5 August 2009
Cycle action plan needs to be funded to be worthwhile
Transform Scotland have today published its response to the Scottish Government's
consultation on its Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. The consultation remains open until Thursday 20th August.
Colin Howden, Director of Transform Scotland, said:
"We welcome the Scottish Government's aspiration that, by 2020, 10% of all journeys should be made by bike. As shown in the Transform Scotland Trust report 'Towards a Healthier Economy', a large-scale shift to cycling would have major economic benefits, never mind the obvious public health and environmental advantages of more trips being made by bike and fewer by car. "But 10% is the bare minimum that we should be aiming at. While Scotland languishes at only 1% of journeys, other successful small countries on the continent have much higher rates of cycling. In Denmark and The Netherlands, 18-27% of journeys are made by bike – and there is absolutely no credible reason why Scotland should not move to this level of bike use. We've heard all the tired old complaints about hills and the weather – but the Government's own studies have found the real issues detering increased levels of cycling to be the volume of traffic and the behaviour of other road users."However, we have no confidence that we will reach 10%, let alone 18-27%, if Scottish Government funding for active travel remains so pitifully low – at 1% per annum. We support the call of the Association of Directors of Public Health that at least 10% of all transport expenditure go into active travel."It would not be credible for the Government to say that there is insufficient funds for investment in active travel – as it is apparent that there is almost limitless funds available for traffic-generating, climate-destroying road-building projects. At £2,200 million, the proposed Second Forth Road Bridge on its own equates to over a century of Scottish Government investment in active travel at current levels (£20 million per annum)."