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Video: Jon Snow launches CTC campaign urging councillors to pledge creation of Space for CyclingSpace for Cycling logo

Video: Jon Snow launches CTC campaign urging councillors to pledge creation of Space for Cycling

Learn how you can get involved
by John Stevenson
Mon, Apr 14, 2014 13:45
10

With local elections just over a month away on May 22, cycling charity CTC has joined forces with local campaign groups to demand that councillors create space for cycling in Britain’s towns and cities.

CTC president, newsreader Jon Snow, explains the campaign in this video:

CTC and campaign groups have created a simple website that provides a way of sending a message to your local councillor urging them to provide space for cycling.

The message points out that streets that encourage people to cycle can improve our health and air quality, reduce casualties and create safer, more pleasant neighbourhoods. But 67% of people say they aren't confident cycling on busy roads.

The CTC says that 39% of people say that they could just as easily make a two-mile car trip by bike as they do by car, yet only two percent of trips are actually made by bike and just one in ten people in cycle once a week or more.

Survey after survey has found that people cite fear of fast-moving motor traffic as their main reason for not cycling.

Councillors with responsibility for traffic planning from several cities have already given their support to the campaign.

Leader of Portsmouth City Council, Gerald Vernon-Jackson, who is also vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “Cycling provides huge benefits for our health and that of our streets and communities. 

“Portsmouth has already done a lot to promote cycling, creating 20mph streets and a growing cycle network. 

“Providing ‘Space for Cycling’ benefits everybody in our society, whether or not they choose to cycle themselves. I would urge cross-party support from councillors throughout the country for this campaign.”

Ian Davey (Green), deputy leader of Brighton & Hove City Council and its lead member for transport, said: “In Brighton & Hove, we’ve been creating space for cycling on our main roads, opening up one-way streets to allow two-way cycling and making it a better, more liveable city.

“I call on other councils to make space for cycling if they want to improve health, curb congestion and reduce pollution.”

CTC chief executive Gordon Seabright said, “With the launch of this campaign, CTC is giving people across the country the means to demand space for cycling from their local authority. We’re working with hundreds of volunteers across the country to campaign for protected space on main roads, lower speed limits and – crucially – the funding needed to make it happen.

“Space for cycling means tackling the biggest barriers to getting more people cycling: creating safe conditions on our major roads and junctions, lowering speed limits and reducing through motor traffic on residential streets.

“We’ve examples from around the country of where local authorities have made tremendous improvements, but we’re still a very long way from creating conditions where anyone can cycle anywhere.”

The national campaign has launched a map where people can also record examples of good and bad infrastructure. Each example posted into the map will go into a database of over 50,000 individual examples of cycling infrastructure maintained by social enterprise CycleStreets.

CTC is also asking people to show their support via a Twibbon campaign which adds the hashtag #space4cycling to your Twitter avatar.

Space for Cycling
CTC
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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10 comments

Avatar
Condor flyer | 10 years ago
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THE CTC has now come full circle once again in the frustrating campaign to improve road conditions.
In the 90s they fought long and hard to win the battle of minds in making the case for government action to improve road safety conditions for cyclists. Government finally said it agreed with the CTC. But nothing happened and the CTC had to make the case all over again, this time to the Local Authorities who control over 90 per cent of the road network.
Why? Because the government has no authority other than to advise Local Authorities to make changes.
And so, finally, Local Authorities were also won over, and agreed to take cycling to their hearts.
But they pleaded poverty, can only build mostly substandard small scale cycling facilities.
So, it's back to trying to persuade government to pick up the baton again. Last year the Get Britain Cycling Report wins approval in Parliament, but not official backing. Once again, government passes the buck to the local authorities.
We are back to square one.
And now, today, the CTC, seeks to get local councillors to back cycling's case. And around we go again.

Avatar
kie7077 | 10 years ago
0 likes

We should do pilot projects with small cities:

1st run a survey to see which cities would have the best cycling take-up if good facilities existed.

Then massively upgrade the whole city at once, make the city centre mostly vehicle free like has been done in some other European cities. Put secured cycle storage everywhere, put in segregated easy to clean continuous wide cycle lanes. Run a public information campaign. Enforce traffic laws using technology. Replace half the traffic wardens with pollution inspectors. If people can't drive carefully then take their cars away from the long-term.

£300m is a joke CTC, the transport budget is approx £20 billion and cycling infrastructure has been neglected for a century. Considering that every billion spent would probably save over a billion in long-term health and transport costs, we should spend billions as an investment, why piss about doing a little bit year by year and getting effectively no-where. The only way to make a difference is to think big.

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Airzound | 10 years ago
0 likes

Glad I left the CTC.

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banzicyclist2 | 10 years ago
0 likes

If I wait fir the government or local council I'll be dead before anything actually gets done. So I'll just get on my bike and risk it.
29

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Paul_C | 10 years ago
0 likes

of course we all know what we'll end up with, more shared paths and having to wait to cross every fscking sidestreet...

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subfiver | 10 years ago
0 likes

Who edited the vid, I wonder ?

At 1:20 in there's a panning shot of a cyclist seemingly engrossed with his phone. Hardly a 'ringing' endorsement of safe cycling 3

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Gkam84 | 10 years ago
0 likes

So the CTC are jumping on this space for cycling thing, BUT as Jon says in the video. Its all up to national government and local councils.....

So yeah, lets just sit back and watch nothing happen. CTC's normal response to everything has come about again.

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northstar | 10 years ago
0 likes

The ctc don't seem to know which direction they want to go in...

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themartincox | 10 years ago
0 likes

You know nothing Jon Snow

sorry, I'll get my coat

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titusrider | 10 years ago
0 likes

eerrrrgghhh 31

While I appreciate the message wearing a badly fitted helmet on the back of your head and a massive florescent jacket does not help your case......

cycling is normal and safe and doesn't require a 'bulletproof vest' (to use boardman terminology)

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