I read with interest the
news that a national rollout of
Space4Cycling was being proposed. This seemed like great news - the message is clear and concise. Yet there were some murmurs of discontent.
Then I read with dismay the CTC support for the
use of cycle funding for a 'turbo' roundabout, that really isn't cycle infrastructure at all. Their
response to
objections was not at all helpful - these are not idealists with keyboards, these are people trying to get about on bicycles!
This brings to the fore the question of what actually is it we need to do in order to achieve any progress towards a more sustainable transport culture in the UK.
However, that is really the wrong question. What we should be asking is why has every single campaign for better active travel conditions in the UK failed for the last 40 years?
Advocacy is great. Every great plan needs an advocate to promote it. Particularly if it perceived as 'not how we do things'. I'd like to think I'm a cycling advocate. I tweet, I blog (a bit) and I talk to anyone who will listen about the benefits of active travel vs the detrimental impact of our car centric culture (whilst being very aware of the dangers of 'puke evangelism').
But what have I actually done? What changes are on the ground that are there because if me? Well, when it come to cycling, actually none. And I'm slightly ashamed if that. Yes, I have a busy life, young children, trying to fit everything in and also make a living.
It wasn't always this way. Before life was quite so family focused, I was part of a group of residents who tried to make a positive difference in our village. We were non-political bunch of people who were fed up with the main road being used as a rat-run. There were no committees (I have an aversion; too many, 'mm's, too many 'tt's and too many 'ee's) but plenty of discussion with all affected residents. It was time consuming, but allowed us to find a consensus and draft a number of letters signed by a large number of people. These letters gave the active few a degree of 'authority to speak' to Parish Council, Borough Council and most importantly, the senior surveyor of the local Highways Agency.
To cut a long story short, I believe we made a difference. There are still too many cars, but the number of lorries has been significantly reduced (the road is now 'Unsuitable for HGVs). Although we haven't managed to reinstate the road width, it has at least stabilised for the time being, so traffic speed is not increasing.
In these pre-social media days, we took inspiration from the historic turnpike
milemen. Each of us felt we had the best insight into the issues blighting our particular section of the road, simply because we were there, on site for the most time. We saw the crashes, the near misses and the dangerous driving.
Could we apply this type of localised direct action to the design and implementation of space for cycling? Small face to face meetings with decision makers resulted in change. These were almost always on site and always well prepared with support from local residents and the Parish Council. We were very diplomatic, non-political but quite insistent that residents should be prioritised over through traffic. Perhaps we were just lucky and had an understanding highways surveyor?
Cycling needs advocates, but without positive change 'on the ground' (both literally and metaphorically), we are getting nowhere. Large institutions such as CTC clearly struggle with momentum and politics. We need institutions but to have positive change, we need to be free to be able say to infrastructure designers: "Stop. This is wrong. Local people do not support this." with the evidence to back up the statement.
For positive change to happen, perhaps we need local action by local milemen, with a national (or international) network of expertise to support?
