Where does cycling fit within £250m plans for Newport?

In towns and cities across the UK cycling is being encouraged and enabled by everything from cycle paths to urban cycle hire. But where, if at all, does cycling fit within Newport's vision of the future?

Regardless of what you think about cycling, it's getting ever more popular and will continue to do so. Animosity will no doubt continue to rage between cyclists and car drivers, but that's not what this blog is concerned with. In this blog I will look at the importance of cycling to the future of Newport and ask whether Newport City Council has fully considered two wheeled transport, or are we once again missing the boat and lining up problems for ourselves?

Newport is on the up. Apparently. That means growth, and growth means more people and more business (hopefully). New housing developments in and around the city are being announced periodically, for example the old Alcan site in Rogerstone. Back in July 2012 the South Wales Argus was reporting how Newport City Council’s Local Development Plan allocates 700 houses for the site. There have since been several announcements of new housing developments. And if the reNewport ambitions to transform the city into a high tech hub become reality, we will even see a 'software university' as well as an influx of new businesses. Of course it goes without saying that one of the central aims of Friars Walk is to attract more people to Newport.

So if there are going to be more people living, working and doing business in Newport, the issue now looming over the horizon is; how are all these people going to get around the city?

The Southern Distributor Road certainly helped to address some of the congestion that had worsened during the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, but it's no secret that Newport faces continuing challenges, particularly on the M4. The city centre is a pretty difficult place to get around as it is, and the layout of the streets and roads mean there's not a lot that can be done to the major infrastructure to address this. We are pretty much stuck with what we have. Yes, we could perhaps look to painfully and expensively develop roads and bypasses on the outskirts, but that's a 'sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut' way of thinking that will do little to affect the traffic problems in the heart of Newport when that heart is growing.

Even on the outskirts there are concerns about the future. Take the aforementioned development at the old Alcan site in Rogerstone. 700 houses presumably means at least 700 people looking to commute to and from the estate. Forge Lane isn't a bundle of laughs as it is. Stick another couple of hundred cars into the equation and you can already see the letters to the Argus writing themselves.

So a sustainable transport plan - one that allows for continued and unforeseen expansion - should already be at the centre of Newport's 'on the up' vision. If it's not, the question needs to be asked 'why is it not?' They can't surely be ploughing ahead with these new developments with little or no care for how increasing numbers of people are going to get around the bright shiny Newport of tomorrow? Or is that a bridge they will try and cross when they get there?

Cycling is a big part of the solution and it needs to be included as an influencer on any and all planning decisions. Whatever developments are being considered there should be a box to progress that is only ticked when cycling has been included in the thinking and addressed. This has worked extremely well for Bristol.

Back in 2008 Bristol was named England's first Cycling City after the government gave the city £11.4m to create dedicated cycle lanes, better facilities and more training for children. The same year Bristol was ranked as Britain's most sustainable city, topping the Future's Sustainable Cities Index 2008. Of course this wasn't entirely down to cycling, and also considered the city's environmental and economic performance, quality of life, future-proofing [take note Newport City Council], how well it addressed climate change, recycling and biodiversity. But as the increasing number of visitors to Bristol know, it's a city that is certainly 'on the up' in many respects and has been improved immeasurably as a result of a concerted effort and joined-up thinking.

As Newport grows people WILL look to cycle more, certainly as a way of commuting. And ironically the growth of the city and the subsequent inevitable traffic problems will be a driver for growth in itself. But without a cycling strategy those people taking to two wheels will find it difficult to integrate. Without a cycling strategy and the infrastructure in place what we will undoubtedly see are growing issues with accidents, animosity between cars drivers and cyclists, and problems with cyclists riding on pavements and through the city centre. Again, the letters to editor continue to form well in advance.

Now, I may have missed it amongst all the noise, but I don't recall much in the way of strong statements about cycling or sustainable transport anywhere in news stories or statements about Newport's development. A glance at the Newport City Council's website does little to fill me with confidence. The dedicated Cycling page serves as little more than an intermediate page that links to the Velodrome. Compare this to the wealth of information on cycling on the Bristol City Council website. As far as the Newport City Council is concerned, cycling appears to be something the rest of the world does, but not us.

So in a week when the local news has been filled with cycling and the visit of the British Cycling National Championships and Sir Bradley Wiggins at the British Time Trial Championships at Celtic Manor, let's keep our fingers crossed that the attending media didn't think to investigate or ask how accommodating Newport is for cyclists. The answer would have embarrassed.

I should make it clear now that I am not a cyclist. When I was a lad I spent my life on my bike and cycle-toured around the country during summer holidays, but until last week I hadn't sat on a pushbike for at least 30 years and only bought a bike last week so I could go out with my lad at weekends. I work from home so have no need to commute.

Newport BID a crucial element of city regeneration

Thursday 19th June saw around 40 business leaders, councillors and others attend the opening of the Newport BID Office. The event included presentations by Martin Tressider of Queensberry who is managing the Friars Walk development, and Julie Vellucci, Head of Regeneration at Newport Council. A planned presentation by Inspector Mike Richards on the impact of the NATO Summit was postponed.

The presentations by Martin Tressider and Julie Vellucci were impressive. Martin's presentation included a CGI flythrough of the Friars Walk development. While I remain cynical that such a development is needed in Newport at this moment in time, I have made clear my belief that if it must happen, Queensberry are the best choice to deliver. But while it all looks very nice in CGI where the sky is always blue, I still fail to see how the me-too retailers and food outlets will transform Newport into a destination that can attract people away from Cardiff, Cwmbran and Bristol, and I worry that Friars Walk will only serve to further suck the life out of Commercial Street.

Julie Vellicci's presentation impressed me more. For the first time I got a sense that there was some strategy behind the council's thinking. This is what has always been missing in Newport. The tradition has been for scatter-gun tactics whereby good money has been thrown at various bad redevelopment schemes with no concept of integration or any 'bigger picture' thinking. 'If you build it, they will come' is a seductive line for a movie about a guy building a baseball field for ghosts, but it doesn't always work in real life.

However, Newport City Council has clearly done some good work in standing back and looking long and hard to analyse just what the centre of Newport is, and what can be done to inject some life and vibrancy into it. They have even managed to divide it up into logical zones that include a retail zone, creative & education zone, entertainment zone, and gateway - and at long last the council is looking at how it can work with landlords to make best use of the stunning buildings we have to create accommodation and get more people living in the city centre.

A lot of physical work has been done to improve the city centre, for example outside Newport Market and at the top of Commercial Street, and a lot more physical work is planned. It's all good positive stuff and it complements the bigger picture ambition for Newport as defined by reNEWPORT that sees Newport's future as a technology hub.

So where does the BID fit into this, and why is it so important?

In case you don't know, BID stands for 'Business Improvement District'. Many towns and cities across the UK have BIDs in place and in the most basic terms; a BID delivers services - street cleaning, security, events, marketing - paid for by businesses within the BID area, that are additional to those delivered by the council.

I have a great interest in a Newport BID as I've done a lot of work helping to promote the Bath Business Improvement District - an impressive BID that has achieved much, including high levels of street cleaning, security, and a full programme of events that attract major footfall, such as getting the likes of Nicholas Cage to switch on the Christmas Lights. So I understand fully what a BID can deliver. However, it could be argued that a BID in an already successful and thriving city such as Bath is more of a nice-to-have than a need-to-have.

For Newport, a BID is an absolutely-must-have.

It's widely agreed that Newport city centre has pretty much hit rock bottom. Both the daytime and night-time economies have declined dramatically and public perception is at an all-time low. The reasons given for why people stay away are also universal and generally centre on 'there's nothing there', 'it's scruffy and dirty', 'I feel intimidated', and 'there's nowhere to park'. While the arrival of Friars Walk may begin to address the first and (to a degree) the last of these common criticisms, the wider scruffiness and poor state of the city around it will certainly impact negatively on the success of Friars Walk. People will either have to walk through a decomposing and scruffy city centre to reach the shiny new development, or park within Friars Walk and not venture out. Again, this will impact on the rest of the city. The ideal scenario would be one where footfall happily passes in and out of Friars Walk.

A BID has the potential to dramatically improve the rest of the city centre and address both the scruffiness and its intimidating nature. These two negatives have done an immense amount to speed the latter stages of decline and especially to deter older people from visiting. So the sooner these problems are addressed the better. My yardstick for success is my mother-in-law. The day she feels inclined to visit Newport over Cwmbran and doesn't complain about the state of the streets or the beggers and winos that scare her, I'll know that Newport is, finally, on the rise.

Businesses in Newport have been surveyed as part of a Scoping Study for the BID (certainly worth downloading and reading) and their opinions echo those of the public at large. The perception of crime is the third highest concern for businesses (after vacant premises and parking) and tackling anti-social behaviour their second highest priority (after parking).

There is a process before Newport can have a BID (you can read all about it at http://newportbid.com/about/) and it involves a vote from businesses in the proposed BID area. But such is the pressing need for a BID that any business voting against it will be voting against their own survival. In my opinion, it's that important.

In fact, I would go as far as to say a BID would do more for Newport than the Friars Walk development. It would help support local businesses and increase footfall to the businesses that have hung in there, and which stand to have what little footfall there is tempted away to the multinationals in Friars Walk.

I've been impressed by the team working hard to set up a Newport BID. They have enthusiasm, drive and commitment that hopefully will help to convince businesses that it's the right thing to do. It's certainly in the interests of both Queensberry and Newport City Council that a bid is set up.