"very little in the way of urgency, ambition or detail inside"

A spokesman for Wandsworth Cycling Campaign has responded to the council's recent announcement regarding the borough’s new cycling strategy which is to be discussed at the Council meeting this week.

" We support the objectives and vision at the head of the document, but are disappointed by the lack of a commitment to a systematic review of conditions for cycling across the Borough - not just existing 'cycle routes'. The hugely unambitious targets and lack of delivery plan give us concerns that little will be achieved under the strategy.

For example, the strategy includes support for secure on-street cycle parking, yet the Council has been promising to pilot 'bikehangars' for over three years without any action on the ground. Meanwhile other
boroughs and the City of London are forging ahead with practical measures to enable people, whatever their age, to choose to cycle. Wandsworth's strategy includes a commitment to increased safety - yet the Council has recently voted to allow motorcyclists to use bus lanes
alongside cyclists, despite this having been shown by TfL to result in half of such motorcyclists breaking the speed limit.

The bottom line is that, judging from the strategy and from recent experience, Wandsworth Council is still failing to demonstrate meaningful leadership in enabling and developing cycling's potential for improving everyone's health and quality of life. This is underlined by the remarkably low percentage [20%] of Wandsworth councillors signing up to the London Cycling Campaign's Space4Cycling campaign. We really need Wandsworth Council to think harder about how it can raise its game in enabling local people to feel that they and members of their family can choose cycling to get around locally."

November 26, 2015