Political parties go head to head on biggest cycling issues
Posted on in Cycles News
The UK Cycling Alliance (UKCA) hosted the first ever national cycling debate on Monday 2 March.
The Big Cycling Debate, organised by the UK Cycling Alliance and chaired by the broadcaster John Humphreys, pitched the leaders from the three main political parties against each other on their plans for cycling. Transport minister Robert Goodwill, Labour's Lilian Greenwood and Lib Dem Julian Huppert were representing their parties' cases on the day.
The Liberal Democrats - represented by Dr Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group - were the only party committed to spending the £10 per head per year that is widely believed to be the minimum required to meaningfully increase cycling levels in the UK.
As reported by Simon MacMichael on road.cc, each participant was given five minutes to put across their party's position. Mr Goodwill starting by claiming that the government had increased funding for cycling in England to £2 per head to £6 per head.
The minister said the government's ambition was for Britain to become a cycling nation similar to Denmark or the Netherlands and that with the Cycle City Ambition programme "we've proven that letting cities lead the way [on cycling] is a model that works."
He added: "I won't be satisfied until we have hit the same level of funding everywhere in the country," although he described his wish for it to reach £10 per person annually, as sought by the APPCG's 2013 report, Get Britain Cycling, as an "aspiration" rather than concrete policy, and one that was also dependent on local authorities.
Ms Greenwood, who is shadow rail minister said her party couldn't commit to a minimum £10 per head annual spend on cycling.
However, she did say that it wanted to put an end to "stop-start " funding, and that her party wanted "certainty" over future long-term funding in cycling, which she added would be moved to "the mainstream of transport policy."
She added that her party wanted to tackle barriers to cycling such as lack of infrastructure and road safety issues, and that it would also promote a cross-departmental approach, with cycling also being part of its health strategy.
Dr Huppert confirmed that the Lib Dems would include a pledge to spend that £10 minimum per person on cycling each year in its general election manifesto, with the goal of increasing it eventually to £20.
He said that the party was committed to providing safe infrastructure as well as ensuring the justice system dealt fairly with cases where cyclists are the victims, and that its plans would be financed by taking money from some planned major road schemes.
Chris Boardman, policy adviser at British Cycling, asked them whether their parties would commit to setting aside a set percentage of the transport budget aside for cycling to make it "a viable form of transport viable for normal people in normal clothes?" None would.
Other questions included ones relating to how to make rural roads safer for cyclists, and whether there should be a national 20 mile an hour default speed limit in urban areas.
While Ms Greenwood and Mr Huppert agreed it should be encouraged, Mr Goodwill said the government would leave it to local authorities to decide and not try to impose guidance on them from above.
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