Campaign Advocacy Network CAN?

[Philip Benstead]

Are there any Campaign Advocacy Network repersentsitives on here?

[PT1029]

Yes, I am one.

Cheers.

[Philip Benstead]

Yes, I am one.

Cheers.

Do you have contact with local cyclists or do local know you exist?

Are you in contact with other CAN rep?

[PT1029]

I am part of Cyclox - many hands make light work, there are 2 other CANs in Cyclox as well. Often Cyclox is the main name at the bottom, sometimes not. We also have the benefit of Oxfordshire Cycling Network thanks to Robin Tucker - who we can credit for getting heard in high up places.
Cyclox has the advantage of having a retired public health expert, engineer(s), "CTC" reps of some decades and a climate change consultant. Out infrastructure group also has someone interested in chasing the local Coronor (4 cycle deaths in recent years) to ensure accurate/relevant details are examined so it is not seen as "just one of those things" (police accident reports that I have seen are very sloppy/unquestioning), and someone happy to deal with all the (building) developments/planning applications of which there seems to be a never ending supply.
The County has won some '00s of millions of pounds in recent years in one form or another, and there is a huge amount going on for us to deal with!

[Philip Benstead]

I am part of Cyclox - many hands make light work, there are 2 other CANs in Cyclox as well. Often Cyclox is the main name at the bottom, sometimes not. We also have the benefit of Oxfordshire Cycling Network thanks to Robin Tucker - who we can credit for getting heard in high up places.
Cyclox has the advantage of having a retired public health expert, engineer(s), "CTC" reps of some decades and a climate change consultant. Out infrastructure group also has someone interested in chasing the local Coronor (4 cycle deaths in recent years) to ensure accurate/relevant details are examined so it is not seen as "just one of those things" (police accident reports that I have seen are very sloppy/unquestioning), and someone happy to deal with all the (building) developments/planning applications of which there seems to be a never ending supply.
The County has won some '00s of millions of pounds in recent years in one form or another, and there is a huge amount going on for us to deal with!

D
I know Graham Smith and Robin Tucker. I have been to a CTC conferance in Oxford. But I want to know about other parts of the UK, I feel the network of reps are not extensive I may be wrong but we don't hear about them.

[Steady rider]

Do Right to Ride representatives still have a role?

[Philip Benstead]

Do Right to Ride representatives still have a role?

There no such position I think.


There may be CTC members who repersent the
CTC but are unknown to to CTC HQ,

[Steady rider]

https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/thank ... sentatives
I was unsure but the link helps.

[AndyK]

Right to Ride became moribund a long time ago. CAN is effectively its replacement, and rather better organised than RtR was in its latter years. I can claim some small part in the setting up of CAN, as it was one of the things I kept pushing for while I was a trustee. (It was on the to-do list anyway, but we trustees set a new strategy that put much higher priority on engaging with local volunteers - vital if we're gong to see progress on cycling across the UK.)

If you go to https://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle-campaig ... cy-network and scroll down a bit you'll find a map showing the locations of many (not all) of the CAN members. Names are shown if the individual member has explicitly given permission for that; in other cases, anyone needing to contact the local CAN member can email the central campaigns team and they'll be put in touch. It's not a "top-down" thing, though. If there are people in an area who are prepared to get campaigning, CAN can be a help to them, If there aren't... well, there aren't. You can't force people to volunteer.

Though we're all individuals, I think most of us are working as members of local campaign groups in our areas - which is one reason for the anonymity of some on that map, I think. Typically there may be one or two CAN members in a campaign group (there's two of us in Cycle Winchester). When talking to local government and other organisations in our area, we speak on behalf of our local groups first and foremost, but being able to say that some of us are members of Cycling UK's national cycling advocacy network does add some credibility to that. Both aspects are important in adding credibility. I'd like to see a CAN structure that allows campaign groups to join it, not just individual campaigners - but in the meantime it works reasonably well. The CAN members can act as a link between their groups and Cycling UK. (By the way, one of the requirements for being a CAN member is that you have to be a Cycling UK member.)

There's quite a lot going on in CAN: the discussion groups are generally busy with campaigners around the UK exchanging notes and information, sharing and seeking advice. Senior CUK staff weigh in from time to time with comments and briefings on national policy issues. There are presentations and workshops with guest speakers (all online to date). As a local campaigner it's great to know what's happening elsewhere and be able to make contact with other campaigners facing similar issues.

If anyone is interested in joining the network, contact details are on that same web page.

[Edited to remove final grumpy sentence, at mjr's suggestion]

[mjr]

Right to Ride became moribund a long time ago. CAN is effectively its replacement, and rather better organised than RtR was in its latter years. I can claim some small part in the setting up of CAN, as it was one of the things I kept pushing for while I was a trustee. (It was on the to-do list anyway, but we trustees set a new strategy that put much higher priority on engaging with local volunteers - vital if we're gong to see progress on cycling across the UK.)

I agree it's vital but engaging with CTC is still far too much work for local volunteers, as far as I can tell. One of my colleagues travelled the 50 miles to Norwich (I think they're car-free) to meet CTC's rep and came back full of enthusiasm that the subgroup putting on beginners rides could register as a Community Cycle Club. I don't know what the problem is, but they're still not shown on https://www.cyclinguk.org/groups-listin ... _value=All - and although I see several long-dead groups have finally been removed from that, those that remain are a CTC Member Group and three British Cycling groups (one with a broken website) who all have the usual restrictions on their rides.

And then, despite that CUK member and campaign volunteer meeting the CUK rep, we still weren't even told about the Rebellion Way launch event in Norwich, as far as I can tell. Definitely no invitation. No chance to advise of the permissive off-road route through the royal estate.

If there are people in an area who are prepared to get campaigning, CAN can be a help to them, If there aren't... well, there aren't. You can't force people to volunteer.

It's often not about whether there are volunteers as much as whether they've paid CUK a subscription fee. People have to pay to work for free on this, as you acknowledge on the end of this:

I'd like to see a CAN structure that allows campaign groups to join it, not just individual campaigners - but in the meantime it works reasonably well. The CAN members can act as a link between their groups and Cycling UK. (By the way, one of the requirements for being a CAN member is that you have to be a Cycling UK member.)

We do actually have some CUK members in the local cycling campaign, but they're variously unwilling or (in at least two cases I think) no longer willing to act as a link to CUK because of problems during the RtR era. (While those problems with the local CTC seem to be in the past and no longer something we can fix, I hope you can understand their reluctance to risk being twice-bitten.)

Is cycle campaigning, or even Cycling UK, stronger or weaker for campaigning in the fens being filtered through one or two overworked members of Norwich Cycling Campaign? CAN has probably no idea how much Tony (and Derek?) are passing to KLWNBUG and I doubt they have much time to pass non-Norwich news on to CAN. We also seem to get dropped from mailing lists like cycleclips with disappointing frequency. If CUK was serious about getting the best Campaigns, Advocacy and Networking, it would let cycle campaigns join and actually work with them, instead of limiting itself to its own members and pretending they're all acting as individuals.

If anyone is interested in joining the network, contact details are on that same web page. A word of warning, though: [...]

Would you consider removing or rephrasing that demotivational "hit them back first" warning? It feels bad to see you insult those who worked on this before us, even if we don't want their historical info and wise words repeating in full every time a topic comes up.

[AndyK]

If CUK was serious about getting the best Campaigns, Advocacy and Networking, it would let cycle campaigns join and actually work with them, instead of limiting itself to its own members and pretending they're all acting as individuals.

Well, I think we're in broad agreement about letting groups join. I think there's some history here though. The RtR era was also the heyday of the wonderful Cycle Nation, which - for a while - successfully brought together a load of campaign groups under a single national umbrella. CTC and CN had to do a bit of dancing around to avoid treading on each others' toes, so RtR was very much about individual campaigners. CAN follows the same line, arguably without good reason given that (so far as I can tell) Cycle Nation is pretty much defunct. However the other point is that of, as an organisation, you are empowering volunteers to speak on your behalf, you need to have some degree of co-ordination. It's not pretending that they're dealing with individuals - they are dealing with individuals. That's easier with named individuals than it is with groups, so I understand why they haven't tackled the groups-as-CAN-members issue yet.

Also the campaign network is not the same as the community cycling club network - two very different things.

If anyone is interested in joining the network, contact details are on that same web page. A word of warning, though: [...]

Would you consider removing or rephrasing that demotivational "hit them back first" warning? It feels bad to see you insult those who worked on this before us, even if we don't want their historical info and wise words repeating in full every time a topic comes up.

If it bothers you, I'll go back and take it out by all means. But you know what I mean. This is what exasperated me and why I was so keen on reviving the campaign network: people who sit around saying "CTC [sic] should do this, CTC should do that" and imaghine some huge office full of paid campaign staff ready to tackle every issue in every town. The battle to make the UK better for cycling is fought out in thousands of small skirmishes around the country, and those can only be won by a network of volunteers. The best thing Cycling UK can do is support them where it can, while tackling the national-level issues directly.

I know nothing of the person in Norwich. If you're talking about a CAN regional co-ordinator, they too are volunteers.

[gaz]

If CUK was serious about getting the best Campaigns, Advocacy and Networking, it would let cycle campaigns join and actually work with them, instead of limiting itself to its own members and pretending they're all acting as individuals.

Perhaps by inviting reps of local advocacy groups to join CAN? https://volunteer.cyclinguk.org/opportu ... 2022-11-15

[Steady rider]

I have concerns that changing titles, RTR to CAN, with what seems very limited staff, will make much difference.

[AndyK]

If CUK was serious about getting the best Campaigns, Advocacy and Networking, it would let cycle campaigns join and actually work with them, instead of limiting itself to its own members and pretending they're all acting as individuals.

Perhaps by inviting reps of local advocacy groups to join CAN? https://volunteer.cyclinguk.org/opportu ... 2022-11-15

Excellent! I hadn't seen that. Looks promising, a good step forward.

[AndyK]

I have concerns that changing titles, RTR to CAN, with what seems very limited staff, will make much difference.

For me one of the most important points is that CAN has much stronger staff support.