Get Britain Cycling inquiry resumes today with focus on the local picture

After a break last week, the fifth and penultimate session of the Get Britain Cycling Parliamentary Inquiry will take place at the House of Commons today. The session will address the local perspective of cycling, and follows news today that the Bicycle Association will be helping fund the final report, due in April.

Today’s session, which runs from 9am to 11.30am, will hear evidence from five panels of witnesses. As in the previous four sessions, proceedings can be followed through a live blog on the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG) website, and you can also follow tomorrow’s proceedings on a live audio feed here.

Among specific issues that will be addressed are how cycling can be encouraged at local level, and what is being done regarding cycling in London, where yesterday a motion to amend Mayor Boris Johnson’s budget to make an additional £41 million available failed due to Conservative Assembly Members voting against it.

Among those who will give evidence tomorrow are:

• Anna Soubry MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health
• Caroline Pidgeon AM, from the London Assembly Transport Committee
• Transport for London
• Local Government Association
• Cyclenation
• Cambridge Cycling Campaign
• Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC)
• Transport for Greater Manchester
• London Cycling Campaign
• Borough Cycle Officers Group
• Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)
• Devon County Council
• Leicester City Council

Just one more session remains after tomorrow, focusing on the role of the government within the cycling debate. It will be held on Monday 4 March, and among those giving evidence will be transport ministers Norman Baker and Stephen Hammond.

When the inquiry was announced last year, it was revealed that News International, owner of The Times newspaper which in February 2012 launched its Cities Fit For Cycling campaign, was donating £10,000 towards the inquiry’s report, which is to be written by transport academic Professor Phil Goodwin.

According to a report on BikeBiz today, News International’s money will be used to pay for transcripts of the inquiry’s sessions and the writing of the report, while cash from the Bicycle Association will go towards the design and printing of the report.