SLIGO CYCLING CAMPAIGN POSTER LAUNCH
On Tuesday November 3rd Sligo Cycling Campaign was delighted to welcome representatives of Business, Education and Community groups to Jennings O Donovan in Finisklin for the launch of its cycling awareness posters. The campaign has been working towards building an alliance of people who share its vision for a cycling, walking, and wheeling friendly Sligo.
We have already linked in with initiatives by Sligo Tidy Towns, Cranmore Community Co-op and the NGO, Development Perspectives.
The launch of the posters was an opportunity to form new alliances. Partly as a result of the pandemic and partly because of concern about climate change, there is a new appreciation for the role that cycling can play in creating liveable places, enabling health and well-being, and reducing noise, congestion, and emissions.
Conor McCarthy, Director, Jennings O Donovan represents
Sligo Chamber of Commerce on Sligo Co Co’s Environment and Infrastructure SPC and he kindly agreed to host the launch.
Tara Rodgers, President of Sligo Chamber of Commerce and colleagues Mary Harty and Geraldine Courtenay attended. Also present were Fiona Britton representing IT Sligo Green Campus and Ken Russell from the IT Contract Research Unit.
Sligo County Council was represented by Senior Engineer, Emer Concannon and Climate Action staff, Daniel Conway, and Roisín Curran. Councillor Rosaleen O’ Grady, attended in her capacity as Chair of the Planning Community and Economic Development SPC and Chair of the Joint Policing Committee. Chairperson of Sligo Tidy Towns, Finbarr Filan came along as did Connie Nell and Lisa Wallace, Resource Workers from Cranmore Community Co-op and Nick Doran from Development Perspectives. PRO of Sligo Cycling Campaign, Gemma Woods, represented the campaign along with Chairperson Joan Swift.
Joan welcomed the attendees and spoke about the different kinds of cycling. “Cycling” she said “can be about Malin to Mizen or the Tour de France but it can also be five-year-olds in Strandhill going to school on the cycle bus, people with mobility impairments riding an e-trike. It can be people cycling to work or the shops or members of a cycling club out for a leisurely spin. The motivation for cycling also varies. For some people, considerations of sustainability, air-pollution and climate action are important. For others cycling may be the quickest or most affordable way to get places”. “While it is true not everybody can cycle it is equally true not everybody can drive”.
“The cycling posters are intended to encourage and nudge people to cycle but the work of enabling cycling is one for the local authority. Current levels of Government funding for walking and cycling have been promised up to 2030. It is up to all of us to work together to ensure that the Sligo allocation is spent effectively. For us this means connected segregated cycling networks and measures such as contra-flow, signage, lower speed limits and bike parking.
President of Sligo Chamber of Commerce, Tara Rodgers, thanked the cycling campaign for its initiative. She remarked that the timing of the launch was apt, given that COP26 was currently in the news. The President wished Sligo Cycling Campaign well in its endeavours.
The high-quality posters, adapted with permission from posters by Cork Cycling Campaign, were produced by Tiger Print Sligo with funding from Bike Week.