English elections 2021

On 6 May 2021, the polls opened across England for many local councils. The same day also saw elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales and, in some areas, for Metro Mayors.

In the run-up, Cycling UK campaigned vigorously to make sure candidates understood how important active travel is and why it’s a vote winner.

Local authorities

Cycling UK wrote to thousands of candidates standing in local authorities with highways responsibilities, inviting them to sign up to our manifesto for cycling.

Our Moving up the gears manifesto focused on two asks:

1. The investment needed to meet the Government’s target to double levels of cycling by 2025, making active travel a priority in all transport and neighbourhood decision making
2. The development and delivery of an active travel network of safe, accessible and direct routes, including cycling infrastructure designed to national standards in every town and city, and rural routes to link them

We recorded responses as they came in, published them online and urged our supporters to contact candidates who hadn’t pledged. In total, more than 500 candidates pledged and, of those, 130 were elected.

One of the main points we wanted to impress on politicians was the need to enable more people to enjoy cycling in rural areas, not just for leisure but also for shopping and commuting. Hence our ‘The tale of the tortoise and the hare’ video, which focused on combining cycle with bus travel, a message to apply not just in England but in Wales and Scotland too.

Metro mayors

For the metro mayoral elections, we signposted the way to local campaigning activities because they reflected the differences in the areas in question and what needed to happen there.

Police and Crime Commissioners

For the PCC elections (England and Wales), we supported a coalition led by Action Vision Zero, who produced a manifesto calling on candidates to:

• Make road danger reduction a priority
• Tackle speeding
• Be transparent and accountable
• Work with your community
• Improve the post-crash response