Welcome to a special edition of our live blog with Laura Laker and Simon MacMichael bringing you the latest from this evening’s Active Travel Hustings, hosted by Brompton Bicycle at their factory in Greenford, West London. Brompton are streaming the event live, with the debate due to begin at 6.30pm.
Watch the livestream here.
With just nine days to go until the General Election, Brompton Bicycle’s factory in Greenford, West London will this evening host an Active Travel Hustings which will see representatives of the four main parties in England quizzed on their policies on cycling and walking.
Chaired by BBC journalist Rachel Schofield – who, like her husband, Jeremy Vine is a keen cyclist – the debate will start at 6.30pm and will be live streamed. We’ll post a link to the feed once we have it.
Speaking on behalf of their parties will be:
Chris Heaton-Harris, Minister for Cycling and Walking, Conservatives
Caroline Pidgeon AM, Deputy Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, Liberal Democrats
Caroline Russell AM, National Spokesperson for Transport, Green Party
A senior representative of the Labour Party, tbc
(nb Active travel in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland lies within the remit of the devolved administrations there)
Among the audience will be people from the country’s cycling and walking sectors, senior figures from local government and members of the transport, cycling and environmental press.
We’ll be updating this blog ahead of the hustings and once it is underway.
If you need to get up to speed with what the parties have pledged for active travel ahead of polling day, Laura’s piece for the Guardian’s Bike Blog at the weekend is the perfect place to start.
“Brompton’s Active Travel Hustings will ensure that the General Election campaign includes a debate about increasing funding levels for walking and cycling across the country and we will be expecting all participants to set out future investment plans and targets.
“Participants will also be expected to discuss their parties’ wider proposals for how to get more people to lead more active, healthier lifestyles.”
Brompton timeline on the way in, including an early rejection letter from Raleigh, dismissing the idea as 'It'll never work" pic.twitter.com/nG86kyM21w
— road.cc (@roadcc) December 3, 2019
Seeking re-election for Brentford & Isleworth, she has been co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group since 2015.
Bikeability for all, safe routes to schools, ebike subsidies, all in there. Walking and cycling should be the natural choice, she says.
— road.cc (@roadcc) December 3, 2019
The conservatives pledge £350m over 5 years, or £70m a year, on cycling. It’s the lowest pledge of the major parties in this election but says “we are all committed to doing a lot more” https://t.co/Zn5dk1dTBS
— road.cc (@roadcc) December 3, 2019
Pledges immediate action on air pollution, with cycling at the centre of their transport policy
— road.cc (@roadcc) December 3, 2019
No surprises there, we knew what was coming from the manifestoes and specific position statements on active travel.
Now we move onto the main items on the menu as they are quizzed on how they will deliver their pledges … and unsurprisingly, the first thing the Chair wants to know is how they plan to pay for it.
Click through to her tweet to see what people are concerned about
I’m on the tweets for @roadcc tonight live from the active travel hustings at the Brompton factory. What question(s) would you like me to ask?
— Laura Laker (@laura_laker) December 3, 2019
Dave Moore
Politicians have a habit of promising big and delivering half baked. How can we be sure that all these promises are not just fudge?
It’s a good question; funding promises are always made at election time, but delivery doesn’t always follow.
Derek Young
To improve road safety will any of the parties promise to increase the penalties for dangerous & inconsiderate driving? It must be more common for driving licences to be revoked.
As many road.cc readers will know, we are still waiting for the result of the long-running review of sentencing in cases where the victim is a vulnerable road user; begun under David Cameron, two Prime Ministers later you could be forgiven for thinking it has been quietly shelved.
The Brompton Fold
New towns are a major issue in my area – the plans are approved without any consideration for cycling and there are no local facilities.
Laura covered this one for us recently – when funding for a safe cycling path alongside the B4044 near Oxford was dropped from a bit for funding for new homes and upgrades to the A40 because it was feared it might jeopardise the bid.
Labour: Ruth Cadbury says it will use £4.7 billion from Vehicle Excise Duty over five years to help find its ambitious plans.
Conservatives: Chris Heaton-Harris admits spending has dropped from £7 per person per head to £1, though he says that he hopes for a higher spend.
The Lib Dems, meanwhile, are banking on a ‘Remain Bonus’ while the Greens say they will rely on borrowing.
road.cc comment
The two parties that will win the most seats at the next election are poles apart on their proposed spending.
Whether Labour can afford £50 per head annually is open to question – but the £1 that the Conservatives are pledging is an absolute shocker, and a lot less than what Boris Johnson was spending as Mayor of London.
Andrew Gilligan, who was recruited by the former mayor to push through his cycling programme in London and is now his active travel advisor at Number Ten, is seen as someone who can “bash heads together” to get projects delivered – but on that budget, it’s difficult to see how anything can be done.
As an aside, being a cycling minister in a Conservative government seems to be a pretty thankless task … the last few holders of the post are cyclists, and seem to understand the issues – but it seems clear it is not a priority for the party.
Labour and the Green Party come out best on these.
For the latter, Russell cites an aim of 50 per cent of trips to be done by bike or on foot – something she says her party’s Green Deal will facilitate.
Cadbury, meanwhile, highlights that by ending austerity, Labour would generate a knock-on effect of bringing about a revolutionary change in local and short trips; if the Dutch could do it in the 1970s, she says, we can now.
Pidgeon, for the Lib Dems underlines the so-called Remain Bonus again and the benefits that would bring about for active travel as well as for investment in public transport and tackling air pollution.
And Heaton-Harris, for the Conservatives, highlights Bikeability as a solution for encouraging more school-run trips by bicycle, and e-bikes as a solution for more active travel outside London.
Not much, really; it’s a good thing that we have a debate on active travel during an election campaign, but none of the parties’ representatives moved on from what we already knew.
If you’ve been reading this, then clearly you care about what the various parties are pledging for cycling and walking.
But clearly, in what is widely seen as the most important general election in the UK since World War II, it’s likely that there are bigger issues that may influence which way you vote – Brexit, the NHS and tackling violent crime foremost among them. There may also be specific issues local to you that sway your vote.
The one thing we can predict with any certainty about next week’s poll – with all due respect to the Liberal Democrat and Green parties – is that it will be the Conservative and Labour parties that win most seats.
One or other may win a majority, but there is also a very strong likelihood of a hung parliament, resulting in a coalition government being formed; and whilst they weren’t involved in tonight’s debate (as mentioned below, Westminster funding for active travel only applies to England), the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the parties in Northern Ireland will have a say in the way that is formed.
There is clearly a huge gulf in ambition and political will between Labour and the Conservatives when it comes to funding active travel. The Green Party are of course onside, and the Lib Dems too are supportive – but will either have the clout as part of a coalition to push their agendas on the issue?
We may have more clarity a week on Friday; but if the last three and a half years of UK politics have taught us one thing, it’s that it’s wise not to hold your breath …
Laura’s final tweet from tonight’s event; It’s goodnight from her, and goodnight from him … sorry, me.
That's it, folks. It's all done, bar the mingling. Thanks for your unit, hopefully that's food for thought. From the Brompton factory to you – goodnight pic.twitter.com/gSwSyKKnen
— road.cc (@roadcc) December 3, 2019
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I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
6 thoughts on “General Election Active Travel Hustings – politicians from the four main political parties explain their plans for cycling… but will they get your vote”
I did try to watch the Active
I did try to watch the Active Travel debate, but the synchronisation failure after the first few minutes made it impossible, but I did listen. Mostly predictable, with all of them promising a bright future for cycling, except for the tory, who kept saying things like “where possible” which as we all know, means virtually nowhere. He also thought that £70m was going to transform cycling.
By far the best offer was from labour, with the greens a close second.
Thanks Brompton for making this possible.
burtthebike wrote:
The Tories unique selling point – “we don’t even pretend to care.”
Going to point out that to
Going to point out that to turn a 40 mile stretch of the M4 into a “smart” motorway, which at it’s most basic form means turning the hard shoulder into a extra live lane (OK, adding a fey lay bys and gantrys, though they do have to replace a fair few bridges) is costing £800 Million, which is more than £10 per person in the UK. For 40 miles of an extra motorway lane.
And the tories are spending £1.18 per person per year on active travel.
Which is not just cycling, and some local authorities seem to be able spend on space for motor vehicle traffic and car parks.
[quote=ktache]
Going to point out that to turn a 40 mile stretch of the M4 into a “smart” motorway, which at it’s most basic form means turning the hard shoulder into a extra live lane (OK, adding a fey lay bys and gantrys, though they do have to replace a fair few bridges) is costing £800 Million, which is more than £10 per person in the UK. For 40 miles of an extra motorway lane.
— ktacheOne more lane should fix it….
I tuned in at the very point
I tuned in at the very point that the Tory confirmed the pitifully low spending figure per head. I tuned back out immediately. With the Tories on course for a win, I heard everything I needed to hear.
This burger chain gets it
This burger chain gets it