Warwickshire Liberal Democrats call for cycle investment

Warwickshire Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are putting forward a proposal to secure funding for a costed and prioritised programme of cycle infrastructure improvements across the County.

A motion to the Warwickshire County Council Full Council Meeting on Tuesday 20 March 2018 will ask for investment to improve connectivity for cyclists, to make it easier and safer for residents to get around their towns and villages and reduce the number of car journeys in the County.

The benefits of encouraging cycling are widely recognised and include:

• Cutting costs to the economy of congestion by reducing traffic jams.
• Improve the health of the Nation, reducing obesity, cutting costs to the NHS.
• Improve air quality which leads to improved productivity, less time off work and fewer air quality related deaths.

Commenting, Warwickshire Liberal Democrats County Councillor, Jenny Fradgley, who proposed the motion, said:

"It can be hard to cycle safely in our County. We have patchy cycle ways often disappearing at difficult points, insufficient cycle stands, not all traffic lights have safe cycle boxes painted on the road and little joined up connectivity between places where people want to go.

"A County Cycle working party is looking at possible new routes and improved infrastructure and we are determined to make sure that when it reports its conclusions they will not be kicked into the long grass.''

Motion:

That the Council requests that Cabinet develops a strategic, costed, three year (2019-2022) cycling plan that supports a network of safe, accessible and direct routes that link places people need to get to, including a prioritised programme of works and setting out the funding implications for the County Council so that this can be considered as part of the 2019 - 2020 budget refresh of the Medium Term Financial Plan.