Thank you for giving me five minutes to speak on this item for cyclists in Merton.

What you are about to discuss here is not just Merton business. Oh no! This stuff has worldwide repercussions, make no mistake!

It is appropriate that we are discussing this business in the week of Earth Summit 2. Clearly this committee has to act to save the planet!

Earth Summit 2 is focusing on climate change and global warming. Rightly so - it is the biggest environmental threat we have ever faced, and it is manmade. So too are the solutions.

The chief global warming gas is carbon dioxide. And the fastest growing source of that carbon dioxide? Yes, you guessed it - the motor car. The inexorable rise of the motor car. Traffic levels are increasing on Britain's roads at 2% per year. That means they will double over the next 25 years - can you imagine that? The pollution, the congestion, the danger, the noise...

There is a solution. I saw it on the telly last week - Tony Blair was riding one at Amsterdam. I rode one here tonight. Yes, the bike!

When there is talk of how to cut down on overuse of the car, we do not hear much mention of bikes. There is talk of buses and trains, and trams here in Wimbledon. And of course it is very true that the public transport modes have a role to play. But let us not forget that most efficient person mover on earth - the bicycle. With an energy efficiency equivalent to 1,600 miles to the gallon, the bike can and should play an enormous role in the solution to the transport problems we face.

Tony Blair was given a bike in Amsterdam because it is a normal way of getting about over there - up to 50% of journeys in many Dutch towns and cities are made by bike. Planning for bikes can work in Britain too - in York, where planners prioritise walking and cycling, 20% of journeys in the city centre are made by bike.

Planning for cycling will work in Merton too - people want to cycle in Merton, as you will all know from having read the results of our survey conducted on Local Transport Day in March. 168 people responded to our survey, and the results make it abundantly clear that many of them would use their bikes more frequently if there were more and better routes, and they perceived cycling to be safer. We also need better cycle parking: 92% of respondents in our survey considered that cycle parking facilities at Wimbledon Station were inadequate. Our campaign has drawn up plans and is working with both Merton Council and South West Trains towards the provision of attended cycle parking provision at this, the borough's premier railway station. This would be a first for Britain! It will need funding, and there is a chance that this could come from TPP funding. I would urge this committee to ensure that this year's TPP bid includes an element for the funding of our joint Wimbledon Cycle Station project.

I would like you to give thought to a statistic taken from the latest issue of the National Travel Survey: in Britain today, 72% of all journeys are under five miles. A distance easily covered by bike, often more quickly, as demonstrated by our Commuter Challenge event last week which was National Bike Week. This event, supported by your new leader Michael Brunt and our new MP Roger Casale, pitched cyclists against car drivers and public transport users on three different routes across Merton. We were able to prove beyond any doubt that it is much faster to get around Merton by bike. Just think: if we could get people out of their cars for these short trips, we would not have a problem to discuss here tonight, and we could all pack up and go home early!

This committee is just about to submit a funding bid to the Department of Transport for additional cycle routes for Merton. I am here to urge you to ensure that Merton prepares the very best quality bid possible, referring to all the latest government guidance on offer. That means prioritising the next phase of the network - our campaign will continue to work with officers and members to help in the selection of cycle routes to be prioritised.

A high quality bid also means bidding for a realistic sum, and planning for how to spend it so that there is no underspend at the end of the financial year. It is a constant source of amazement to the Merton Cycling Campaign that, despite the relatively low levels of cycle funding that the Westminster government has granted to Merton (and many other boroughs), when the money does arrive in council coffers much of it remains unspent - we are usually told that this is due to shortage of officer time. Targets are not met, and the whole programme is set back.

There is no mention in the papers I received prior to this meeting of the actual amount of money that the council is going to bid for. I would like to be sure that this figure will be maximised. The new Labour government has said it wants to get the key stretches of the London Cycle Network in place by 2000, but it can only allocate the funding for this if the boroughs actually bid for them. It has appeared to us that, since the package approach to funding was introduced a few years ago, there has been systematic underbidding from many boroughs. The new LCN project manager John Lee (based in Kingston) has said that at the present rate of funding we are going to be struggling to complete the network by 2005.

We need the cycle network completed as soon as possible - a real alternative to the car in Merton. Those dotted lines on our lovely new cycle route map representing planned routes must be filled in ASAP to become solid lines representing implemented routes. And that is just a start! Once the London Cycle Network is in place, we will be campaigning to fill in the gaps - safe routes to all schools, workplaces, shopping centres, etc. Ultimately every road should be a safe cycle route. Then we'll be happy! Our campaign does certainly not condone cycling on pavements, but until the roads are safe for cycling it is easy to see why some cyclists do opt for the safer pavement option from time to time. Pedestrians and cyclists should not be in conflict on these matters, we should be working together to combat car culture and all its excesses - after all, it is the car, both parked and in use, which is using up all the road space.

After all I have said here this evening, I would not like to leave you the impression that I am anti-car... Not at all, simply anti-excessive use of the car. Cars can be jolly useful things, and whenever I want to use one I do not hesitate. But for decades they have been cosseted and pampered with new roads and motorways at the expense of just about every other form of transport. Now the climate is changing - both the political climate as well as global climate patterns. Our new government is encouraging us all to use the car a little bit less - transport ministers have this very month given strong support to initiatives like National Bike Week and National Car-Free Day. I urge councillors on this committee to take their cue here in Merton, and submit the TPP bid that our children deserve.