Cycling in South East Cambs is Pitiful Say Lib Dems (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Cycling in South East Cambs is Pitiful Say Lib Dems

June 14, 2008 9:38 AM

Cllr Jonathan Chatfield cycling at Arbury Park

Local Liberal Democrats are support National Bike Week

There may be nine million bicycles in Beijing but with the start of Bike Week this Saturday there are pitifully few being used in South East Cambridgeshire according to the Liberal Democrats who blame a lack of facilities, speeding traffic and heavy lorries for putting people off cycling in the constituency.

Lib Dems say that according to the last Census in 2001 few people in South East Cambridgeshire cycled to work and that commuting into Cambridge accounted for the overwhelming majority of the trips. And that if anything the situation has got worse since then with the increase in other road traffic.

Jonathan Chatfield the Lib Dems' parliamentary spokesperson for South East Cambridgeshire and a cyclist said:

"National Bike Week shows the total lack of effort by the Government and highway authorities to promote cycling and encourage people to cycle for work and leisure by providing a safe environment for cycling.

"The 2001 census recorded just under 3.500 people in South East Cambridgeshire cycling to work out of a total of nearly 50,000 commuters. Which in anybody's view is pitiful.

"For example allowing big lorries to use country lanes and residential streets and failing to tackle speeding drivers just discourages cycling for fear of becoming another road accident statistic.

"This Government can find billions of pounds for its big brother schemes such as ID cards but for putting a fraction of this into making cycling safer we could have more people cycling which is not only better for the environment, but for our health too."