Report on Birmingham RTR day

I promised a report back on this, and as I've just had the notes from Alec, the hardest working RTR co-ordinator in showbiz, this seems like a good time. I've borrowed heavily from Alec's report, but bringing out the salient points from my POV. 

The purpose of the meeting was to take a fresh look at the existing and possible future regional structure of

the CTC Right to Ride network. The ideas and discussions at Birmingham give a very good starting point for

deciding what the CTC and the RtR Network do next.

Participants

24 RtR members attended, including some who were also CTC councillors or staff.

Four main topics were discussed:

- Working at a Regional Level
- Growing an Effective Network
- Training Issues
- Communication


There seemed to be considerable support for the concept of organising the RtR network on a regional basis.
Part of this support was to do with how to deal with government structures, and another part was recognising
that support for individuals was important.
Several comments showed that people felt isolated at times.
Financial support for the network was discussed, with the possibility of part time positions being available for
regional reps, and for a discounted category of CTC membership as a campaign member.
Formalising the network a little by expecting members to attend at least one regional meeting a year had
some support. Regular meetings would also help build a necessary better alignment of views between
individual reps and other campaign groups.
A more organised method of dealing with the mass of information involved was seen as very important, as
was developing individual members various skills.
Greater publicity in Cycle magazine for RtR was another request.
Better education of those responsible for road schemes was seen as necessary, and might be made easier to
organise if CTC became accredited to one or more professional institutions in the field of transport.


The ideas and discussions at Birmingham give a very good starting point for deciding what the CTC and the
RtR Network do next. We have hardly had a better opportunity to move forward. The drive must come from
both sides to be effective. 


My key issues are that I don't feel that the RTR network is sufficiently valued by the CTC - the fact I had to fight to get travel expenses for this day is a case in point. Some of the ideas we had were - assess the value of the RTR network in monetary terms (i.e. as if we were getting paid) publish  an annual report (RTRs are supposed to provide an annual report, but we are not asked for it, so many including myself don't, and the ones that are received are read by CTC staff but don't go any further) - enhance communication with a social networking site. (We are currently using Yahoo!, which while it has improved over the years has never been entirely satisfactory)


I found this to be  very positive day, which was welcome at a time when the CTC is racked with in-fighting over the charitable trust issue. After the seminar Roger led us through the Bullring, some with bikes and some without, in search of a pub for a quick pint before heading home - unfortunately some people had to had off before we found one, but the experience was almost worth coming for in itself!