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A Birmingham councillor has become the 500th elected official to support the national "Space for Cycling" campaign, supported by Bike Hub, the industry-levy fund. Space for Cycling – also called space4cycling – calls on local authorities to sign up to cycle-friendly design standards and to seek the funding needed to deliver it.
Cllr Jerry Evans, Liberal Democrat councillor for Springfield ward and Parliamentary candidate for Hall Green Constituency has joined 17 other councillors from Birmingham City Council in supporting the campaign.
CTC and other members of the UK Cycling Alliance have been meeting with MPs and councillors at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester. Last night MPs and councillors joined hundreds of cyclists for a Space for Cycling bike ride around the Labour Party conference – organized by CTC and the Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign. The ride sought promises of funding commitments in the Labour Party manifesto as well as protected space and lower speed limits on Manchester’s streets.
Robbie Gillett from CTC said: “Over 500 councillors outside of London are now supporting space for cycling in their area – showing that there is real political will at a local level to get Britain cycling. We now need to see firm commitments to long-term, consistent funding for cycling in all the political parties’ manifestos to make this ambition a reality.”
Jonathan Fingland, Chair of Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign, said:
“40 percent of Greater Manchester’s residents are currently receiving the investment level of £10 per person thanks to the VéloCity2025 project funded by the Government’s Cycle City Ambition scheme. We need to ensure this initial investment is extended to cover all of Greater Manchester and the full duration of the project, until 2025. Many people want to cycle but currently don’t – we’re campaigning for safe space for cycling so everyone has the opportunity to use this healthy form of transport for their local journeys."
Spending outside of London currently averages £2 per person per head. Campaigners are calling for £10 per person rising progressively to £20, in order to meet German levels of cycling by 2025 and Dutch levels of cycling by 2050.
