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Behind the scenes of the Campaign

One of most effective ways you can help is by writing letters.
Writing a letter

We thought it might be interesting to give members some insight into how Cambridge Cycling Campaign operates on a day-to-day basis.

Who does what?

The Campaign is run by a Committee of eleven volunteers and a Secretary, who all help with campaigning activities (as do many other members).

The Committee cycle

Some important regular events govern the timescale for lobbying and campaigning work. As well as responses to consultations which we receive, these events are:

How does your Committee function?

Your Committee is an active bunch. In the last four years over 9 000 e-mail messages have been exchanged between its members

Your Committee is an active bunch. In the last four years over 9 000 e-mail messages have been exchanged between its members, that's 300-400 per month, mostly about letters sent on behalf of the Campaign.

We try to reach a consensus on letters we write. This is one reason why there are so many messages. It can be a time consuming process, but we are happy that letters sent do not just reflect a single person's viewpoint.

We have a Committee Meeting every other month. These are useful for round-table discussions on things which are harder or time-consuming to deal with via e-mail, as well as for consolidating and updating lists of campaigning and administrative items to deal with.

Although there are always many Council scheme consultations to consider, we always try to initiate ideas rather than being simply reactive. Examples of this include the Chisholm Trail (our idea for a major north-south cycle route joining Addenbrooke's to the Science Park) and making Trinity Street two-way for cyclists. Work is also being invested in writing position papers so that we don't have to continually restate our case.

At times all this can be hard work, but it's also fun - we wouldn't be so enthusiastic if it weren't!

Martin Lucas-Smith, Co-ordinator of Cambridge Cycling Campaign.
Co-ordinator

Presenting a public face

Lots of us represent the Campaign at a variety of meetings. These include the Cycle Friendly Employers scheme and Travel for Work, cycle theft reduction, specific consultation meetings such as for the Local Transport Plan recently, meetings with Officers on consultations and ideas we have initiated, and so on.

Our Saturday Stall in front of the Guildhall is a really important way of meeting the public and potential new members, as well as showing that we exist.

A variety of events go on throughout the year, for example leisurely rides. Every year, we are also involved in the organisation of events for National Bike Week, in conjunction with the local councils whose involvement is particularly welcome.

The website is another public face of the Campaign, as is the Newsletter, which is distributed to a variety of public locations such as the libraries, and to our own members and decision-makers.

The Newsletter

The Newsletter is a key campaigning tool. It keeps members up-to-date in what we are doing and informs councillors, council officers and other decision-makers.

We try to offer general articles on cycling as well as information on specific places and proposals. We particularly welcome ideas from members - so if there is a topic you are especially concerned about, do let us know and work with us to write something for the Newsletter.

Because there's a substantial team of people involved, including a printer, we have to work to a pretty strict timetable over two month cycles.

Website

The Campaign's website (www.camcycle.org.uk) currently has around 1800 pages of information. It is constantly growing and there are around 1000 page views a day, roughly corresponding to an estimated 25000 visitors per year.

Several facilities have been and are being developed to help our campaigning work. For example, there is a facility we call 'threads' which means that as well as seeing the articles of a particular newsletter grouped together, you can also see articles on the same topic from different newsletters grouped together.

We are about to add an online joining form. We hope to be able to offer credit and debit card on-line membership and renewal, though it is hard for an organisation our size to do this economically.

We are also about to put our campaigning letters to Councillors and Officers publicly available online. We hope this will make our activities more transparent. It will also enable us to deliver material more easily.

The website also attracts a large number of general searches for information about cycling in Cambridge and in general. We try to provide resources to help: for example, people always ask us about the annual London to Cambridge bike ride, even though we don't organise this.

We'd like to add other resources. For example: a cycle maintenance gateway, things about foreign language schools and students and their cycling abilities, cycle parking information, cycling techniques, bikes and public transport etc.

Become our Secretary! - we could really do with a hand on administrative items

Public enquiries to the Campaign

We get lots of enquiries about all manner of cycling and Cambridge related topics. Many are by e-mail, some by phone or post and some on the stall. Sadly we can't respond individually to common ones such as 'I'm doing a project about cycling. Please send me all the information you have.'

What can you do to help?

Just by being one of our over 700 members you are already contributing. But here are some suggestions for getting more involved:

Even just coming to an event or joining a leisurely ride is a good way to become involved and have fun!

Martin Lucas-Smith