The Covid lockdowns slowed the world down and we were re-introduced to the natural world. So many have commented on hearing the bird songs, the fresher air, and discovering new places. In fact, many took up cycling as the roads were quiet and felt safer to commute to explore locations.
When lockdown lifted, motorised vehicles once again dominated the road and some residents felt aggrieved that they could no longer pursue cycling as a way to get to places as well as a way to exercise outdoors. Exercising outdoors is good for one’s own wellbeing and physical health.
July 2020: St Johns’s Egham hosted a series of virtual discussions about the environment.
During one virtual discussion, we tried to direct the conversation to discussions about carbon neutral solutions, however we were continually drawn back to the poor cycling infrastructure.
By the end of the final virtual discussion, a group of aspirational residents spearheaded a vision to have Dutch style walking and cycling infrastructure in Runnymede where a walking/cycling network would be designed to connect towns and key places within Runnymede as well as beyond such as to Windsor, Heathrow and towards London. We imagined a network designed for a 12 year old to cycle safely by themselves.
In our first set of meetings, we discovered that Surrey County Council had been successful in receiving funds for the development of walking/cycling infrastructure plans but Runnymede was at the bottom of the pile of consideration.
“Forty-six per cent of Surrey’s carbon emissions are transport-related. As part of SCC’s Climate Change Strategy, the council is investing in initiatives and infrastructure to encourage more people to walk and cycle is an important priority.”
Runnymede was to be considered in the 3rd tranche if there were funds left. We were a black hole on the planning map.
Understanding that we would need political support, we invited a cross party of councillors to be involved and called ourselves “The Runnymede Green Travel Action Group”.
By the end of January 2021, Cllr Marisa Heath, managed to secure funds from Surrey County Council (SCC) to develop a Local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP) for Runnymede with the caveat that Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) also topped up the funds. Other councillors backed this gathering support and now Surrey County Council are developing an LCWIP for RBC.
As I write this article, SCC is gathering feedback on their “commonplace” platform.
https://surreycovidtransportmap.commonplace.is/comments
Delivering the Improvements
By the time this article is published, the feedback will be under review followed with a series of workshops for both residents and stakeholders. This will provide a sliding scale of where improvements will be needed and a completed plan will be taken forward in future projects, subject to funding and feasibility. These improvements will be in addition to improvements being delivered via major transport projects and localised highway improvements.
Want to Know More?
St John’s Egham will be hosting an eco-festival in July. 3rd July from 13:00-16:00. We will have a stall to discuss with anyone about the LCWIPs.
On the 8th July at 20:00, St John’s Egham will be hosting a virtual discussion about the LCWIPs and will have Xavier Brice (CEO of Sustrans) and Jeff Wilson (SCC Transport Planner for Cycling) discussing about the stages for Runnymede and other areas in Surrey.
See here for how to join the physical or virtual discussion: