“In many historic English market towns the most prosperous streets with the fewest, if any, empty shops are the ones with the most street trees and with the tightest, most speed-constraining, carriageway. Cars can be present but they are guests. Humans are the dominant species, not cars.” [Nicholas Boys-Smith, head of the government’s Office for Place]
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It seems that cycling is always in the news.
Whether it’s the Express giving the latest on a celebrity and having a dig at the cyclist and the BBC – although its messaging is a bit confused, as “Jeremy Vine’s cycling clip sparks fury as BBC star hits out at ‘harmful’ message“.
Or whether it’s the Guardian at the other end of the spectrum quoting the head of the government’s Office for Place that we should “boost walking and cycling in towns and cities“:
In a report that takes a notably different stance to Rishi Sunak’s recent “plan for drivers”, which seeks to prioritise car use at the expense of active travel and bus use, Nicholas Boys Smith, who chairs the government’s Office for Place, said cars “diminish liberty as well as enhancing it”. “Don’t hate cars. Don’t wage a war against motorists. But don’t wage a war for them either,” Boys wrote in the report by Create Streets, the urban design organisation he founded. “Instead fight the battle for place and for happy and healthy, prosperous and productive neighbourhoods. All the evidence suggests that voters will thank you.”
The new study, titled Move Free, comes after a series of moves by Sunak and his ministers to curb councils’ ability to boost walking and cycling through initiatives such as low-traffic neighbourhoods, 20mph speed limits and bus lanes.
While arguing that it was vital for politicians to seek public consent before proceeding with moves to shift urban travel away from cars, the report notes that evidence from around the world showed the enormous benefits this would bring. “Look at the facts and the data already in your local town,” it said. “In many historic English market towns the most prosperous streets with the fewest, if any, empty shops are the ones with the most street trees and with the tightest, most speed-constraining, carriageway. Cars can be present but they are guests. Humans are the dominant species, not cars.”
Meanwhile, as reported this week, there are new cycle paths being opened and announced all the time, from Suffolk’s new medieval cycle trail to a new Somerset cycle route – although there is always going to be reaction to the ‘cost’, with views of the latest plans for an Exeter cycle path getting predictably political.
Finally, also very much in the news, on the electric bicycle front, it’s just been announced that E-bikes overtake regular bikes in sales in Germany and a bicycle company introduces the world’s first e-bike for kids.
So, on your bikes!
Or: onto the Sidmouth Cycling Campaign social media pages for the latest news on cycling!