Dear Wakefield MAG Member,
Welcome to the August 2021 Wakefield MAG e-newsletter. If you can't attend our Tuesday meetings regularly, it's the next best thing to keep you up to date with what we are up to.
CONTENTS
1) DfT Transport Decarbonisation Plan
2) MAG responds to Government's Transport Decarbonisation Plan
3) MAG AGC 2021
4) Yorkshire MAG AGM
5) FEMA Survey: Motorcycle Emissions/Sales Ban
6) Rescheduled Memorial Rideout - Sunday 22nd August
7) Weekly Meetings
8) Bike For Sale - Suzuki GSX-R1100J
9) YPR Tickets
10) Forthcoming Events (for August and beyond)
1) DfT Transport Decarbonisation Plan
The Department for Transport (DfT) Transport Decarbonisation Plan was published on the 14th July. Link to the document: Here
The particularly concerning part of this plan is 'Powered two wheelers: all new motorcycles and scooters to be fully zero emissions at the tailpipe from 2035 (subject to consultation)'.
So, after the initial 'motorcycles aren't included' statements, here we finally have the truth, in 2035, the proposal is that the sales of new petrol bikes and scooters will be banned (same date as petrol/diesel hybrid cars) .... not a satisfactory outcome at all given modest bikes give outstanding fuel economy, do not cause congestion and the eco-credentials of electric vehicles is grossly overstated. The UK contributes around 1% to global pollution, so motorcycles will contribute a tiny fraction of a percentage, yet banning them in 14 years time will solve all the pollution issues .. do forgive me for being ever so slightly sceptical.
The consultation is not open yet, but watch this space for details of when it is as it's vital we get as many responses to this as possible. A miniscule (and I do mean absolutely miniscule) reduction in pollution by banning new bikes will achieve absolutely nothing environmentally, yet will impact all our chosen lifestyles to a greater or lesser extent. MAG's response to this follows. You may also wish to respond to FEMA's survey on the European wide Motorcycle Emissions/Sales Ban (See Below)
2) MAG responds to Government's Transport Decarbonisation Plan
The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has issued an initial response to the Government's Transport Decarbonisation Plan. The plan sets out how the UK Government proposes to tackle carbon emissions from the transport sector of the economy on its path to delivering a Net Zero UK by 2050.
MAG remains opposed to compulsion as a solution to reducing carbon emissions. We have always acknowledged the need to reduce the harmful impacts of transport and this is why we have long promoted modal shift to motorcycles as a significant lever for achieving that aim.
We are pleased to see the recognition of the positive and significant role played by motorcycles acknowledged in the plan, but are concerned that a technological roadmap for motorcycles has yet to be fully developed. We call for the Plan's recognition of motorcycling's role to be applied immediately by way of a more proactive and inclusive approach to motorcycling in transport policy.
We urge the Government to listen to all voices in the forthcoming consultation which proposes the requirement for all new motorcycles and scooters being fully zero emissions at the tailpipe from 2035. Equally we want to see consideration and support for the full range of potential solutions in the technological roadmap.
MAG Chair, Selina Lavender, said: "MAG will engage with the Government and the motorcycle industry in this process and will continue to robustly represent all the opinions of its members. There is still much work to be done to ensure the benefits of motorcycling are enhanced and recognised. I am confident that MAG's engagement in this work will be positive and achieve the best possible results for motorcyclists in the UK."
Excellent news concerning the proposed Virtual MAG AGC 2021, which we were all concerned about due to the potential for disenfranchising a lot of the core AGC attendees given the age demographic, and forecasted difficulty hosting a video conferencing event (see previous newsletters) - The AGC 2021 virtual event is in effect now cancelled.
The position of Chair is contested between Neil Liversidge and Tim Fawthrop (see previous newsletters for their respective manifesto's for Chair). All Director applications are unopposed, so no vote is required. No motions have been submitted to the AGC, so again, no vote is required. Therefore, the only voting required is for the Chair.
In agreement with the 2 candidates for Chair, a live debate (similar to MP hustings before an election) is being scheduled which will be recorded. Those members wishing to attend the live event may do so, with the recording being made available for all to view. Voting will be over several days/weeks via the on-line database, post or as a last resort telephoning the MAG Central office (all votes will be logged against the members membership number). Other AGC business will take place as reports in The ROAD or at a point in time when an AGC can be scheduled as a live event with (more) certainty that it will go ahead.
The full details of how this will work will be in the next edition of the The Road members magazine.
As a compromise, this is a great outcome. Members will be able to attend in person the Husting between the two candidates, ask questions (either in person or submitted via email), or watch the outcome at a later date. All MAG members will have the opportunity to cast their vote for their preferred candidate via one of several highly accessible channels. The issues about disenfranchising members based on technology, and the predicted difficulties hosting a virtual AGC with limited IT support, for a vast array of different devices, software and operating systems, have all effectively been addressed. Democracy rules and I like to think Wakefield, alongside other Yorkshire MAG Branches collective constructive comments had some bearing on the change of direction.
MAG Chair Selina Lavender, said: "I have been working hard to please everyone, it was never going to happen. Very much 'damned if I do, damned if I don't". I disagree actually, with this compromise, I think she has played an absolute blinder - Well Done Selina !!
The Yorkshire MAG Region AGM, was held from 09:00 to 11:00 on Sunday 25th July at Squires Cafe, near Sherburn in Elmet. The AGM was very well attended by Yorkshire MAG members, including an impressive 7 members from Wakefield (75 Branch Points awarded).
The following Wakefield Branch report, was presented to the Yorkshire AGM:
Wakefield MAG Reps Report to Yorkshire Region AGM - September 2019 - July 2021
In the giddy period before the 1st lockdown in March 2020, we had a number of events including:
From the last meeting on Wednesday 11th March to our first post lockdown meeting on Tuesday 28th July, we became homeless as we discovered the Grey Horse, which had been our HQ for the last 16 years was closing. Cue an appeal to our membership base to help us find a new HQ, which we did in the form of the Thatched House. The Thatched House for years have supported Wakefield MAG by donating a carvery dinner for two to our auction, so moving here was a little bit of a no-brainer, and the venue has proved most suitable ever since.
We are able to restart our meetings again on Tuesday 28th July and managed to hold 15 meetings, before lockdown struck again in early November. Members attended the 2020 Yorkshire Pudding Rally, albeit in far fewer numbers than we usually field. The 2nd lockdown suspended meetings until Tuesday 18th May, from which we were able to hold weekly meetings again. In this period we have at least been able to plan a number of events for the remainder of the year. In the 2nd lockdown, we still managed to get to the Wakefield Remembrance Sunday service, albeit socially distanced and no Mirfield event where we normally join the parade on our bikes with the RBLR.
The lifeline for the branch in the mothballed months of lockdown was our website, Facebook page and the monthly newsletter. Despite somewhat sparse news and no events to plug, we managed to still produce monthly newsletters with still the same number of articles (av. 10 per month) - this was a struggle at times given the overall lack of content and required a large degree of creativity.
Late in 2020 we were very lucky to receive a large number of donations to our auction, from ex-Doncaster MAG Rep JP Roberts. With these donations we attempted to host a virtual auction, with bids invited via email. We tried this for a month during January 2021, then extended to end of February 2021, but unfortunately failed to attract a single bid. Bit disappointing, but at least we tried, and certainly have lots of items already for our 2022 Auction. Part of the JP donation was a non-running 'project' bike, which we managed to sell for the princely sum of £500, which was a healthy boost to the branch coffers. We reformatted our raffle, largely to make it contactless but the new format has been a huge success and makes more money than the old one did.
Politically, members have been kept up to date via the newsletters and encouraged to complete consultations, surveys, lobby MP's etc.
The Wakefield MAG AGM was held on Tuesday 29th June 2021. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were not able to hold our planned AGM on Tuesday 12th January 2021, and the last time we hosted an AGM was on Wednesday 15th January 2020, when we were still meeting in the Grey Horse.
This was a cutdown AGM covering the following agenda items:
Steve was re-elected as Branch Rep, for the 19th time. You would think after all this time he would be good at it, but alas not LOL
Prior to Covid we were getting 10-15 attendees at our meetings but that number has pretty much halved since we were allowed to restart meetings. We'll be looking at ways to boost attendance back to the pre-Covid levels.
In summary, a challenging year through no fault of ourselves, but we have survived and still contributed, which is no mean feat.
We also have some cracking events to look forward to at long last:
Steve Travis
Branch Rep
97513
After all the Region Officers and Branch reports were presented, the elections for the Region Committee were held.
Four of the Region Committee stepped down and were not available for re-election. Richard 'Manny' Manton stepped down as Yorkshire rep, Andy Foody stepped down as vice rep, Linz Foody stepped down as Yorkshire MAG secretary and Ian Whittaker stepped down as Political Officer.
A huge thanks to all four for their service over the last 3 years. No one stepped forward to be the new rep, but Steve Travis, the Wakefield MAG rep stepped forward to be the Yorkshire MAG point of contact (very important as otherwise, Yorkshire isn't represented on the National Committee, and it's far too big and active to be isolated from the National Committee). Martin Burgess (also of Wakey MAG) is the vice point of contact. No one stood as secretary.
The Yorkshire Region Committee for 2021-22 is:
Region Contact | Steve Travis - Wakefield MAG (Elected) |
Region Vice Contact | Martin Burgess - Wakefield MAG (Elected) |
Political Rep | Tom Lonsdale - Huddersfield MAG (Elected) |
Secretary | Vacant |
Social Media / Website | Marcus Holden - Leeds MAG (Re-Elected) |
Treasurer | Gary Timms - South Yorkshire MAG (Re-Elected) |
Press / Media | John Nettleship - Leeds MAG (Re-Elected) |