The All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG), which British Cycling is a member of, has today launched an inquiry into cycling safety title “Get Britain Cycling”.
The inquiry is calling for written evidence and then will have a series of six oral evidence sessions before a final report is produced in April 2013.
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The inquiry will examine the barriers which are preventing more people from cycling in the UK. Cycling makes up 2% of all journeys, compared to 27% in the Netherlands and 18% in Denmark. Some European towns have more than 50% of all journeys made by bike.
APPCG co-chair, Julian Huppert, has tabled an Early Day Motion in support of the inquiry. We need this to be signed by as many MPs as possible to ensure the inquiry is given the profile and attention it needs. Please write to your MP asking them to sign EDM 679 – Get Britain Cycling. You can find out who your MP is here.
British Cycling is providing support to the APPCG in the inquiry, including scoping out the inquiry and being involved in the evidence sessions. The inquiry is looking at a range of topics including ministerial leadership, cycle friendly planning and design, the Olympic legacy, safety, traffic law and enforcement and behaviour change. These are all topics which we have called for in our Manifesto and we are pleased to see these issues being given more of a profile.
The written evidence must be submitted by 5 December and the oral evidence sessions will start in the new year.
British Cycling member and APPCG co-Chair, Ian Austin said: “It’s great that all the political parties have expressed support for the campaign, but the time has come for the government to commit to real change in the way Britain’s transport system is run to make cycling safer and get more people on their bikes.”
Martin Gibbs, Policy and Legal Affairs Director said: “British Cycling is really pleased to be involved in the much needed Get Britain Cycling inquiry and to support the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.
"In many ways cycling is in great shape in this country, we’ve had fantastic success at the Olympics and Paralympics and in July we had the first British winner of the Tour de France. Record numbers of people are being inspired to get on their bikes but we’ve got a long way to go to make cycling as appealing and commonplace as it is in countries like Holland and Denmark.
"We will wholeheartedly support this cross-party initiative which aims to ensure that all levels of government focus on achieving an ambitious increase in cycling in this country.”
Members can support the inquiry by submitting written evidence or by responding to the Times online survey about cycle safety. The results of the survey will be sent to the inquiry.
