speed train serviclong the line, which would both dramatically reduce the travel time to London and other growth points at Ashford and Thames Gateway, and also double the service frequency on the local line Dover ­Ramsgate.
Stations at heart of local networks
The bid will place the two stations at the heart of local networks (cycling, walking, taxis, buses),
with improved disabled access, reinforcing the impact of the journey time savings.

Better travel to Pfizers NOW!
It offers an immediate solution fo enhance connections to the Pfizer
site, meeting the needsof a world-class science park and research centre whilst it is being established without waiting years for the construction of a new Thanet Parkway station.

Access to work, education and health
It will also improve access from Dover and Folkestone to emerging employment opportunities up the line in the Pfizer site, Manston airport, Thanet business parks. With improved network connectivity and resilience, all the coastal towns will benefit from better all day and evening access to education (schools, FE colleges and universities), hospitals, retail and leisure facilities.
High speed rail start-up support
The bid will include the start-up costs of the new rail service, which can be accomplished largely within existing rail resources (rolling stock, infrastructure) but has not been allowed for within the existing franchise, which runs until 2014. If necessary (according to the DfT) this could be accomplished by a ‘carve­out’ to separate the finances of this investment from the current revenue support for the TOC as a whole.
Unique opportunity
The bid offers a unique opportunity to effect a stepchange in the fortunes of an area now in flux, giving a decisive nudge to travel behaviours at a time when new patterns are being set, whilst supporting badly ­needed regeneration.
Make sure YOUR local councillors don’t miss this chance!
Find out more and send them an email from: www.trains4deal.com

What a 'Waste' of an evening!

What a 'Waste' of an evening! 
Report on DWI Meeting 'What do we do with Waste' 22nd Feb 2011

A cold 22 February 2011 saw some 25 interested supporters treated to 4 excellent talks on the subject of 'Waste'.

Graeme Lawes, from the East Kent Partnership (joint body formed by Dover, Thanet and Shepway Councils), started off the evening and brought us up to date on the proposed recycling and waste service due to begin in the autumn.

Daphne Tutton followed Graeme and emphasised the importance of not wasting food and told us about some of the dishes we could make with leftovers.

Ruth Searle from White Cliffs Freegle told us how the web site came into being, how to become a member, how to use it and the physical and mental benefits.

Geoff Warren gave us a very visual presentation about what can be done with furniture that had been scrapped but had been rescued and restored. Refreshments were then served and discussions continued for some time before the evening was brought to a close.

Thank you Vicki for organising and the report and Rose Dowd for the Photos

Victoria's Green Matters - 23rd Feb 2011

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

Good news this week about our forests. A burst of people power – the campaigning website ‘38 degrees’attracted 532,000 signatures - has caused the government to think again and cancelled plans that would have enabled them to sell off the entire Forestry Commission estate.

For those of us who only use forests for leisure pursuits, it was unthinkable that this part of our country could have been removed. For those who work with the forests, no doubt they would have feared losing their jobs in this depressing economic climate.

There obviously has to be commercial forestry in our country to raise money to help pay for the upkeep of the less profitable but culturally important woodland that we like to visit. In fact, we need to plant more trees and provide many more forests near to towns and cities for people to enjoy.

Forests are ‘carbon sinks’. Trees are the best thing we have to soak up the carbon emissions we create from our every day lives and which are causing the climate to warm. If an extra 4% of our land was planted with trees over the next forty years, it could lock up 10% of the nation’s predicted carbon emissions by 2050. It is not only the Amazon rain forest that we need to protect; we must care about our own forests.

A very interesting option for the future of our forests that has come to light is for the government to continue to run the commercial forests and to offer the rest to communities for free, to enhance protection for the forests and access for the public. The National Trust looks to be the body that might be the one to achieve this. Giving communities a vested interest in their trees results in responsibility and conservation.

Proposed wind farm on the Kentish Flats

From our colleagues in Transition Town Whitstable:

Kentish Flats Windfarm Extension – Have your say
Please see below for information on the consultation exercise on the proposed extension to the Kentish Flats Windfarm.

“As you may know, Vattenfall is in the process of putting together an application to add up to 17 wind turbines to the existing 30 turbines at the five-year old Kentish Flats wind farm. It’s really important that the community and all those with an interest in our proposal to extend Kentish Flats get involved and tell us what they think.

From 31 January until 4 March 2011 Vattenfall is conducting a community consultation regarding the proposed extension which is located off the coast near Herne Bay and Whitstable.

There will be two public consultation events in February in Herne Bay and Whitstable and we encourage as many people as possible to come along ... Read more at the TTW site

Lydd Airport inquiry in 2nd week

Guardian 21st Feb 2011
"Nuclear risk from plane crashes is higher than estimated, inquiry shows A plane crash could trigger a 'significant radiological release', according to an inquiry into the expansion of Lydd airport in Kent
The risk that planes will crash into nuclear plants and release potentially lethal clouds of radioactivity is significantly higher than official estimates, according to expert evidence to a public inquiry.

Studies submitted to the inquiry to expand Lydd airport in Kent, which began last week, cast doubt on assurances from the government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that the dangers of accidental plane crashes are too small to worry about.

An analysis by an independent expert concludes that the method used by the HSE to calculate the likelihood of crashes is "flawed" and could underestimate the risk by 20%. And a previously secret report for the HSE accepts that a crash could trigger a "significant radiological release". read more here

http://www.kentnet.org.uk/laag

Big Climate Reconnection - 16th April

On April 16th the Stop Climate Chaos Big Climate Reconnection takes to the road. Cyclists from Greenpeace, Oxfam, UNA, Fair Trade, Christian Aid, SPOKES, and other members of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition will cycle from Dover to Walmer to deliver a petition to our MPs. We will then cycle back to Canterbury to deliver a message to Canterbury City Council: they must take action to clean up air pollution in Canterbury. Everyone is welcome.

Contact: canterburygreenpeacegroup@hotmail.com.

Victoria's Green Matters - 16th Feb 2011

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

Do you have a garden? Are you able to look after it and grow all the things that you want? Maybe you live in a flat and don’t even have a balcony. Many people long to grow their own flowers, fruit and vegetables but the long wait for an allotment, or even part of one, is very dispiriting.

You may think that it is just ‘fashionable’ to want to grow your own produce but as transport costs rise and prices increase, as they already are, your own fruit and vegetables not only taste nicer but are on hand for you to gather. If you can grow organically, so much the better with the knowledge that you are not eating nasty chemicals.

You may have a large garden – perhaps too large. Maybe you are finding that the garden you once loved so much to cultivate has become something of a chore of late. You may have years of experience of growing wonderful vegetables to pick and take straight to the kitchen. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to share the knowledge that you have accumulated with someone else?

With the coming of climate change and rising oil prices, we will need to be able to become self sufficient in food production and this means growing our own fruit and vegetables on all available land.

Have you ever thought of sharing a garden? If you have garden to spare, would you like to help someone else to learn how to grow things? Do you live in a flat or a house without a garden and would love to have a little plot to grow your own?

‘Deal With It’ have started a ‘Deal Garden Share’ and if you would like more details or to sign up, please visit www.dealwithit.org or telephone 01304 372673

DWI Meeting - What do we do about Waste?

Deal With It's meeting on the 22nd February is What do we do with Waste ?
Speakers: 

• Daphne Tutton - 'Turn leftover food into tasty dishes'

• Whitecliffs Freegle - 'Don't throw it, Give it away'

• Geoff Warren - 'Repair and re-use it. It's not rubbish'

• Graeme Laws - Dover District Council - 'Dover's recycling plan'

Tuesday 22nd February 2011 - 7.30pm
DealAbility
43 Victoria Road
Deal
CT14 7AY

Solar park at Ebbsfleet

A planning application on the 30 acre site has been submitted by James and Alexandra Pace and includes 60 rows of 3-metre-high solar panels installed between the Richborough Power Station and East Kent Access Road.

The proposed solar park is next to six conservation sites stretching from Sandwich to Ramsgate via Pegwell Bay. read more here

Plans in for Solar Park at Ebbsfleet

Plans have been submitted for a Solar Park at Ebbsfleet.

The council has received an application for the use of approximately 12 hectares of land at Ebbsfleet for a Solar Park. The application involves the installation of approximately 60 rows of solar panels, with each being 3 metres in height, on a triangle of land between the Richborough Power station, the Southern Water Waste Treatment Works and the new East Kent Access road. The proposal also includes associated equipment cabinets, and a 2.5 metre high fence would be erected around the perimeter of the site.

The applicant has stated that the panels would produce an average of 4,000 to 5,000 megawatts of electricity per year, which would be fed into the national grid via a substation.

The application is accompanied by a habitat survey and assessment of the development on the designated nature conservation sites in the surrounding area. This applicant states the proposal will provide enhancements to bio-diversity, by providing wildlife corridors along the Minster Stream, which runs through the site, and along the south-west boundary.

Details of the application are available on the council's website using UK Planning under reference 11/0029. The plans can also be viewed by visiting Thanet's Gateway Plus in Cecil Street, Margate from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with extended opening until 8pm on Thursdays. Thanet's Gateway Plus is also open from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays.

The deadline for comments to be received is Friday 25 February 2011. Comments should be sent to planning.services@thanet.gov.uk The application will be considered by the council’s Planning Committee in Spring 2011.

Planning link

Social Enterprise information packs for community groups

From the Transition Movement site - a collection of really useful guides :"
Local United is a new group of climate change groups dedicated to sharing their experience of working on climate change issues at the community level as social enterprises. In their own words:

Local United brings together and supports community activists who are setting up social enterprises to address the challenges of peak oil and climate change. It aims to speed up the rate at which good ideas are adopted by community groups motivated to build low-carbon economies.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-02-02/social-enterprise-information-packs-community-groups

http://www.nef.org.uk/communities/local-united.html

Kent Micro Wind power firm wins award

First time Rushlight Awards entrant Luethi Enterprises Ltd is delighted to have won both of the categories they entered.

The Rushlight Wind Power Award was earned for the company’s patented 500W Silent Wind Turbine, which is a robust and efficient power solution for remote regions. The mechanical speed regulator ensures that the Silent Wind Turbine continues to produce maximum power – even in high winds, when other wind turbines have to be switched off. 100% of the power yielded is available for the end user, as there are no electronics requiring power. The simplicity and durability of the design means it’s ideal for remote applications.

Proof of this clever-but-simple technology can be seen in an early pre-production prototype installed at a farm in Nottinghamshire. This turbine powers an LED streetlight non-stop. The turbine has been in place for over four years, and has not required any maintenance or repairs – despite numerous storms in the area over that time.

The Rushlight Waste Recycling Award celebrates the Luethi Enterprises’ use of recycled plastic barrels to create cheap wind power for developing countries. Enquiries for efficient, cost-effective wind turbines saw Matthew Luethi acquiring used 220L plastic barrels. He then cuts the blades from this in a unique way that creates lift – and maximum power. This wind turbine requires very little breeze in order to achieve its 250W output, and a sample of this registered design is currently in transit to Ghana for evaluation by a charitable organisation.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have won both these Awards – especially as it’s the first time we’ve entered!” says Matthew Luethi, the Inventor and Managing Director of Luethi Enterprises Limited.

“It’s great to be able to celebrate our success to date, but the hard work doesn’t stop here. I’ve been working away at this project in my garage for a number of years now, and it’s time for a production partner to come on board, so that this business can grow and flourish.”

“I’ve got so many orders, but I just can’t make them all myself,” says Matthew Luethi. “The company needs a production partner to come on board that’s willing to work collaboratively with us. Like many small businesses, the unwillingness of banks to lend money for expansion are an issue, so we’re looking for a more synergistic and creative approach.”

The ambitions of Luethi Enterprises do not stop with micro wind generation.

“Our technology is totally scalable. We’re starting our learnings with small, low-cost turbines, and our developments can then be applied to larger, more powerful units.”

“Many of the requests we’ve received so far are from people or organisations who need power in remote locations, be it for street lighting, emergency lighting, CCTV, heating water, or powering battery banks in eco-houses.”

Another application for the silent wind turbines that’s currently being tested is to power water pumps.

Luethi Enterprises Limited was established in 2005 by Swiss-born Matthew Luethi, who is a retired farmer. The company is headquartered in Kent , England http://www.silentwindturbine.com/

Victoria's Green Matters - 10th Feb 2011

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

Litter! How does it strike you? So many people are complaining about the state of our lovely little town with regard to the amount of litter that continues to pollute our streets.

It is a proven fact that the more untidy and dirty a place is, the more untidy and dirty it will become. If we could maintain clean and tidy streets, there would be more encouragement for people to keep them that way. We are all responsible for the surroundings in which we live and, therefore, we are all responsible for making sure that we do not drop litter.

We cannot blame the council for not cleaning the streets. There should not be any litter in the streets. How many times have we heard the complaint ‘I pay my council tax – the council should do it’? Surely we should be making sure that at least the area around our own home is free from litter. There are areas that we cannot keep clean, such as the railway station that is the place that visitors see first on arrival and creates such a poor impression of our town. Some years ago a local campaign was launched which succeeded in tidying up the station but of recent time this has been neglected.

But we are only reacting to the problem when we strive to get our streets clean. Parents and teachers should be instilling local pride into children, making sure that they do not drop litter. If they have brought along a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps, it is easy to carry the empty packet back home if there is no litter bin nearby. Other countries have this culture where everyone is responsible and so their towns are much cleaner.

Punishment is not the answer but prevention is. If you can, pick up that sweet wrapper outside your home and create a clean, tidy street that others may be enthused to maintain.

Deal With It's AGM

Deal With It celebrated its fourth birthday at its AGM on Saturday.
The Highlights of the Year

• Successful Green Energy Forum to showcase options available under new Feed-In-Tariff scheme
• The Call of the Wild meeting with RSBP and Geoff Meaden
• Chicken Count & 'Home Runs's
• New Format monthly meetings with a wide range of speakers, films and discussions.
• Transition Town all-day workshop
• Co-organised Deal's Zero Carbon Concert
• Several Deal Beach Cleans
• Stalls all around the district
• Launch of our local Food Campaign - Delicious Deal

A big thanks to your all for your great support for our events during 2010 and our many volunteers for turning up to make it happen!

A special thanks to Rosie Rechter for holding us all together, our current organising group members and to past members Becky and Jeremy for their great support .

This year's programme:

• Delicious Deal  food initiatives planned - Deal Garden Share, Guerrilla Gardening, Community Gardens and Wildlife friendly gardening. Food Mapping & nutrition, cooking your own, basic baking and real bread.
• Energy Group - ideas for a Green Energy Fair, Exploring options community generation and coops for PVs and Understanding what it takes to Power Deal.
• Transport Group - building on our work on local trains, bus services and car sharing. Supporting the new Cycle Forum and colleagues in Trains4Deal
• Waste Group - get the group going (come to our meeting on the 22nd Feb)
• We will be looking a larger event in the Autumn on Transition and local food

The meeting discussed and approved a new constitution for the Group - This is a stepping stone to make us into a formal transition town group. Thanks to Deal Fairtrade for attending and of course for the biscuits!

We are have two vacancies on the committee - so if you want to do a bit more or have an green idea you want to make happen contact us at dealwithittoday@yahoo.com
This year’s committee is:
· Rosemary Rechter (Co-ordinator), Victoria Nicholls (Secretary), Helen Reeve Stoffer (Treasurer)
· Charles Franklin, Sue Delling, Sarah Gleave & Steve Wakeford 

Cycle Forum - Next meeting 16th March

CYCLE FORUM next meeting

Please reserve this date in your diary for the next meeting of the CYCLE FORUM for the Deal, Dover & Sandwich district:

Wed 16th March 2011 7pm - 9pm, again at the Royal Hotel, Deal

This will be a "working meeting" following our first general discussion on 31st January, which got things going nicely - see report and photos at http://www.tinyurl.com/cycleforum

Full details and agenda to follow.

Hope the date and time is convenient, and look forward to seeing you on 16th March,

best wishes,

Ian Killbery earlystart@me.com

PS Your views and suggestions on facilities for cyclists along the A@ and into Dover Docks are requested - see below:

The Highways Agency has commissioned a review of current cycle facilities along the A2 between Dover (Eastern Docks Roundabout) and Canterbury (Upper Harbledown Interchange).

Their desktop analysis and initial site visits have identified existing and potential cycle routes close to the A2.  It would be very useful to learn of any of the following issues along the A2 between Dover and Canterbury:

-          Problems where existing cycle routes join or cross the trunk road;

-          Suppressed demand due to lack of appropriate cycle facilities;

-          Poor or inconsistent signage of routes.

The study is a pre-feasibility assessment of the improvements which MAY be possible along the study corridor.  Within the design/works budget likely to be available, potential improvements will focus on signing and the promotion of alternative local routes.

 However, the study will touch upon potential longer term solutions.  It will prioritise these potential improvements so that schemes can be progressed to design and construction at a later stage, subject to the availability of funding.  

 

They would welcome the thoughts of members of the new Dover and Deal Cycle Forum. Please send responses directly to paul.goodenough@bbmmjv.com no later than Monday 14^th February 2010.

- snd copy to earlystart@me.com.