Member Article

Cycle safety needs to shift up a gear to encourage car culture change

A senior transport advisor to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham says alternatives to driving must be made easier and more attractive if motorists are going to ditch their cars.

Martin Key who works alongside former Olympian Chris Boardman, the mayor’s cycling and walking commissioner, called for a massive culture shift across the region. With nearly a third of all journeys of less than one kilometre still made in a car he said the aim was to get people to do things differently.

He made his comments at a sustainable transport panel discussion hosted by regional property company Bruntwood at The RHS Tatton Park Flower Show in Knutsford, Cheshire.

He was joined at the well-attended event by Jessica Bowles, Director of Strategy at Bruntwood and Nicola Kane, Head of Strategic Planning at Transport for Greater Manchester as they discussed ways of getting more people out of their cars and either using public transport, walking or cycling.

Mr Key said with the school holidays about to start people notice an immediate reduction in congestion as due to just 8% less journeys being made and he added the challenge was to make this a permanent decrease.

He said that the biggest problems reported is that people don’t feel safe when walking or cycling but people would like to do more. A major way of making it more attractive is to address the safety issue. He urged police in Greater Manchester to follow the example of their colleagues in the West Midlands and crackdown on dangerous drivers who threaten the safety of people walking or cycling.

Mr Key said poor driving puts off people from riding their bikes because they fear being knocked over while out on the region’s roads and that motorists who do not leave enough space when passing cyclists should be brought to book.

He said: “I think the current law as it stands can be enforced and what they are doing in the West Midlands shows that they can enforce that rule. You need the threat of enforcement when these issues do occur.”

The panel also agreed that places of work needed to be designed to encourage more people to cycle and walk, something Jessica Bowles said Bruntwood is very aware of with more than 75 per cent of its buildings already including secure bike storage and shower facilities.

She said: “We are seeing increasing demand for people wanting shower and change facilities. We are providing these more and more in our offices and are seeing them used much more heavily. It is absolutely a trend and one we are rolling out across our spaces.”

Nicola Kane also said Manchester city council had invested heavily in creating a cycle and bus corridor along Oxford Road to encourage more people to leave their cars at home.

She said: “We recognise there is quite a lot to do and in the city centre we have built quite a few new cycle routes. We have done a lot in recent years in schemes like the Oxford Road Corridor where we have really changed the focus much more towards walking and cycling and better bus facilities. That’s been a great example of good practice that we can start to build on.”

Circle Square, also on Oxford Road, currently being developed by Bruntwood in a joint venture with Select Property Group has been designed with the cyclist in mind and will have 1,000 spaces for bikes. The new neighbourhood will create an inspiring place in which to work, shop, live and relax, as well as providing Manchester city centre with the largest addition of green space in a generation, and almost 200 new trees.

The masterplan for the new neighbourhood also includes opening up access to the River Medlock creating a riverside park with new paths and spaces that will reconnect this part of the city with the river.

Nicola added that more people riding their bikes will also help create a better understanding between motorists and cyclists and ultimately create a more considerate and safer environment.

She told the panel that while the past 10 years had been about expanding Metrolink the next 10 years will be more about streets and how they are designed in a way that cater for everyone so more people walk and cycle.

Last month Chris Boardman unveiled proposals for a thousand miles of interlinked bike and walking routes across the Greater Manchester region. Known as ‘Beelines’, the 10-year, £1.5bn proposal includes 75 miles of segregated cycle lanes similar to those found in European countries like Holland and Denmark. Mayor Burnham has allocated £160 million of the government’s Transforming Cities Fund to the project, which brings the total spend on cycling and walking in Greater Manchester to around £15 per head.

If the scheme is completed in its entirety, it will be the biggest network of its kind in the UK by 2028.

Nicola also said devolution provided a fantastic opportunity for Greater Manchester to lead the way on a joined up approach between transport and health but everyone had a role to play by doing their best to leave the car at home on short trips.

This is the third year Bruntwood has sponsored The RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, supporting its focus on creating vibrant cities, through sustainability and the greening of our city regions.

This year The Bruntwood Garden was designed to demonstrate how it uses green space in its developments, to promote a sense of community and support wellbeing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellie Watson .