Bike Biz: "Build it and they will come, Get Britain Cycling inquiry is told"

Link to Bike Biz web site

(photo:CTC)

"The All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group inquiry is now on its third session, with three more to come. The two-hour evidence gathering sessions were held in committee room 13 in the House of Commons. Today's session was about cycling infrastructure and urban design.

"Witnesses from cycling and pedestrian groups, universities, urban design and transport organisations presented evidence on segregation, junctions, signage, cycle parking, road maintenance, urban design, traffic calming and speed limits.

"... Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, Lord Berkeley [centre, above], said:

"Any cyclist using many of today’s roads will know that cycling is often seen as an afterthought, rather than being considered when roads are planned. In order to get Britain on bikes, we need to first change the environment to make it more appealing.

This demands a concerted effort from government, local authorities and planners to ensure our roads are fit for purpose for all road users."

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Link to web site

Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC):
"Planning and design for cycling scrutinised by MPs and Peers"

"Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds North East, who had cycled from Leeds to the Netherlands in 2012, felt we should simply copy what had been achieved there.

"Mark Ames agreed, suggesting that a big part of the problem lay with the guidance documents set by the Government, and the skills of the engineers who design projects.

"Gerhard Weiss from LCC, explained that the 'Love London, Go Dutch' campaign, aimed to copy the Dutch approach of giving cyclists priority: cycle paths aren't there to "get cyclists out of the way", but to allow cyclists to gain advantage over other users.

"However, even basic ideas, such as giving cyclists priority over side roads, or low-level traffic lights for cyclists, which are common in the Netherlands or Germany, are incredibly rare in Britain."

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“Our weather is such that for at least one quarter
of the year we must cycle at home or not at all,”
stated a correspondent to the short-lived
The Rambler weekly cycling magazine in 1897

Link to: RoadsWereNotBuiltForCars