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Clarion Call for Collective Cycling Action at the Regional Level

by David Butler, CTC North West Regional Councillor

Like most cyclists, I prefer being on my bike to sitting in meetings and wading through wordy documents. But since being elected last year as a Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC) regional councillor, I have inevitably traded some days cycling for days talking about cycling. CTC is the major membership cycling organisation in the country, with around 60,000 members, and has been protecting and promoting cyclists' rights since 1878.

The CTC has a very effective national campaigning capacity. It also has many local groups of committed cyclists - who you will regularly see out on their Sunday runs - and individuals prepared to campaign at the local level to improve provision for cycling. But, not withstanding the considerable efforts of the CTC's regional Right to Ride representative, its capacity to engage with agencies working at the regional, and even sub-regional, level is limited, and there is very little in the way of active networking, let alone co-ordination at that scale.

Important policy decisions take place at a regional level, providing the context for many local policies and actions. This is increasingly the case for spatial planning, transport, recreation, tourism, health, economic policy and social inclusion. Cyclists must make their voice heard on these issues. We need to identify the important policy strands, and the arenas in which they are debated. Cyclists need to be represented on relevant bodies. To underpin that, there needs to be a network of interested groups and individuals which can be used to draw together knowledge and expertise and use it to support case making.

There are some important opportunities coming up. The partial review of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), currently under way, includes parking policies. It's good to see detailed cycle parking standards included - progress from the approved RSS, though there is still room for improvement. The forthcoming new single, integrated Regional Strategy will bring together the RSS, Economic, Housing and Transport Strategies. Consultation on the 'Principles and Issues' for that strategy is getting under way. A central plank of this is sustainability, where cycling presses all the right buttons. The challenge will be to convert well meaning words into action which will improve cycling provision in the real world. The third Local Transport Plan (LTP) process will be kicking off shortly, and it is crucial that cycling interests are fully recognised. Add in the North West Regional Health Authorities framework for tackling obesity in the region, and Highways Agency planning (whose 2008 Regional network report mentions cycling twice in a 72 page document..), and the importance of cyclists getting their act together to influence regional agendas becomes all too clear.

Co-ordination is needed between cycling bodies operating in the region, in order to cover the most important policy bases, and to present a coherent cyclist lobby. Most of all, it needs volunteers willing to get involved in regional issues, and a framework to support them. Inevitably this means trading some more precious days cycling for days talking about it, which means that this process needs to be as productive and focussed as possible.

Are you prepared to work at the regional and sub-regional level, to help lobby for direct cycling representation as and where appropriate and/or to feed into the regional and sub-regional agendas via seats already held by the North West Transport Roundtable? Please contact me online at dsbutler@ntlworld.com or phone 0161 432 4611 if you are.