Cheshire East Council officially backs Space for Cycling

By Tom Guha
Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Cheshire East council passes a motion to support Space for Cycling
Cheshire East Council has become the first local authority to formally pass a motion supporting our Space for Cycling campaign.

Yesterday (14 March 2017) East Cheshire Council took the positive and ambitious step to formally back our Space for Cycling campaign, through a motion at its full Cabinet meeting.

The motion passed by the council read:

“This Council supports the Space for Cycling process promoted by Cycling UK and commits to providing the funding to implement its cycling policy effectively.”

The motion was proposed by Labour Councillor, Sam Corcoran, and seconded by Conservative Councillor, Howard Murray, at a Council meeting on 15 December 2016. This was a result of both Councillors attending a Space for Cycling workshop organised by Cycling UK in Crewe on 3 December 2016.

The motion was referred to Cabinet for consideration and passed unanimously on the afternoon of 14 March 2017.   

At the same Cabinet meeting, the council’s Cycling Strategy was adopted. The Strategy “sets out an ambitious vision for a network of high-quality strategic cycle routes which connect local communities and key growth areas, whilst also giving access to leisure opportunities and Cheshire East’s natural environment”.

The motion to support Space for Cycling outlines a set of funding commitments to implement their strategy, including allocating 8.5% of their own local transport budget to active travel for the year 2017/18. In addition, Cheshire East have secured a share of £5 million, which was allocated to Cheshire & Warrington to improve cycle routes that link key housing and employment development sites.

Commenting on the motion, Cycling UK’s Space for Cycling campaigner, Tom Guha, said:

“We are ecstatic to see Cheshire East show such bold leadership regarding cycling. To see a county council allocate 8.5% of their local transport budget to active travel is a clear mark of what can be done when the political will exists. Cheshire East have decisively thrown down the gauntlet for other local authorities to get behind Space for Cycling.

“We do though have concerns over the timescales and the resources attached to the current plan. As Cllr Corcoran raised at the meeting, Cheshire East currently has just one part-time member of staff, who has other priorities as well, working on cycling. And currently funding streams are set to run out after just one year. To truly make a success of the two motions passed yesterday, resources must be properly allocated and timescales have to be long-term”.

In a press release from the local Labour group, Cllr Sam Corcoran said:

“The vision of the strategy is good but the detail over delivery is lacking and the resources needed are not yet available. If the Conservatives are serious about improving cycling facilities then they need to provide the staff to help develop safe cycle routes.”

Adding to this, Ben Wye, Chair of local cycle campaign group Crewe ACT, said:

“The unanimous support for cycling marks a sea change in policy that acknowledges cycling, in all its forms, as key in making Cheshire East a better place to live and work. Cycling was agreed as an effective way of saving money in the long term, but we await confirmation of funding now that can make the policy a reality”. 

A webcast of the meeting is available to view online. Skip to item seven to see the motion for Space for Cycling.

Notes to editors

  1. Cycling UK, the national cycling charity, inspires and helps people to cycle and keep cycling, whatever kind of cycling they do or would like to do. Over a century’s experience tells us that cycling is more than useful transport; it makes you feel good, gives you a sense of freedom and creates a better environment for everyone. www.cyclinguk.org

  2. The Space for Cycling process calls on councils to:

    Plan –  Plan a full network of cycle-friendly routes that allow people of all ages and abilities to cycle anywhere for any purpose
    Invest – Actively seek the funding to implement the network and invest a minimum of 5-10% of the local transport budget in cycling
    Build – Build the network using the most up-to-date high quality design standards

  3. The Space for Cycling campaign is a campaign for better cycle infrastructure, so that anyone feels safe to cycle anywhere. It was created by the London Cycling Campaign in 2014 and has since been taken national by Cycling UK and Cyclenation. For more information on the history of the campaign see https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/campaigns-guide/space-for-cycling-bac…

  4. Cheshire East Cabinet voted unanimously to support the Space for Cycling campaign and to adopt the Cheshire East Cycling Strategy on Tuesday 14 March 2017.

  5. For further information on cycling and local transport policy and Cycling UK's position, please see https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/files/file_public/local-transpo…

 

Press contact information

Cycling UK Press Office
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0844-736-8453

Designed for Cycling Commitment to cycling Space for Cycling

Further reading