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MCC News, Issue 5, December 1997
MCC Message to Government: Get On With It!
MCC has issued a robust six page response
(click here for full text) to the government’s recent consultation exercise Developing an Integrated Transport Policy – An Invitation to Contribute, which contained next to nothing on cycling, despite the following statement made in July this year by Transport Minister Dr Gavin Strang:"Many of our towns and cities are creaking at the seams, and something must be done… we want to develop a proper integrated transport policy for the UK… this government is committed to reducing dependence on the car and to promoting a wider choice of alternatives such as walking, cycling and public transport"
From the unambiguous tone of this statement – and the title alone of the consultation document – we might assume that transport policy is likely to go the clean, green and healthy way forward. But don’t hold your breath, there were a number of serious shortcomings in the Invitation to Contribute document…
Cycling
and walking are not even recognised as transport modes. There are surprisingly
few specific measures in the document to promote these greenest modes as alternatives
to short car journeys, despite the government’s expressed support for the
National Cycling Strategy and its target to double the numbers of cycle
journeys by 2002. 72% of all journeys are less than 5 miles, half are less
than two miles – many of these journeys could be easily walked or biked.
There
is nothing on road traffic reduction principles. Cutting traffic levels
should be a central plank of any administration serious about reducing the
impact of transport on the environment and public health.
The
ongoing subsidy to motorists is not addressed. It is time government endorsed
the "polluter pays" principle. Government annually collects £16 billion in
fuel duty and road fund licence fees; meanwhile the full costs of motoring
to society, including deaths and injuries, pollution, global warming congestion,
noise etc, are (conservatively) calculated at £50 billion (1993 prices). The
obscenity of tax breaks on company cars, fuel and parking must be ended now.
The Railway Development Society has justified petrol at £15 per gallon
– people would soon think twice before jumping in the car to collect the newspaper
from the corner shop!
Government’s Great Opportunity
The time for Great Debates, Consultation Documents, Green Papers and Invitations to Contribute is over. Government knows full well what has to be done, and the environment must be prioritised – we have a responsibility to hand over a planet in good working order to our descendants. Economic growth cannot go on being the ultimate objective of human activity; we cannot go on growing forever. Do we have to wait until global warming ensures half the planet is drowned, while the other half is gently frazzled via the ozone hole, before we come to understand and act on these simple and undisputed home truths?
The bullets must be bitten, however unpalatable they may appear. This government must not have its views clouded by thoughts of its next election campaign and "losing the motorists’ vote" – next spring’s White Paper must give us a transport policy looking forward at least the next fifty years, not just the next five. The process must begin now, not just because there is no time to lose, but because this is a government at the start of its mandate, with a huge majority. It has the undisputed and unbridled powers to do the right thing. Furthermore, an early start, years before the next election, will give the policies time to begin working, and people a chance to adapt and see the improvements and benefits to them, before they are called on to vote again in a general election.
This government has the chance to immeasurably improve the living conditions of millions. It must stop concerning itself with the vested interests of a Roads Lobby which is literally gasping its last breath. That monster needs to put out of its misery; it is an obscene anachronism and has driven transport policy in this country for far too long. The new Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions must rise above all this, phoenix-like from the ashes of the dead roads programme, to justify its title, looking after both the needs of transport and the environment. Environment must come first – we live in it. It is time for Government to get on with it!
Biking Entrepreneur Sought for Wimbledon Cycle Station
Merton Cycling Campaign (MCC) is on the look out for an entrepreneurial type to come and set up Britain’s first attended cycle parking facility at a railway station. Much of the groundwork for the
Wimbledon Cycle Station project has been covered, and the enterprise would benefit from:
support
from the local MP.
support
and good chance of initial funding from Merton Council.
support
and assistance from the station manager.
and of
course the strongest support and encouragement from the MCC.
MCC first formulated plans in 1995, and the scheme was a runner-up for DoT Cycle Challenge funding. Ideally, the operator would provide free attended cycle parking, attracting huge usage, and would make ends meet by offering additional services such as cycle hire and servicing. Rent levels would be based on ability to pay – perhaps a percentage of turnover.
For further information, please contact MCC co-ordinator Richard Evans
Cycle Routes in Merton – Are There Any?
A flippant question perhaps, certain to get up the noses of one or two local traffic engineers who are, they tell us, busy installing Merton’s bit of the London Cycle Network to the best of their abilities and within the limits of meagre funding levels provided by central government. Under such constraints, progress remains grindingly slow, but look out for new developments this financial year (i.e. before April) as follows:
Three
new Toucan crossings (shared use pedestrian and cyclist – "two-can" – clever
stuff!). One of the crossings is on the Wandle Trail leisure route which is
now fully cyclable and a recommended traffic-free day out, especially good
for those with young children. The other two will be at Colliers Wood High
Street and St. Helier Avenue, with new routes to match.
In Raynes
Park, Copse Hill is to be traffic calmed with chicanes and pinch-points to
slow the traffic, and useful cycle bypasses – providing the Merton contribution
to the LCN Chessington to Putney route.
Significantly
increased levels of cycle parking around the borough. Tell us where you would
like to see more stands.
Spotted on Recent Web-Surfing Expedition
From:
as@boris.umds.ac.ukSubject: Pollution in cars and bikes.
Cyclists who stay close to the kerb avoid the worst of the pollution because they are not in the "pollution tunnel"
[according to recent research by the
Environmental Transport Association – Ed.]Lesser of two evils?? Stay by the kerb and get punctures, knocked off at left turns and breathe, or ride in the middle, stay safe(ish) and fill yer lungs with smog. Nah; weave around from side to side. Best of both worlds. Keith