I am amazed at your claim that there is no safe bike parking in Nottingham. I cycle to Nottingham city centre often, and there is ample room just by the Council houses. This is a dedicated bike park. It is also a fact that the council has spent many thousands of pounds on cycle tracks throughout the whole of the county. Considering that you misled on this basic point, why would I be convinced to believe you on others?

I guess the point is whether it is safe to leave a bike in town, without returning to find it stolen. I was at the event and have to agree with everything Jon said. To get into town I have to use Mansfield Rd and that is a nightmare on a bike especially the Huntingdon St junction and the bit near the cemetary. I would also assume that the miles of bike lanes that have been put in in the county would have been paid for by the county, not the city council or would have been funded by sustrans. I generally find cycling in Nottingham quite scary- the good bike lanes tend to be near the university! Bike lanes on the boulevards are full of parked cars or are in such disrepair that you almost get bounced off!
I was recently in Bristol and for some reason there are huge numbers of cycles. If they can do it, then so can nottingham!

as a cyclist i reckon parking your bike in the middle of the day in notts is fine. there is also plenty of parking by the council house. however, i did go to this event and can confirm that the rest of what was said in the above article is true: it was a thoroughly disappointing affair.

also, bike lanes in notts are, for the most part, bollocks.

On Monday I was in Beeston for a leafletting session about the climate effects of the fast food trade (methane emissions from cattle, grazing & feed production pressures on forests, wasteful packaging etc) and other issues, it being Worldwide Day of Action Against McDonalds (see  http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc/event.php?ref=50).

I was amazed to see a long rank of cycle racks all through the pedestrian zone in Beeston, and shared pedestrian / bike track markings on many of the walkways. Yes there are bike racks in Nottm, but cycle access from the north can be quite scary. Ironically I find the safest route to be along the Tram Route - at least you only have to look out for other vehicles every 6 - 12 minutes and the trams are quite easy to spot/avoid. Sorry if others are horrified by the idea of cycling carefully between tram tracks!

Other Stuff:

Following the Council's Climate Change Declaration, the Evening Post is calling for 'Go Green Pledges', you know the kind of thing: "I promise to air my washing in public, not in the tumble dryer; I promise I will put a water-saving device in my toilet; I promise I will turn the tap off when I brush my teeth; I promise to use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones ..." all good stuff ... How about a few more radical suggestions here and at  http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/gogreen

Here's one to get you can help with :

I promise to continue to hassle the council to accept that tetrapaks CAN be recycled, as they are in Sheffield, Melton Mowbray, Ashfield, Mansfield & elsewhere.

To make it easy for the recycling contact at Nottingham City Council, Chris Bailey (0115 915 2126) there is a collection of info, maps and links at  http://www.veggies.org.uk/page.php?ref=797


... and another ...

I promise to support Nottingham Against Incineration and Landfill,  http://www.nail.uk.net/, to ensure that local residents are protected from increased emissions from Eastcroft Incinerator.