A guide to words and phrases you might come across. Please do make suggestions for inclusion, or amendment.
Active Travel In official speak, health-enhancing physical activity such as walking and cycling as a means of transport in the daily routine, including the journey to work or school.
AONB Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, an official landscape designation. See Malvern Hills National Landscape.
ASL Advanced Stop Line.
BOAT Byway Open to All Traffic.
CIL / Community Infrastructure Levy “A planning charge, introduced by the Planning Act 2008, as a tool for local authorities in England and Wales to help deliver infrastructure to support the development of their area.” See Planning Portal or government guidance. Also see section 106. Previously /replaced ‘planning gain’.
Cycle lane, path, way, route All can be used interchangeably to some extent, but general use might be:
- Cycle lane: on-road provision, separated from other traffic – perhaps only by clear markings but preferably some sort of physical barrier.
- Cycle path or track: away from the road, with separate signage. Often shared with pedestrians, which should only be where necessary and when there is sufficient room for passing. If actually quite close to the road, should be at a different level.
- Cycle way: going from one defined place to another, using lanes and paths as appropriate.
- Cycle route: the journey that a cyclist actually wishes to make, from their home or workplace, or train station perhaps.
Cyclist Not just those dressed in lycra, but all those using a bicycle, tricycle, recumbent, electric cargo bike or whatever. For commuting, going to the shops or school, visiting friends, leisure trips, sports racing … Some people protest that they are only ‘bike users’, as to them ‘cyclist’ means getting down to serious stuff. Cycle Malvern is for you too!
DfT Department for Transport, where cycling issues in England reside in the national government.
Herefordshire Council is a unitary authority – here’s the cycling section of their website.
LCWIP (Elsie Whip!) Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. Increasingly important to have one in place when making bids for government funding, and a more widely useful tool too.
LEP Local Economic Partnership. There is one for Worcestershire.
LTN Local Transport Notes, produced by Department for Transport as guidance for local authorities.
LTN Low Traffic Neighbourhood.
LTP Local Transport Plan.
MHDC Malvern Hills District Council.
MTB Mountain bike.
NCN National Cycle Network, developed by Sustrans.
Off-road This can have different meaning depending on context. Off-road cyclists (aka mountain bikers) will see it as using tracks which have little or no surface treatment. For Sustrans or council designed cycle paths/routes, off-road means away from (or separated from) a road carrying motor vehicles, and should usually have a reasonable cycling surface.
section 106 “Planning obligations, also known as Section 106 agreements (based on that section of The 1990 Town & Country Planning Act) are private agreements made between local authorities and developers and can be attached to a planning permission to make acceptable development which would otherwise be unacceptable in planning terms.” The agreement is tied to the land concerned, not the developer. See Planning Portal info. Also see Community Infrastructure Levy.
Sheffield rack A type of cycle stand made of tubing like an upside down elongated U. There are now a number of variations on the classic which originated in the Yorkshire city.
STP School Travel Plan.
TfL Transport for London.
WCC Worcestershire County Council, responsible for most transport issues locally. There is a cycling and walking section on WCC’s website. Note that Malvern Hills marks the boundary with Herefordshire.