Capital’s cycling vision promises come and go

Robert Davis is right to have a jaundiced view of the latest announcements regarding cycling in London (‘Mayor’s cycle vision could get derailed’ LTT 05 Apr). Both of us worked on the London 1,000 mile cycle network, a leftover from the days of the Greater London Council.

At that stage we struggled to get anyone interested in the development of cycling and facilities for cyclists who, contrary to belief, had not gone away. My own authority held the belief that, since there were cyclists in the borough, we needed to provide for them, and made funds available.

However, it wasn’t until the British Medical Association report of 1991 that held cycling as an overall benefit to society, even given the associated road accident injuries, that real positive attitudes began to appear. The Pan-London London Cycle Network (LCN) was then funded and things looked to be on the up. However, cost-benefit analysis continued to give disbenefits when applied to cycling schemes and this was used as a reason for inaction.

So, after over 20 years of trying, Robert Davis is right to flag up concerns about just what the mayor’s new strategy is worth. I wonder what excuse will be used, next, for inaction on cycling.

Discuss this at LTT's Cycle City Expo on the 25-26 April 2013