Spokes Canterbury
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Canterbury is Spokes' area of influence
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| Formation | 1 November 1998 |
|---|---|
| Type | NGO |
| Purpose | Advocacy |
| Headquarters |
 Christchurch, NZ |
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Region served
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Canterbury |
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Membership
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Private persons |
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Official language
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English |
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Chair
|
Don Babe |
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Main organ
|
Committee |
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Parent organization
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Cycling Action Network |
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Staff
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nil |
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Volunteers
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about 30 |
| Website | Spokes Canterbury |
Spokes Canterbury is the main cycling advocacy group in Canterbury, New Zealand. It was established in November 1998, as a successor to the former Canterbury Cyclists' Association (established in the 1970s). Cycling Action Network is the parent organisation for Spokes Canterbury. It has about 900 members, including "everyday" cyclists, road cyclists and mountain bikers.
Spokes Canterbury works closely with the local branch of walking advocates Living Streets Aotearoa, as well as the local district of the Automobile Association. It also liaises with other local cycling initiatives, including Frocks on Bikes, Cycling in Christchurch, ICEcycles, Go Cycle Chch, and RAD Bikes.
An annual meeting of members is generally held in May each year; at this event the annual financial report and a general report of the organisation's activities in the previous year is presented. Elections of a Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and Executive committee are conducted. General business from members is also considered.
For the rest of the year the organisation is governed by the Executive committee which meets as necessary to conduct any formal business requiring attention.
Below the Executive is the Core Group, this group carry out the advocacy work of SPOKES. Membership of this group is by request and approval is given by the Executive. Meeting monthly, generally on the first Thursday of the month, the Core Group do the advocacy and promotion work. This work includes preparing and presenting submissions, organising and taking part in cycling promotion events and other advocacy work.
SPOKES is an incorporated society and operates under a constitution.
Elected Officers of Spokes
Other people who have served on the Executive at various times include Axel Wilke, Dirk de Lu, Robin Delamore, Fiona Whero, Andrew Macbeth, and John Lieswyn.
Spokes Canterbury works primarily to improve cycling in Canterbury, and particularly the region's largest city, Christchurch. For example, they strongly advocated against a 2005 moratorium on cycleway construction in the city – responding to concerns by Councillors about cycle paths not being 'safe' that absolute safety can never be provided, but that cycle paths certainly helped making cycling 'safer'. Spokes has also criticised the reality of 'New Zealand's Cycling City' (Christchurch City Council usage) not living up to its name due to lack of sufficient funding for cycle projects and cycle safety.
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Wikipedia