#cyclesafe – Letter to my Bolton Councillors

It seems to me that the issues being raised by the Safer Cycling campaign need  to be addressed collaboratively at the local and national levels. Some town and city councils have realized this and responded, but I’ve heard nothing from Bolton yet. So I wrote this letter to my two local Council Representatives:

Hello,

I am writing to you as my representatives on Bolton Council, regarding the environment that exists within the Bolton area for people using bicycles as a means of transport, which is really rather poor. I feel that Greater Manchester in general is one of the worst places in the country to use a bicycle, and Bolton is at least as bad as any area within Greater Manchester.

In August last year, I wrote to the local Highways Department regarding concerns that I have about many of the cycle lanes that are installed and maintained in the Bolton area. Far from helping cyclists, I believe many of these bring increased danger due to their inadequate design. Unfortunately, whilst the respondent was very polite and clearly tried to be helpful, I do not think the response itself was satisfactory. You may find copies of the correspondence on this, as well as a video that I made to illustrate some of my points, in this discussion on the CycleChat forum:

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/sub-standard-cycle-lanes-letter-to-bolton-council.84813/

Of course, many of the problems we face are directly caused by the attitudes of drivers and often by their ignorance of recommended cycling and driving practices and how to share the road properly. However, these are often exacerbated by poor highway design, which often (incorrectly) assumes that roads are solely provided for motor traffic and anything else must fit around that.

I am prompted to write at this time because of the Safe Cycling/Cities Fit For Cycling campaign that is currently being led by The Times newspaper, of which you may be aware. In connection with that, several Town and City Councils have pledged to make significant efforts to improve the situation. For example, Edinburgh has pledged to allocate 5% of its highways budget in future to cycling related work.

I would be keen to hear what Bolton Council’s position is in relation to this campaign, and look forward to hearing about that. You may also be aware that there is to be a debate in the Commons about these issues on 23rd February 2012. However, it is clearly a matter that needs to be addressed collaboratively at both the National and Local levels, so I think it would be very good if there were to be a statement from Bolton prior to that debate.

Best wishes,

I’ll include the response here when I receive it.

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