Cyclists: Labour and Conservatives refusing to back safety improvements for capital

The London Cycling Campaign has condemned as "hugely disappointing" the refusal of the Labour and Conservative candidates for London mayor to back its calls for an expansion of protected cycle lanes and to ban unsafe lorries. 

LCC said the capital urgently needs more protected space for cyclists on main roads and at junctions, and is campaigning for a tripling of the number of miles of protected cycle lanes "to help people of all ages and abilities access roads by bike" and for a cycle-friendly "mini-Holland" town centres in every borough. It also wants candidates for mayor to "end lorry danger" by using planning powers to only allow the safest lorries onto roads.

But with 11 days to go until the election and postal voting already cast, the Labour and Conservative candidates have not agreed to the calls, backed by a petition signed by over 10,000 cyclists. The Liberal Democrat, Green and Women's Equality Party candidates have signed.

The Road Danger Reduction Forum also said that its detailed manifesto has not been backed by Labour or the Conservatives. Its calls include: a substantial increase in law enforcement, including of close overtaking of cyclists; to measure danger based on the exposure of cyclists to risk, rather than merely on aggregate numbers of casualties; and, more broadly, to reduce the amount of traffic in London in order to reduce the danger to cyclists.

Caroline Pidgeon, the Lib Dem candidate, told the forum that she wanted a workplace parking levy on central London employers and more pedestrianisation, including of Oxford Street and roads in Soho. Sian Berry, the Green candidate, said a congestion charge was needed for all of London.

Update: The Conservative and Labour candidates have now agreed to back the pledges "to triple cycle superhighways, introduce a mini-Holland in every borough, and take dangerous lorries off the streets".