Work on improving walking and cycling routes from East Bay to the top of East Hill has been given the go-ahead. The decision was made by Kevin Bentley, the leader of the council, and announced on April 24.

Will Bramhill, the campaign chair, welcomed the news. "This will make a big difference to people in the eastern part of town. Like the Head Street cycle lane, it will help everyday cyclists and tempt in people who haven't cycled for a long time. Also as the price of car fuel costs go up, it is estimated that three in ten motorists are walking and cycling more, especially for short journeys."

Mark Platt, the cabinet member for highways, said the decision had taken longer than usual because of emerging government guidance over bus-stop bypasses for cyclists, but this was now sorted.

Funds for the scheme have come from the Town Deal, awarded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; Active Travel England; planning contributions and Essex's capital cycle infrastructure budgets. 

The new facility will form part of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWip) route 4 (blue on the illustration above). Other improvements, across the Moors and in Hythe Station Road, will follow.

Mr Platt added: "This decision is now subject to councillor call-in and a contractual standstill period. After this we will be working with the contractor to set out their programme."

Octavius Infrastructure has been appointed as the contractor.

The decision papers and further details are here. The Gazette reports on the news here and here.

Campaign member Neil Allen is to raise his concerns over "safety" changes at the junction of Berechurch Road, Berechurch Hall Road and Bounstead Road. The work, which is nearly complete, came through Essex County Council's local highways panel and is intended to stop cars shooting over the junction.

However, Neil says the new staggered design has introduced danger for cyclists. "Previously it was possible to cross in one go. The sight lines were sufficient to gauge the speed of approaching cars. Now, though, you have to ride 3m along the road and make what I'd call a formal right turn. 

"You have to stop, indicate and wait for a gap in oncoming traffic. If you are too far over then you get drivers passing dangerously close on your left – and there's always the danger they may not see you." 

Neil is writing to county officers to ask whether cyclists were considered at the design stage. He hopes changes can be made now that he has highlighted the issue to the county's safety auditors.

We'll keep you posted.

This August Oxford will begin a new form of motor traffic control designed to minimise congestion – which could be a blueprint for Colchester if our councillors are brave enough. 

The famous university city is to  end its congestion charge and replace it with six traffic filters to stop cars and vans from both crossing the city centre and using other roads as rat runs. More people are expected to cycle and walk as a result.

The black dots on the map, above, show where the filters will be. 

Will Bramhill, chair of Colchester Cycling Campaign, said: "Essex needs to keep its eyes on this. My colleagues in Cyclox, the Oxford cycling group, say it will make a big difference and recapture the city for people.

"I expect that once the noisy minority have had their say, things will settle down and work extremely well. I would love to see Essex and Colchester being brave enough to try something similar."

Read more here: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/transport-and-travel/connecting-oxfordshire/oxford-traffic-filters

Click on the cup of coffee, above, to help fund the campaign. 

Thanks to Anna, Cath, Mark and Neil for last month's donations.

Cast your mind back a couple of years and the campaign was in the middle of a battle to stop cyclists being fined for riding on cycleways and roads where, yes, cycling is allowed.

Overkeen wardens were misapplying council orders to clamp down on antisocial activity. The officials were working for a third-party company that was allowed to keep all or some of the fines levied (though their staff on the street got no extra).  

Now the government has taken action to stop "fines for profit" and the law passed through the Lords last month. Read more from the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life, which was a great help to us at the time.

A Dott bike park on the footway next to the war memorial in Nayland Road, Colchester, has been removed after residents said it was "disrespectful".

The move crystallised the campaign's concern over Dott's new policy of having geolocated bike parks rather than a "use it, park it anywhere" approach.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that riders are being put off hiring the bikes because they have to walk up to 1km to pick up a bike.

The campaign has asked David King, the Colchester council leader, whether it is possible to turn a nearby car parking space, outside Mile End church, into a bike parking spot.  We have also asked him to keep an eye on usage: we like Dott bikes; the 1,000 riders a day will agree with that, we're sure.

Will Bramhill, the campaign chair, writes: I have a confession to make. I asked campaign members to support the draft Essex speed strategy before I had read the detail. Many of you will have sent emails backing the strategy on my say-so.

However, my thanks to the three or four of you who pulled me up. The result is that I pulled together this response, which has now been sent to the county.

Note that the campaign is just one of the supporters of the letter. The others are listed and include Colchester Civic Society and Colchester Medics for Safer Roads.

An early note for your diary: The British Human Powered Club is coming to Northern Gateway, Colchester, on August 9, 11am-4pm (£9 BHPC members,£14 non-members). This is your chance to see the ultimate, fast heart-powered cycles. 

Thanks to Gary Eason for alerting us to Blike.com, a way to try out an electric bike before you buy or to rent rather than own one. Gary used Blike to test ride a British-built Estarli e28.X. His review of the bike is here (spoiler: it was so good, he bought one).

You can also test ordinary ebikes and electric cargo bikes at  the bike hubs in the city centre and New Town rec

Colchester Cycling Campaign uses Email Octopus to create this newsletter. If you would like to do the same for your organisation please use this link https://emailoctopus.com/?urli=XN4MS. The campaign and the new group each get a "new joiner" benefit of 15 USD (about £12). 

Jean Quinn writes: "Saturday April 18 saw Colchester Kidical Mass set off on a  challenging ride of over seven miles starting at the Old Heath recreation ground and finishing with the "Hill of Doom" in High Woods Country Park. We had over 120 riders, the most ever, many of whom were new faces.  

"Best of all it encouraged two children to decide to cycle to school on the road for the first time. Their mother later wrote to say, "Kidical Mass  gave them the confidence to give it a go ... amazing! They were so proud of themselves. There were tears of joy as we got to  school."

The next KM is on June 6. Details will be announced on its Facebook page.

Report highways issues, including potholes, failed traffic signals and overgrowth to Essex Highways here: https://www.essexhighways.org/tell-us

Remember to keep the record number of your complaint. If you record lots of issues it may be worth starting a personal spreadsheet giving details of location, reference number, dates and results. 

:: The Department for Transport has published Better Connected, its new strategy for integrated transport. It is well worth a read.

:: Ting a ling! How many times have you rung your bell and hollered only to find the pedestrian in front of you is wearing noise-cancelling headphones? Now a solution has come from, of all people, the car company Skoda.

:: The East of England Ambulance service now has a cycle response unit in Cambridge

:: Too many drivers see road safety rules as a personal affront. It’s time to tighten up UK laws

This picture from the 1930s shows the entrance to the officers' mess in Hyderabad Barracks, which was between Mersea Road and Military Road, south of the Odd One Out pub. I wonder how hard it was to return a salute while riding a bike?

Your editor loved this tweet from Giles Coren – the journalist, restaurant critic and scourge of sub-editors – who has frequently sounded off about London cyclists. He's not alone in admiring the new small-wheeled Lime bikes in the capital: they are attracting rave reviews across social media.

If you want to try leisure rides, Colchester Cycling Campaign recommends both Cycling For Pleasure and Happy Handlebars. Both clubs run a variety of events for people of different abilities. 

Cycling for Pleasure: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1594722180845186

Happy Handlebars: https://www.facebook.com/HappyHandlebarsColch

Other clubs and local routes to try: https://www.colchester-cycling.org.uk/maps-rides-clubs.html 

Colchester Cycling Campaign has lots of LOCAL cycling advice on its website. If you have a question, make our advice page your first port of call.

Visit https://www.colchester-cycling.org.uk/advice.html

Feel free to pass on this newsletter via email and social media by using the link at the very top ... and encourage your friends to join the campaign so they receive their own copy every month.

Chairman: Will Bramhill
Secretary: Chris Stevenson
Treasurer: Catherine Johnson
Your committee: Alex Hooper, Stuart Johnson, Jean Quinn, Nathaniel Catchpole, Alan Spence, Kristin Bradley and Paul Byrne