Crispin’s Guide to Stirling
Cycling – General
I am the CTC Right to Ride
Representative for Stirling and Clackmannan.
In this role I liase with Stirling
Council regarding cycle facilities in this area, offering advice wherever
possible and working to highlight areas of concern. A thankless task, but one which will hopefully reap dividends in
the years to come by making Stirling an attractive, enjoyable and above all
safe place to cycle – both for utility and recreational cyclists.
Believe it or not, Stirling
Council has a good reputation for its work on cycling issues. They have done some solid ground work on
Safe Routes to Schools, in addition to attracting additional funding. Unfortunately the amount of money available
for cycling projects is pathetic, although higher than that of other
Councils. Write to your local
councillor and demand more money for cycling! Write to your MSP and demand that
cycle funding is ring-fenced.
There are several on-going
cycle campaign issues in the Stirling area
Scattered randomly on the
roads every night by the Pothole Fairy, these can be easily dealt with by contacting
Hunter Jamieson at jamiesonh@stirling.gov.uk
Generally, potholes are
filled in within a day or two, so it is worth going to the effort of reporting
them.
New Kincardine Bridge.
The existing Kincardine
bridge is used by commuter cyclists and by leisure cyclists – particularly
those from the Falkirk area heading to and from Fife. The route is also popular with leisure cyclists from Stirling and
beyond as the bridge is one of the few points at which the Forth may be
crossed.
The existing bridge will
remain with the new bridge bypassing it.
The new bridge will run from west of the existing bridge. As a Scottish Executive funded trunk road
project there are guidelines for cycle provision that have to be followed and
there has to be consultation with cycling organisations. In this case, CTC campaigners have
highlighted cycling-related issues in this area and have requested varios
cycling facilities.
A new development which has
been in progress for many years now and of which I know very little, other than
it will include an unnecessarily excessive number of car parking spaces and a
multiplex cinema. This will provide a
site for Park and Ride and should allow cyclists easier access to Stirling town
centre from the east.
Plans are currently being
drawn up by Stirling Council to provide Safe-Routes-to-School to Bannockburn
High School and to Wallace High School.
In addition, cycle facilities will be provided to link both Bannockburn
and Stirling University with Stirling town centre. The access junction for the proposed Institute of Sport will
interrupt the planned route on Airthrey Road at Fairview. It is very unfortunate that a much-needed cycle
facility is to be disrupted in this way.
This is a classic example of cycle facilities not being provided at the
very points where they are needed most.
Traffic-calming and paths to
link with Plean Country Park. Stirling
Council are currently drawing up plans for traffic management
Back in April, cycle parking was moved outside at Stirling Railway
Station. This was a consequence of the TRANSEC agency telling rail operators to
remove bicycles from stations due to their nervousness over bombs. The action was most clumsy in its execution
- bicycle bombs do not get locked up in cycle racks, they are left in
inconvenient places where the bike will get moved out of the way - and thus
detonating.
The current cycle rack is of very poor design, insecure and exposed to
the elements. This is an extremely
unsatisfactory state of affairs as many rail users start and finish their
journey by bicycle. Lack of secure cycle parking discourages cyclists from
traveling by rail and discourages rail users from cycling. This obviously undermines the efforts of the
Scottish Executive to increase cycle usage in line with the National Cycling
Strategy. However, ScotRail’s contempt
for its customers is not confined to just cyclists – ScotRail have also
requisitioned the prime car parking spaces for their own staff!
On a brighter note, Sustrans are working with Stirling Council on
possibly providing Safe Routes to Stations at Stirling, Dunblane and Bridge of
Allan. This will include provision of
cycle parking.
If you want to get involved
with cycle-campaigning in Stirling or can help in any way, please e-mail me at webmaster@stirlingcycling.org.uk
The off-road Rep for
Stirling in Iain Nicholls
If you have any questions
for Iain, please e-mail me and I will pass it on
What
is the CTC Right to Ride Network?
Crispin Bennett 13 September 2006