Latest letter from the LA
"Dear Mr. ????,
Thank you for your emails of 16th November and 4th December 2007
regarding the cycle parking at Bridgend leisure centre, and the
segregated cycle route along Angel Street.
I would like to clarify my earlier response regarding the reference to
the use of Sustrans guidelines during the development of the route, and
to address your assertion of contradiction. As stated in my email of
16th November to yourself, you will recall that the off-road option was
selected in an effort to encourage young and inexperienced cyclists.
Once this principle had been established the Sustrans guidance on design
specifications for that particular type of facility was considered and
applied as appropriate, subject to on-site considerations.
Although I note your comments regarding monitoring of the cycle parking
facility, as I have already explained in my earlier email there is no
specific budget for the provision of cycle parking facilities and
therefore a case will have to be made based on evidence gathered by the
Council, rather than purely on anecdotal evidence presented by members
of the public. Following discussions with the CCTV control centre
manager, I am hopeful that we might be able to gather this monitoring
data within a short period of time.
I regret that you feel the information provided so far sounds "like
corporate whitewash" and that you feel I have not provided any
"information, data or references to any of the subjects under
discussion". I can assure you that in every instance, I have attempted
to provide an appropriate response to each of the issues you have
raised. Where specific technical points have been made I have referred
these to the relevant officers and have included their responses
accordingly.
With regard to any technical specifications recommended by Sustrans or
set out in the document "Cycle Friendly Infrastructure: Guidelines for
Planning and Design" produced by the IHT, these guidelines are applied
as widely as possible. However, it should be noted that they represent
"guidance" and not "definitive standards", and in some real-life
situations it is not possible to implement the recommendations set out
within these documents and therefore the most appropriate option is
selected.
Should you wish to attend a site meeting with myself and a
representative of our engineering design team to discuss the above
issues further, I would be grateful if you could provide a range of
dates and times when you would be available.
Regards,"
What's my next step? Is it worth meeting with them?