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Burnham and Boardman accuse government of treating cycling as 'an afterthought'Chris Boardman and Andy Burnham.jpg

Burnham and Boardman accuse government of treating cycling as 'an afterthought'

Greater Manchester Mayor and Cycling Commissioner call for sustained funding
by Alex Bowden
Fri, Mar 08, 2019 11:47
12

Greater Manchester’s Mayor, Andy Burnham, and Cycling and Walking Commissioner, Chris Boardman, have called on the Government to provide sustained funding for cycling and walking. Burnham said that active travel was currently treated as an ‘afterthought’ and asked that it be given the same status as roads investment.

Currently, only around one per cent of the Department for Transport’s budget is allocated to cycling and walking. Burnham has allocated £160m to cycling and walking projects in Greater Manchester but would like to see a consistent source of funding.

Speaking during an evidence session with the Transport Select Committee in Manchester, he said: “Successive Governments have treated cycling and walking as an afterthought. This cannot continue at a time when we’ve got congested roads, polluted air and high levels of physical inactivity.

“Greater Manchester made the bold decision to spend £160 million on cycling and walking to kick-start our plans for the UK’s largest cycling and walking network. There is a huge appetite to deliver these plans but we now need Government to show the same ambition and put in place a consistent national funding stream for cycling and walking.”

His words were echoed by Boardman, who said: “This isn’t about people riding bikes. It’s about creating healthier, better places to live, more economically-robust areas, revitalising town centres, and giving people a real and attractive alternative to driving.

“By the government’s own calculations, money invested in enabling people to cycle and walk is the most efficient transport spend that a nation can make. I just don’t understand why the penny hasn’t dropped yet.

“The transformational work we’ve started doing in Greater Manchester needs to be backed up by a consistent funding stream for active travel. The will is there – we’ve got thousands of residents keen to see improvements where they live, and the councils are up for this too. Sadly, our ambition needs to be matched by a funding model that is currently only reserved for other transport modes like motor transport. This isn’t just a problem for Greater Manchester, it’s a problem for countless other cities too like Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield.”

Both Burnham and Boardman also said that there should be a government requirement that, where possible, cycling and walking infrastructure should be included as part of any new transport infrastructure, such as new roads or junctions.

Also speaking at the session, Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Planning and Transport, Councillor Angeliki Stogia added: “We’ve been inundated with requests from residents who want to make their neighbourhoods more appealing for journeys on foot and by bike.

"We’ve got some outstanding projects on the books already, but to keep our growing city moving, we need a radical stepchange in the way we make our journeys, from longer trips across the city by bike to short walks across each of our neighbourhoods.

We’ve got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionise how people get around and we cannot let it slip through our fingers.”

Andy Burnham
chris boardman
DfT
Manchester
Greater Manchester
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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12 comments

Avatar
Condor flyer | 5 years ago
5 likes

Ministers may say they support cycling, agreeing with all the claims made for it - reducing congestion and pollution, making for a healthy nation - but  cycling will  never get the funding necessary to fulfill its promise while politicians remain under the influence of the car lobby.

Avatar
maviczap | 5 years ago
5 likes

Think the Government treats everything as an afterthought unless it's lining their own pockets or a vote winner

Knife crime not really a problem

Schools short of books and poor buildings, not really a problem

Potholes not really a problem

Lack of real justice in car Vs cyclists or pedestrians. Not really a problem.

Speeding motorists, not really a problem

One cyclist kills a pedestrian, immediate action, new laws introduced

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
5 likes

Build it, and build it well, and they will come.

Avatar
brooksby replied to ktache | 5 years ago
6 likes

ktache wrote:

Build it, and build it well, and they will come.

Exactly. Nobody ever decides not to build a road because they can't guarantee there'd be enough motor traffic demand for it, so why is that the excuse for not building cycling infrastructure?

Avatar
The Old Dope replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
4 likes
brooksby wrote:

ktache wrote:

Build it, and build it well, and they will come.

Exactly. Nobody ever decides not to build a road because they can't guarantee there'd be enough motor traffic demand for it, so why is that the excuse for not building cycling infrastructure?

And the traffic always comes to fill new road space. Why should the same not be true of good cycle infrastructure? Infrastructure that is safe and has good access to and from the places where people live and work and play and shop and go to school/study?

Avatar
brooksby replied to The Old Dope | 5 years ago
0 likes

The Old Dope wrote:
brooksby wrote:

ktache wrote:

Build it, and build it well, and they will come.

 

Exactly. Nobody ever decides not to build a road because they can't guarantee there'd be enough motor traffic demand for it, so why is that the excuse for not building cycling infrastructure?

And the traffic always comes to fill new road space. Why should the same not be true of good cycle infrastructure? Infrastructure that is safe and has good access to and from the places where people live and work and play and shop and go to school/study?

 

My point, precisely.

Avatar
alansmurphy | 5 years ago
0 likes

Mostly agree HP, however:

 

"The will is there – we’ve got thousands of residents keen to see improvements where they live, and the councils are up for this too".

 

I'm not sure I believe this, it's a nice box people will tick but they don't live this mantra. There's ridiculous statistics about journeys being less than 3 miles and you only have to try and get near a school to see the laziness. Many see others as the problem, or it's safer if they use the car not realising they are part of the problem...

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to alansmurphy | 5 years ago
1 like

alansmurphy wrote:

Mostly agree HP, however:

 

"The will is there – we’ve got thousands of residents keen to see improvements where they live, and the councils are up for this too".

 

I'm not sure I believe this, it's a nice box people will tick but they don't live this mantra. There's ridiculous statistics about journeys being less than 3 miles and you only have to try and get near a school to see the laziness. Many see others as the problem, or it's safer if they use the car not realising they are part of the problem...

I don't know - people are quite good at holding simultaneous contradicting opinions, but then cycling does need an improved public image as well.

Avatar
burtthebike replied to alansmurphy | 5 years ago
2 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

Mostly agree HP, however:

"The will is there – we’ve got thousands of residents keen to see improvements where they live, and the councils are up for this too".

I'm not sure I believe this, it's a nice box people will tick but they don't live this mantra. There's ridiculous statistics about journeys being less than 3 miles and you only have to try and get near a school to see the laziness. Many see others as the problem, or it's safer if they use the car not realising they are part of the problem...

There have been many polls showing that most people do want better facilities for walking and cycling, and every Local Transport Plan is subject to consultation, and they demonstrate the same support.

Avatar
Simon E replied to alansmurphy | 5 years ago
2 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

Mostly agree HP, however:

 

"The will is there – we’ve got thousands of residents keen to see improvements where they live, and the councils are up for this too".

It appears from CB's tweets that there is a growing (genuine and sometimes surprising) levels of engagement and widespread desire for change. I don't think he would make it up. It's important that it is not seen as being dictated from the mayor's office. Getting positive comments from thousands of residents is surely not difficult in a place the size of Manchester and who wouldn't want to see "improvements" in their neighbourhood?

In the course of persuading more people to come on board - or even show any interest - it is vital to suggest that many are already "on side". People are more likely to be favouraby disposed to the proposed changes if they think lots of other people are too.

alansmurphy wrote:

Many see others as the problem, or it's safer if they use the car not realising they are part of the problem...

Sadly true but how else do we make this happen?

Avatar
John Smith replied to alansmurphy | 5 years ago
2 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

Mostly agree HP, however:

 

"The will is there – we’ve got thousands of residents keen to see improvements where they live, and the councils are up for this too".

 

I'm not sure I believe this, it's a nice box people will tick but they don't live this mantra. There's ridiculous statistics about journeys being less than 3 miles and you only have to try and get near a school to see the laziness. Many see others as the problem, or it's safer if they use the car not realising they are part of the problem...

 

I can’t blame them. Yes, their car may be part of the issue, but unless you can magically make a whole load of people change over night your not going to find that these people start cycling or sending their children to school by bike. Until it feels safe they won’t do it, and I totally understand that. At the moment it’s a chicken and egg problem, unless you change the way it is thought about. That’s why good, usable cycling infrastructure is needed, not just:

bits of paint that are not wide enough and squeeze cyclists in to the side of the road

cycle lane “quiet ways” down side streets that don’t go anywhere anyone wants to go, or take twice the distance of using the main roads

shared space with pedestrians that means dodging children and dogs at slow speed or being shouted at for not using it and cycling in the road.

 

We need proper infrastructure and mass education for all, both on rights of cyclists and how to drive around vulnerable road users and how to cycle safely and confidently.

 

We also need to stop treating cyclists as the bottom of the heap:

Shared use space, cyclists are reminded to slow down and give space, and pedestrians have priority.

Tow paths & bridle paths cyclists currently have to give way to everyone, and pedestrians and horses have priority.

Yet no one is reminding road users to do the same for cyclists on the road, and nothing is done to enforce cycle lanes.

 

Until we have roads people feel safe cycling on you can’t blame people for staying in their car, even if they would like to cycle.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
9 likes

Look, let's just vote Boardman for Emperor and have done with it. With his common sense and evidence backed approach, he'll make every part of government far more efficient and useful.

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