London cyclists urged to push councillors for Space for Cycling

London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is urging people to contact their local councillors to ensure they follow up on pledges made to prioritise cycling ahead of last May’s council elections in the capital.

LCC’s Space for Cycling campaign, which was also rolled out nationally in partnership with CTC, resulted in 85,000 emails being sent to candidates for town hall seats across the city.

In all, 862 councillors who were elected promised to support giving space to cyclists as a result of the campaign, including all of those belonging to the controlling party in seven of the city’s boroughs.

With local councils responsible for 95 per cent of London’s streets, the campaign focused on local issues, including an interactive online map including one suggested change in each ward, drawn up by LCC’s local groups.

LCC chief executive Dr Ashok Sinha said: “Getting the support of 862 councillors across London – that’s almost half of all of them – to commit to safe Space for Cycling earlier this year was a fantastic achievement by our supporters.

“Londoners now expect their councils to live up to their promises, and make clear how they will do so as soon as possible.”

Last month, LCC contacted councillors for an update and heard back from 179 of them. Of those, 155 said they were achieving “some progress” towards putting the suggested improvement in their ward in place, although only 19 expected it to be completed within the next 12 months.

Dr Sinha added: “It’s fantastic to see some progress being made, and we’d like to thank those councillors who are taking their commitments seriously.

“We know that change won’t be immediate, but it’s high time that all councillors tell the public how they will try to meet their Space for Cycling promises.”

LCC has set up a petition at www.space4cycling.org and is urging residents of the city to sign it to help keep pressure on councillors to deliver the changes requested.