'Get Britain Cycling', the report by the All Party Parliamentary Inquiry into cycling has been published today. I attended one of the inquiry sessions at Westminster earlier this year, where I was able to listen to expert witnesses give evidence on cycling, so it's exciting to see what came of it.
The report emphasises the need for urgent action to help get Britain cycling and highlights the range of ways in which cycling can play a significant role in addressing problems that need to be tackled. These include sedentary lifestyles and obesity, air pollution from cars and our increasingly congested towns and cities.
The major conclusion is that there are "massive and unnecessary" barriers which prevent people from taking to their bicycles. The report insists that we need a bold vision from government to get Britain cycling, which, like many things, really rests on top down support. It also talks about the need for a "fundamental cultural shift" in how Britons think about travel.
The report calls for a target of increasing cycle journeys from the current less than 2 per cent of journeys to 10 per cent by 2025 and 25 per cent by 2050. It suggests that to do this we will need a national cycling champion and a national action plan. Key elements the report identifies that will be needed include:
- Better, more consistent and more coherent funding
- Incorporating the needs of cyclists at every stage of road design
- Safe speed limits (20mph in all residential streets)
- Training and education (for children and adults)
- Political leadership
The issue of funding is clearly key, and the impact of long term lack of investment in cycling shouldn't be underestimated. Outside London, less than £2 a head is spent on cycling in England - compare that with the £24 a head spent in Holland and you can see why the Dutch are leaps and bounds ahead of us in terms of having a national cycling culture.
I haven't yet read the full report, but the headlines from the summary and recommendations seem to me to hit the nail on the head. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, I've been examining the issue of cycling in recent months. From the perspective of the Social Brain Centre, the need to get people cycling can be seen as a behaviour change challenge, and I've been working on ways which small steps can be taken to contribute to what the report has called a fundamental cultural shift.
There is a need to normalise cycling, as well as the very urgent need to invest in better infrastructure to make it safer and more appealing. Part of the process of normalising cycling is to better understand the barriers to and facilitators of cycling, and it is this side of things that we're intending to focus on in the action research currently under development.
Watch this space for more on that as it develops. In the mean time, the report is going to be presented to the government, and a coalition of charities and cycling organisations, led by the Times, have set up an e-petition calling on the government to implement the recommendations. If you agree that it's time to get Britain cycling, do your bit and sign the petition now!
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