Active Travel Tynedale (AcTT) had another very busy and productive year campaigning for better active travel infrastructure. In December we briefed our MP on the potential for a greenway on the old North Tyne railway, took a county council fundraising advisor on a tour of the old railway line and joined an online meeting with railway station accessibility experts to discuss how to improve wheelchair access between the platforms at Hexham train station. In January we presented on the harm that motor vehicles do to wildlife for a local sustainability group and attended a Local Area Committee meeting in order to challenge county council officers on an unsatisfactory response to a complaint about speeding traffic. We also argued that the January 2022 Highway code changes had made our streets more dangerous for pedestrians. February began with our MP praising us in the House of Commons! The following week we wrote to every supermarket in Hexham for the third time, encouraging them to improve the accessibility of their stores for cyclists and pedestrians. As usual, we received no responses. Towards the end of the month we met with the Leader of Northumberland County Council (NCC) to discuss the ways that the council could reduce the county’s greenhouse gas emissions from transport. Our suggestions included the development of an NCC travel plan, the creation of greenways on the county’s disused railway lines and charging for town centre car parking. We ended the month with a presentation on the harms that motor vehicles do to wildlife for a second local sustainability group. In March we attended the opening of Alnwick’s Borderline Greenway, did the training that would allow us to pilot the Hexham Community Cargo Bike and organised a Sim Specs Walk in Wark. Attendees at Sim Specs Walks wear spectacles that simulate visual afflictions while walking around their home town, in order to experience life as a blind or partially-sighted individual. In April we attended a public inquiry into the creation of new public rights of way in a local wood, and met with the county council’s fundraising officer again. In May we organised a Sim Specs Walk in Fourstones, a Footway Accessibility Audit in Barrasford and a trip to evaluate the suitability of the new Ponteland to Callerton active travel route for horse riders. We also attended the Northumberland County Show, where we advocated for greenways on disused railway lines. In June we held a stall at Hexham’s Future Is Now sustainability fair and took kids for bike rides in the Hexham Community Cargo Bike at the On Yer Bike Tynedale festival of cycling. May saw us attending an Active Travel England conference in York and a Northumberland National Park Authority meeting at which active travel was on the agenda, as well as co-organising a train-based field trip for Local Access Forum members to learn about accessibility issues at local railway stations. In August we led a cycle tour of Hexham’s current and potential cycling infrastructure (on behalf of the Northumberland Cycling Campaign), arranged a pop-up pump track for the Hexham Youth Initiative’s Sele Spectacular, attended a day of British Cycling ride leader training (so that we could escort children to school on a “bike bus”) and attended the Bellingham Show (where we advocated for greenways on disused railway lines). September was a quieter month for us, with only a few hours of roadside protest on International Car Free Day. In October we spent two weeks assisting a local access expert with a survey of the rights of way of the Rothbury estate, on behalf of Northumberland Wildlife Trust. In early November we attended a day of first aid training and a launch event for the Hexham Bike Bus, and on the day of the Bike Bus we helped to chaperone school children to and from school in some rather inclement weather. We also organised the Electric Dreams electric and sustainable transport fair. We met on eight occasions throughout the year, and the North Tyne Greenway Steering Group (a sub-group of AcTT) met on six occasions. We piloted the Hexham Community Cargo Bike at five Farmers’ Markets and continued our work as Community Speedwatch volunteers. We applied to the Rural Asset Multiplier Pilot, Coop Local Fund and Active Travel England Innovation Fund, but without any success. We maintained an active Facebook presence, telling our followers about active travel events, initiatives, petitions, consultations and developments. We also promoted other local active travel organisations.

Active Travel Tynedale continued to push for a School Street at the Hexham Academies, meeting to discuss the issue on four occasions during the year (the fourth meeting being at Queen Elizabeth High School, and including teachers). We also met with landowners and tenant farmers to discuss the creation of active travel routes across their land and engaged with active travel consultants WSP during their work on the Northumberland National Park Active Travel Network Plan. We commented on planning applications which affected active travel opportunities in January and August, and attended drop-in consultations on both the plans to expand Newcastle Airport and the North East Local Transport Plan. We also responded in writing to the North East Local Transport Plan consultation. We attended two Northumberland Cycling, Walking and Wheeling Board meetings, three Northumberland Cycling Campaign meetings and four Joint Local Access Forum meetings during the accounting year.

No remuneration was received

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration