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Gilligan 'leaked' shortlist for London cycling commissioner incorrect say City Hall

Former cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, Tweets 'leaked' list gives qualified welcome to supposed candidates to replace him...

Andrew Gilligan, London’s former Cycling Commissioner, has this afternoon tweeted what he says is the shortlist of the people still in the frame to replace him in the role – but Mayor of London’s Sadiq Khan’s office has told road.cc that the list of names he mentioned is incorrect.

The post has been vacant since Khan replaced Boris Johnson as Mayor in May. Gilligan has repeatedly urged the new mayor, who earlier this week announced plans to spend £17 per person a year over the next five years on cycling in the capital, to appoint a successor.

Career journalist Gilligan, a specialist in London politics, was appointed the city’s first Cycling Commissioner in early 2014 and helped Johnson steer through plans for infrastructure including the city’s first cycle superhighways that were separated from motor traffic.

In his tweet this afternoon, he put forward five names for the position, but City Hall has told road.cc that while an announcement is due shortly, his list is incorrect. It could be the case, of course, that one or more of the people Gilligan mentioned will be on the shortlist, so here they are.

Clyde Loakes – A councillor at the London Borough of Waltham Forest, Loakes led the £30 million Mini Holland scheme and for his efforts was recognised as Cycling Champion of the Year at 2015’s inaugural Cycle Planning Awards.

Phil Jones – Camden’s cabinet member for transport, Jones has overseen schemes such as Royal College Street and the Torrington Place and Tavistock Place cycle lanes, where consultation has just closed on making them permanent.

Feryal Demirci – Cabinet member for neighbourhoods in Hackney, the London borough with the highest levels of cycling, Demirci’s brief includes transport and cycling.

Peter Murray – An architect and chairman of New London Architecture, Murray’s vision for the capital’s future includes prioritising cycling as a way of getting around.

Ann Kenrick – Former chair of the London Cycling Campaign and still a trustee, Kenrick has more than five decades’ experience of cycling, is a veteran campaigner, and has written a book encouraging schools and parents to let children cycle.

In October, Val Shawcross -  London’s Deputy Mayor for Transport, told road.cc that there had been huge interest in the role, including from national names.

On Twitter this afternoon, Gilligan said: “Some really great names on shortlist for walking/cycling commissioner job. First real sign of concrete commitment (as opposed to words).”

But he added: “Without any disrespect to Murray or Kenrick, it should be one of the councillors. They all have records of delivery, long [experience] in London govt.”

He also put two questions to the mayor. The first was: “Will Sadiq choose one of the three with actual experience of delivering schemes, building coalitions, facing down opponents?”

The second question he asked was, “When are we going to know? Weeks now since interviews.”

Tomorrow sees the publication of Transport for London’s draft business plan for the next five years which, among other things, should reveal how Khan plans to raise cycling spend to 5.5 per cent of the organisation’s budget.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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5 comments

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pamplemoose | 7 years ago
0 likes

I know one of the people on that list and they tell me it's down to themselves and one other.  So that list has at least one person on it that's correct!

Avatar
ibike | 7 years ago
2 likes

Andrew Gilligan is doing an extremely  valuable job in keeping the pressure on a decidedly insipid Sadiq Khan.

It's worth quoting his comments on the latest Mayoral announcement in full:

"A promised spend of £154m is not a “record” and is less than we spent last year.

But even this level of spending will not be achieved unless the Mayor actually starts building something. So far, most movement has been in the other direction, with shovel-ready schemes delayed or cancelled.

Today’s press release contains no commitment to actually build any segregated cycle route beyond the one scheme (the North-South extension) already announced. This includes only half a mile of segregated track. With the cancellation of the 4.5-mile segregated scheme on the Westway and A40, the net total of new segregated routes so far promised by this mayoralty is minus four miles.

The promise to consult on two cycle superhighway routes (CS4 and CS9) is welcome, though neither will reach central London and I note there is no commitment that they will be segregated. We need a promise that they will be segregated, and also that a consultation result which favours their building will not be ignored, as it was with the Westway.

City Hall will be judged, as we were, by what it does, not what it says. Seven months into the new mayoralty, it is time to stop issuing press releases and get started."

Avatar
dottigirl replied to ibike | 7 years ago
2 likes

ibike wrote:

Andrew Gilligan is doing an extremely  valuable job in keeping the pressure on a decidedly insipid Sadiq Khan.

You could see this coming even before the mayoral elections by reading what Khan said about cycling. He was never going to help the fight* where needed. Provision will sadly just stagnate.

*and it is very much a fight

Avatar
handlebarcam | 7 years ago
1 like

Surely no choice can be made until Donald Trump has made his recommendation known in a tweet at 2am: "Many people would like to see @goddersbloom as cycling commissioner. Great guy, better than @Chris_Boardman who I hear is overrrated. #MakeLondonSmoggyAgain"

Avatar
HarrogateSpa | 7 years ago
4 likes

Gilligan is still doing a valuable job, in putting pressure on the Mayor to stick to his commitments, and get on with it.

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