“It’s important to welcome agreement across party lines”: Labour MP welcomes Reform councillor’s support for £22 million cycle lane + more on the live blog

Local politics is funny. Funny peculiar, not necessarily funny haha. Without ideological constraints or a hunger for high power, the politicians can be less predictable and more open-minded to doing things you couldn’t imagine the party higher-ups signing off.

Here are some highlights from the last year alone:

> Tory MP blasts Labour council’s active travel proposal… for not being ambitious enough

> Green Party councillors in Bath oppose lit, protected bike lane proposal through park

> Reform UK-led council champions multi-million pound cycling schemes in split from national party policy

Today’s bit of eyebrow-raising news comes from the latter category of the three, where we have a Reform councillor lending his support to one of the biggest single pieces of urban cycling infrastructure we can think of.

The A38 Bristol Road cycle scheme in Birmingham would see 3.7 miles of cycle lane created either on the central reservation or on the west side of the road. New junction layouts and signalling would also be installed, with it coming to a cost of £22.5 million. And George Hall, newly elected Reform UK councillor for Northfield, backs it.

Writing on Facebook, Hall said, “I personally support this scheme. I believe it represents the right direction of travel towards creating modern, people centered cities, giving residents more options to travel safely and conveniently as you expect from the second city of the UK.

“Providing safe, accessible cycling infrastructure between South Birmingham and the city centre is something I believe will benefit our communities in the long term.”

Hall went on to make clear to his constituents that the £22.5 million comes from various surplus revenues and central government funds and would not make direct use of the council’s own funds. He also, perhaps bracing for criticism, included details of a local consultation indicating residents supported the infrastructure.

Thankfully, criticism was hard to find in the comments:

“Hi George, thanks for posting this its good to see a Reform Clr not jumping on the culture war bandwagon. Too often cycling is seen as a dividing line politically, and it’s often treated as a left-wing thing. That shouldn’t be the case.

“I think this A38 route is very much needed. It makes even more sense now that Lime bikes are being used so much around the city. It’s in a really good location, and running it along the central reservation means it doesn’t take anything away from the main road either. If I’m honest, I’m quite surprised more people don’t support it.”

“Get it built. I long for the day our cities are more like the Netherlands where cycling is actively promoted as the best way of getting around.”

“Refreshing to see a Reform councillor support this. I feared it would be branded as woke and anti motorist. It’s a great bit of investment that generations can use for years to come and will hopefully help people be more active and less reliant on cars.”

“It looks great in Selly Oak on the central reservation and it’ll look great here too. Hopefully it’ll make the main road safer for cyclists and traffic. That’s got to be top priority.”

And there’s a little bit of political support from local Labour MP Laurence Turner.

“There’s so much disagreement in politics that it’s important to welcome agreement across party lines. I’m glad that there is local Reform backing for the A38 cycleway extension.

“It makes no sense to leave the cycling infrastructure unfinished at Selly Oak. There’s no single best way to get around – people should have access to a range of practical and pleasant options, including driving, efficient buses and trains, and walking and cycling.

“There’s a claim that goes around. You might have seen it: that the money could have been spent on other transport priorities, such as road repairs. But that isn’t the case. It is ringfenced, national grant funding, which can only be spent on walking and cycling.
And again, credit where it is due – the [previous Conservative] Mayoralty under Andy Street played a role in applying for that funding, even if the local Conservatives later opposed it.”

Well there we are, some thought-provoking good news for all involved. My main takeaway is that the Department for Transport and Active Travel England have played a blinder in allocating money conditionally to councils, meaning that the infrastructure gains local champions across the country who can hail the benefits of the investment.

Compare that to the feeling it’s being ‘imposed’ from high above by politicians seen as too powerful and out of touch. It also depoliticises the good cause of cycling, which is surely something to celebrate, lest we get involved in dreaded culture wars…

The online discourse of traders unwilling to accept the utilitarian functionality of cargo bikes continues!

> “A lot of businesses would be surprised by just how much modern electric cargo bikes can carry”: London Assembly member responds to mockery over comments suggesting tradespeople switch to cargo bikes

Long-term readers of this page will be aware of our semi-regular dive onto Reddit for examples of people using cargo bikes to carry all sorts. In fact, to prove a point, here’s the first thing that came up when I did a trawl on the subject…

Working construction
by
u/Sparkieger in
carryshitolympics

Dangerous intersection
by
u/dangling_pointer0x00 in
londoncycling

“I have multiple near misses in this intersection due to some drivers not recognizing that the very left traffic light is for bicycle and run red occasionally, last week nearly got smashed by a scaffolding lorry and van behind it, they even have the audacity to mock me from inside when I shout to them.

“Now instead of hitting the button for cyclist I’m using the one for pedestrians as it creates windows where all of the lights are red and I can cross relatively safely, I always try to respect the red lights but this is one of the examples where actually waiting for green light can be extremely dangerous!”

> Bike helmet saved Dylan van Baarle’s life says Pauline Ferrand-Prévot after Dutchman’s collision with car driver weeks before their wedding