Leighton Buzzard residents demand Space for Cycling

Around 90 people at the Linslade Canal Festival wrote a message to Central Bedfordshire Councillors telling them that more needs to be done to help people to choose the bicycle over the car for journeys in and around the town. Young and old alike flocked to the Leighton Buzzcycles stand at the event to add their message tag to a special bicycle.

The cycle club and campaigning group have now gathered up all the messages and will be delivering them to local councillors in the near future along with a clear message: if you want to reduce traffic congestion, help people stay active and healthy, bring more trade into the town and meet carbon reduction targets, then spend more money on encouraging more people to cycle.

Many people are still concerned about cycling on our busy roads with their fast traffic, parents are still too nervous to let their children cycle to school, and too many shopping areas, places of work and homes do not have adequate and secure cycle storage.

Peter Bate, Leighton Buzzcycles Chair

Leighton Buzzcycles chair, Peter Bate said: “A few years ago, when we had Cycling Town funding from central government, money was spent to put in some initial, much needed, cycling infrastructure. But the job is not yet finished. Many people are still concerned about cycling on our busy roads with their fast traffic, parents are still too nervous to let their children cycle to school, and too many shopping areas, places of work and homes do not have adequate and secure cycle storage."

He continued, "People do want to cycle – the number of those cycling to the railway station in recent years has increased dramatically – but not enough is being done to provide safe and direct cycle paths and other infrastructure to meet this demand. We need to build on the success of the Cycling Town project, not sit back on our laurels and say we’ve done all we can.”

The Buzzcycles’ campaign is part of a larger, national campaign called ‘Space for Cycling’, being run by Cycling UK and Cyclenation, through which people are encouraged to write to their local councillors challenging them to support better provision for cycling.

You can find out more about Leighton Buzzcycles and follow Buzzcycles on Facebook.