Dear <<First Name>> 

Amazement was the feeling in cycling circles last month when British Transport Police (BTP, the railway police) said it would limit its investigations into bike thefts.

It was reported that the force would look into cycle crimes only if bikes had been parked at a station for two hours or less – that was the time that they were prepared to allow an officer to trawl through CCTV footage.

That's not much good when you are going to London to work for the day – and here in Colchester the main station, Colchester Town and Colchester Hythe are hot spots for Johnny Lightfingers and his mates. 

Despite CCTV and even "secure bike cages", cycles are stolen with depressing regularity.

The media storm that followed BTP's announcement led to Duncan Dollimore of Cycling UK, the national cycling charity, appearing on several television shows. Here he is on BBC Breakfast via LinkedIn.

He said: "This sends a very odd message to criminals and would-be criminals:  'don't worry, there's going to be no enforcement at train stations if you are stealing bikes'."

Duncan pointed out how important it is for people to feel safe cycling to stations and to know that the police have their back.

He also called for more targeted enforcement by looking at where stolen bikes are resold.

Interestingly the comments on that post included using "binary search" to pinpoint a thief on a long CCTV tape, and using AI to pursue the initial investigation. 

You'd have hoped that both would have occurred to the police before they laid out their new policy.

Such was the effect of the coverage that Ian Drummond-Smith, the assistant chief constable, felt he had to "clarify" the situation. He stressed: "Bicycle thefts have not been decriminalised as some headlines have suggested."

Meanwhile the campaign cannot stress enough how important it is to use a "clunker" bike for station travel, one that is mechanically sound but might look a wreck. 

Will Bramhill, the campaign secretary, said riders should avoid what he called "Poundland locks" and opt for a lock that "costs at least 10 per cent, or preferably more, of the as-new value of your bike".

He knows some ebike riders have opted to spend £250 on anti-angle grinder locks to protect their machines. "It's not just the value of the bike ... it's how much you want to avoid the inconvenience of arriving back at the station to find your bike has gone," Will said.

A range of organisations including the city council, the Travel Plan Club and IN Colchester is asking how YOU get around the city. Let them know here. 

Ian Turner of Essex county council is the officer charged with bringing cycling and walking schemes to reality in this area. He recently addressed the city's environment committee on the latest schemes. You can listen to him talk about the detail in this recording from 7:26 minutes in: https://www.youtube.com/live/50DGi_ConrA

This is your chance to help fund the campaign. As you will know, we don't charge a membership fee. Each newsletter costs us £10 to publish.... 

Thanks to Jean, Nigel and Alex for last month's donations and to Annie and two other anonymous people who became monthly supporters.

The cycleway and path next to the Northern Approach Road opened for use by people on bikes and foot on Tuesday October 21.

We have to say ... it looks great.

The busway opened the following day and park and ride and "country" buses from Langham, Dedham and further afield are making use of it. One bus user reported getting back to the Northern Gateway a full ten minutes earlier than usual. 

The Essex team is to be congratulated on getting such a fine result from what turned out to be a difficult project because of issues with the contractor. 

On social media one commenter posed an interesting question about why this was needed when there are cycle paths in Mile End Road and Turner Road which more or less cover the same route. 

The answer is that both those roads have uneven gradients (the Northern Approach is a steady, smooth climb) and the cycle paths there are a 1990s vision of atrocious. Both are shared with pedestrians and they are way too narrow: you have to keep your speed down and frequently give way, so you don't get the full benefits of being on a bike. Turner Road even has frequent "cyclists dismount" signs, a reminder of a less enlightened age.

• Handy tip to share: you don't need a car to use the park and ride buses. From the city centre to the hospital will cost you £3 return as opposed to £3 each way on ordinary buses – but note you can't use a bus pass on the P&R.

• As we went to press, news came in of a crash between a car and a bus at the Mill Road busway junction. We hope it wasn't serious.

Work on turning the Albert roundabout crossings from two-stage toucans into one-stage crossings began late last month. It may not sound much but cyclists not having to stop in a narrow middle island will make their journeys far faster. It may even tempt some so-called "effective" cyclists off the hazardous Albert roundabout. The work is due to be complete by April.

Thank you for all your letters in support of this scheme in response to the traffic regulation order. They made a real difference!

Michael Lilley, the mayor of Colchester, waved the flag to start the Kidical Mass ride on October 26. This time the event had a spooky theme for Halloween.

Children and parents had a great time cycling down Queen Street, up St John's Street and Head Street before riding en masse down High Street to finish by the war memorial for cakes and other goodies.

Many thanks for the support of the mayor and those city councillors who came along on the ride. Fab organisation as ever by Jean, Kim and Simon.

The Christmas ride will be on December 7. Watch out for details at https://www.facebook.com/groups/583946906992805. Please note that the campaign supports Kidical Mass but that KM is a wholly independent group.

What better way to start a holiday the crossing the Channel on a small boat. Saillink takes 12 people and their cycles. They will be booking soon for spring sailings. https://www.saillink.co.uk

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). 

Away from the cycling campaign, Will Bramhill, the campaign secretary,  is proceeding slowly and carefully on a report to go to the Local Government Ombudsman about Essex's refusal to consider area-wide 20mph where people live.

Will is working with a small group of people from across the county who have been inspired by how many people have been saved from death and injury by the 20mph scheme in Wales. They have extrapolated the Welsh figures and estimate  we estimate that between 384 and 474 people a year – children and adults; car occupants, pedestrians, and cyclists – would avoid becoming road casualty statistics in Essex if a similar scheme was put in place here.

Fewer collisions – car on car, bike or person – means that Welsh drivers are also benefiting from cheap insurance.

Will says: "I know a lot of cyclists are interested in what we are doing and most of you support us. As soon as we send our report to the Ombudsman, we'll open it up for  everyone to read. I'll post a link on the campaign email group." 

Watch out for an announcement this month that better cycle parking is coming to Leisure World. The Cowdray Avenue sport centre has been a hotspot for bike thieves for some time but now the facilities are to be improved.

Let's all play our part: get a good lock and use it.

Fancy a job in cycling? If so, you have two days to get an application in. The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, formerly Sustrans, needs a network development manager for the east of England. Details about the post here.

The next Bike Meet will be on Tuesday November 18. Watch your email inbox for details, please.

Work to start on England's first cycle street: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx20w91p44ko

This is an excellent 1hr talk for Low-Traffic Futures by Izzy Romilly of Possible, the environmental charity: https://youtu.be/LjM237mSlVU. Boil up a cuppa and grab a couple of chocolate digestives and watch it this evening.

An EU-US deal could open Europe's streets to unsuitable American vehicles. We're unsure how this would affect the UK (we might have rolled over for a Trump tummy tickling already) but it's a good read nevertheless: https://www.ecf.com/en/news/accepting-us-car-standards-would-risk-european-lives-warn-cities-and-civil-society/

When bikes outnumber cars: Scotland's cycling surge: https://momentummag.com/when-bikes-outnumber-cars-what-scotlands-cycling-surge-can-teach-north-america/

This snap shows Colchester Excelsior Cycling Club posing for a shot in 1892 when the club was three years old. The location was the garden of the Fleece Hotel on Head Street, roughly where the Halifax bank is now.

Will Bramhill, the campaign secretary, has given the framed original to Colchester Bike Kitchen to go on display in the new year. Will said: "Far more people will see it there than in a corner of my loft."

As was the fashion at the time, Excelsior wore an outfit based on a military uniform: theirs was chocolate and gold. The bikes were early versions of the Starling safety bike, which superseded penny farthings.

Will explained that he acquired the photo in about 1992 when he worked for Essex County Newspapers on North Hill. "Readers used to send in their old pictures for publication on the Essex County Standard's history page. This was one of them – but it was never collected. Because of my interest in cycling I kept it safe, had it framed and displayed it on my hall wall for years."

The Excelsior club eventually amalgamated with today's Colchester Rovers. It is believed the back of the photo (beneath the frame) has some of the names of the people shown. These were recorded by Will after talking to the late, great Stan Raby, formerly of West End cycle stores in Crouch Street. 

Will said: "Stan took me through the faces he remembered. He was born in the 1910s and was racing in the 1930s when some of the men in the photo would have been in their fifties and sixties but still cycling. I recall at least two of the men were Kettles – a strong local surname."

If you would like a digital copy of the photo, email will@colchester-cycling.org.uk  

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. If you ride an adapted bike or a trike, please check with the organisers before joining a ride.

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

... and still no word about progress.

Have you signed the Colchester Cycling Charter yet? If not, please do. If you work or volunteer, please ask your organisation to sign too. The more people on bikes, the fewer traffic jams will snarl up our city.

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