After a false start our annual meeting was held last Tuesday at the Wanstead Tap. Â There was an excellent turnout including three local councillors who have been supportive of cycling initiatives (John Gray, Terence Paul and Rachel Tripp). Â We were assisted by some excellent cheese and beer.
As for the formalities :
- We approved the minutes from last year .
- We agreed a new constitution to update our organisation in line with LCC requirements.
- We agreed the annual report and accounts for 2015/16 .
- We agreed a budget for 2016/17.
- Kerena Fussell and Arnold Ridout were elected as joint co-ordinators, Bill Bremner as Treasurer, Olawale Ajibola was elected Local Schemes Lead and Steve Smith as Ride Co-ordinator.
We decided to produce for sale a group T -shirt.
Less formally, we had wide ranging discussions on the following topics
- Stratford Gyratory – proposal now reasonable in principle but details of the junctions will need further work.
- Other infrastructure developments – key funding available from TfL, Newham LIP allocation, and from developments such as Crossrail for some potentially significant improvements.  More information is available from the current list of issues.
- LCC Sign for Cycling campaign – last push before the election.
- Our contribution to the Forest Gate Cycle network Evening 26 May.
We ended with a discussion as to our future focus.  As a result we will consider how the group can focus on schools, as some money is available for promoting cycling in schools and our efforts could pay dividends in terms of increased cycling by both children and their parents.