Campaigning toolkit

Council Information & Policies

Hertfordshire County Council

Herts County Council (HCC) is the traffic authority for Hertfordshire, with a duty to notify, consult and involve interest groups. It is responsible for Highways, roads and pavements.

HCC has a list of council committees where you can find the contact details of councillors dealing with various matters. The most relevant committees are:

• Development Control Committee

• Growth, Infrastructure, Planning and the Economy Cabinet Panel

• Highways and Environment Cabinet Panel

Subscribe to the highways newsletter on the Major roadworks projects page.

Hertfordshire Local Transport Plan

The Local Transport Plan sets out the transport strategy for Hertfordshire. The Plan covers all modes of transport - including walking, cycling, public transport, car based travel and freight - and takes account of the effect of transport on wider aspects including the economy, environment, climate change and social inclusion.

The current plan covers the period 2011-2031. There are a number of supporting strategies of interest to cyclists, including the Active Travel Strategy and the Road Safety Strategy.

Consultations

Subscribe to the consultations newsletter on the HCC consultations page. This page also lists open and closed consultations. Written responses to consultations can be done by individuals, by local groups and by Cycle Herts. Consultation responses usually go to council officials, but it is the elected councillors who vote on planning applications.

We maintain a response template to provide a consistent format for consultation responses.

When responding it is useful to refer to some or all of the current Cycle Herts Policies, as well as relevant government policies.

For some consultations it can be useful to provide editable email template responses and ask local clubs to engage their members in providing individual responses. However, officials and councillors will place more weight on individual replies.

Contacting Your Councillors

The Write to Them website, produced by the mysociety.org project, makes it easy to contact your local councillors. HCC councillors each have an annual highways locality budget to spend on local improvements.

You may also want to write to your district councillors and your MP, where appropriate.

Council Meetings

You can ask to submit a presentation and to speak briefly at HCC or District council meetings.

Petitions

HCC also has petitions page, where you can submit new petitions, or view and support current petitions.

Planning Obligations

Planning approval for developments can come with planning conditions, planning obligations in the form of S106 and S278 agreements. Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) may also be charged. These are all opportunities to argue for spending on cycling infrastructure in association with development.

Traffic Regulation Orders

HCC provides a list of TROs with descriptions, drawings and closing dates for objections. TROs are often needed to implement permanent changes to roads as part of agreed developments. Providing good reasons for objecting to TROs can be an effective way of improving provision for active travel.

Traffic and Transport Data Reports

Hertfordshire County Council produces annual Traffic and Transport Data Reports. This includes:

• Traffic data

• Accident data

• Mobility surveys and evidence packs (free summaries, full reports chargeable)

• County travel survey

• Speed indicator device data (chargeable)

District Councils

HCC lists the websites for the 10 District and Borough Councils in Hertfordshire. You can use a postcode to find the relevant local council and click through to search for information. Local councils usually:

• Control local planning – from large housing developments to shops and extensions

• Set local policies for planning obligations

• Set policies for car and cycle parking in new developments

• Consult on and implement parking restrictions and resident parking schemes

• Provide on street cycle parking and produce cycling maps to encourage active travel

• Deal with fly tipping

Local councils have limited systems for notifying projects of relevance to cyclists. This is where getting to know your local councillors and keeping an eye on the local press can be useful.

Parish Councils

Parish Councils vary in size but may be able to help with things like path clearance.

Discussion Forums

It can be useful to discuss draft responses with other campaigners.

Cycle Herts mailing list

You can apply to join the Cycle Herts mailing list to discuss topics of interest with other Cycle Herts members.

Cyclescape

Cyclescape is a geographically based online campaigning toolkit for cycle campaign groups around the UK. It allows you to raise issues and discuss them, privately or publicly, as well as being notified of issues in your area.

Apply to join the Cycle Herts group on Cyclescape.

Good practice

Some useful resources to back your arguments.

Gear Change

Central Government policy: A bold vision for cycling and walking (PDF 5.5 Mb)

Increasing cycling and walking can help tackle some of the most challenging issues we face as a society – improving air quality, combating climate change, improving health and wellbeing, addressing inequalities, contributing to the economy and tackling congestion on our roads.

• Better streets for cycling and people

• Cycling at the heart of decision-making

• Empowering and encouraging Local Authorities

• Enabling people to cycle and protecting them when they do

Cycling Infrastructure Design Standards

The national cycling infrastructure design standard LTN 1/20, published in July 2020, gives local authorities guidance on providing and maintaining safe space for cycling and cycle parking. We are urging HCC to update its outdated Highways Design Guide to conform to LTN 1/20.

The following also contain useful evidence for good design practice:

• Making Space for Cycling

• Sustrans design resources

• Index of Sustrans Walking and cycling infrastructure design guidance

Schools and Cycling

Is your child's school trying to ban or discourage cycling? Here's a guide designed to help tackle the sort of barriers that keep cropping up.

Find out how to establish a School Street, where traffic is banned around school opening and closing times to enable walking and cycling.

Benefits

Active travel has huge benefits for both physical and mental health and the economy.

• Cycling and walking could save the NHS billions

• BMI Healthcare: 10 health benefits of cycling

• Design Council: How do we create places that deliver healthier lives?

• How investing in cycling makes sense and makes money

Essential Evidence

TravelWest has collated some useful key evidence from peer-reviewed literature. Over 100 PDFs on subjects such as "Traffic noise and health" and "Representation of cycling in newspapers".

Cycling Fallacies

Don't be fooled by common myths about cycling - use these explanations to help spread the truth!

Cyclescheme also has a good list of 10 Cycling Myths Uncovered

Record good and bad infrastructure

The CycleStreets Photomap is an excellent place to quickly record examples of good and bad cycling infrastructure. Apps are available for smartphones to upload pictures with captions and automatically place them on the map using your phone's GPS. You can use this evidence to ask the local HCC councillor for a fix.