Christine Wallace

School Run by Matt Woods

If you’re over a certain age it’s more than likely that your journey to school involved using your own two feet, or getting on your bike.  Figures from the National Travel Survey however, show that since the 1970s, the proportion of children being driven to school has increased while the numbers walking or cycling has fallen sharply.  With concerns about congestion and pollution, isn’t it about time we learned to leave the car at home, and start moving around under our own steam again?

Perhaps, but our most direct route is along the A206, along the section between the Woolwich Ferry and the Blackwall Tunnel; not the most inviting or safe route if you have a two-year-old in a cycle trailer!  It’s no wonder, that unlike the Netherlands, where most children are either cycled to school, or cycle themselves to school, most parents in the UK, are reluctant to allow their children to do the same.  

The Game Changer

So why have I decided to brave this 2-mile route by bicycle and leave the car at home?  Well I’m not the usual eco-warrior type.  I drive a ten year old diesel estate car and don’t get unduly worried about booking a flight abroad, but it just seemed such a waste of time and fuel driving my daughter such a short distance, especially at a time when the roads were filled with others doing exactly the same.  But surely the car would at least be a bit safer on that A206, with all the tipper trucks, cars and HGVs converging on Blackwall Tunnel?  

Well thankfully, I’ve also got a great, off-road cycle route right on my doorstep.  Quietway 14, taking in most of the Thames Path, pretty much runs door-to-door. It’s a fantastic ride, tracking along the River Thames, carving through old warehouses and the Thames Barrier Park.  There are no cars, it’s been recently resurfaced, and new signage added, and is really easy to use for a beginner, with no map-reading, steep climbs or off-roading skills required!  It’s everything a route should be: direct, easy to navigate and going to somewhere you actually want to go.  It’s great to be able to make these trips by bike and save on the time, money and stress of having to drive them.  I’ll often see neighbours at the school gate at the end of the day before we head off our separate ways, them by car, only to both be parking up back home at the same time!

So why don’t more of us do this?

Obviously, we’re a long way from the situation in the Netherlands. I’m lucky in having a high-quality route on my doorstep, but most parents with children at the same school don’t have that option.  Some will be coupling a school journey with a work trip, or be having to take children further afield to schools out of catchment areas, but while the average journey length and time to school has increased since the 70s, most children are still within a 20-30 minute walk or bike ride.  With an estimated 25% of morning rush hour traffic down to the “School Run”, even enabling some of those journeys to be done another way would still have a huge positive impact on congestion.  So what are we waiting for?

‘Champions of Cycling’ by Dr Suzanne Bartington

Monday 30th September 2019

Dr Suzanne Bartington – Cycling Champion, Oxfordshire County Council 

This event today is very timely – just over a week ago we saw thousands of people, particularly the young, line the streets demanding urgent action to mitigate the unfolding climate crisis. 

On Sunday 22nd September we also saw a large number of cities take park in World Car Free Day – an opportunity to reimagine public realm without motorised vehicles. 

For increasingly it is recognised that the provision of healthy and sustainable transport options is essential to mitigate the negative effects of the way we move around upon both the environment and our health. 

In my own field of public health, I would argue that an active travel focussed approach is vital to tackle our multiple challenges of environmental degradation climate change. Air pollution and physical inactivity. 

  1. Climate Change 

For in public health terms, it is only relatively recently we have built ourselves into this situation. Back in 1952, less than 30% of distance travelled in Britain was by car, 

Over subsequent decades, cars increasingly relatively affordable compared to other transport alternatives. 

Planning and land use policies successively prioritised car mobility over walking, cycling and public transport accessibility. 

By 1970, the pattern had reversed, with three-quarters of all passenger miles made by private vehicle, reaching 85% by the late 1980s.  

Where I live in Oxfordshire, the number of cars per household is over 1.5 – fitting in all these cars in residential areas is an increasing problem   – regularly filling Councillors inboxes with parking problems. 

Yet the average car spends about 80% of the time parked at home, is parked elsewhere for about 16% of the time and is thus only actually in use (ive moving) for the remaining 4% of the time. It is exceedingly inefficient in use of time and space. 

In addition, most trips made by car are of a short distance, with a third of trips less than 2 miles, which could be taken in just 10 minutes by bike. 

This reliance on the private care is damaging both the planet and our own health. 

Overall in the UK the transport sector is responsible for around one quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions – almost two thirds of which (62%) is from private cars. Carbon dioxide emissions from road transport has also been the most resistant to reductions, compared to other sectors. 

Our overarching imperative to radically mitigate carbon emissions should be driving our transport and planning economic – at local, regional and national levels.

  • Air Pollution 

Road transport is also predominantly responsible for toxic levels of harmful pollutants – such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. 

These pollutants penetrate deep into the small airways of our lungs, into the cardiovascular system and scientific evidence is unequivocal as to the impacts on almost every organ of the body. 

From before birth to old age – with effects including low birth weight, miscarriage, asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and emerging evidence about dementia. Children, the elderly and pregnant women are the most vulnerable. 

Diesel was recognised as Category 1 carcinogen nitrogen dioxide as well as being a respiratory irritant contributes to acidification – causing damage to local buildings and ecosystems. 

Particulate matter, will not be solved by transition to electric or autonomous vehicles. As acknowledged by the government’s Air Quality Expert Group particles from brake, tyre and road surface wear directly contribute to well over half of particle pollution from road transport. 

Those riding bikes are usually exposed to less air pollution than people in cars and buses. Segregated routes reduce this even more, with a distance of just a few metres leading to a reductions in around a quarter. 

Cycling is not just quick but also clean, close to zero emission as possible. 

3. Physical and Mental Health 

And then there are the multiple positive benefits of getting on a bike. 

I’m a doctor myself and have seen first hand the consequences of our sedentary modern society. Whether it be Type II diabetes, chronic lung disease or strokes the wider costs of physical inactivity are over £7Bn each year. 

We live in a nation where 11 million adults are inactive and over a fifth of children are overweight or obese when they leave school. 

The health benefits are estimated at between 13:1 and 415:1 (with an average of 20:1) for life years gained vs years lost. This is truly astonishing. When I teach medical students about benefits of interventions it is usually relatively marginal in comparison – if this were a drug it really would be a wonder pill. 

Cycling is relatively low impact, non-weight bearing and is easy to integrate into daily routines. 

And it is that integration with transport through utility cycling in daily life, such as to school and work, is an ideal mechanism to improve health outcomes 

Yet in many areas these processes are not joined up – planning is separated from public health and health is not integral to planning. We continue to deliver car centric communities which do not encourage or even facilitate behavioural change. 

An example I recently learned of a key active travel underpass below a busy main road which was due to be closed off as part of a planning application in a local town. We need a far more proactive process in the health of people is so strongly linked to the environment around them. 

Cycling is a more sociable and interactive way to travel – freed up from being cocooned in a driving box. 

Able to observe expressions, catch up with friends, immerse oneself in the community around. The changing of the seasons, falling of leaves, the stars which I look at when cycling after dark. Splashing through puddles on a wet day.

This rich, intense sensory experience is infinitely more rewarding than the sanitised car interior devoid of human interaction. It is no surprise that cycling is also good for our mental as well as physical health. 

Cycling is also an effective mechanism to improve health equity by enhancing access to local services  – GPs, shops, recreational centres. Yet we so frequently fail to achieve the most basic of provision. Take my local GP practice – 3 cycle racks, overgrown with weeds and one broken.  These are meant to be health promoting 

Time and time again I receive emails about people unable to get to their nearest shop by bike after dark. The nearest shop is down an unviting, unlit and unsurfaced path. There is no signage to the nearest station or indeed to any nearby facilities. Yet less than half a mile away there are illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide – we need to join this up. More roads are simply not an answer. 

Summary

Cycling is certainly win-win-win – for the environment, the economy for health. 

We know that the key market for increasing cycling uptake is everyday trips – shifting those short car journeys to two wheels. This is what drives the high modal shares in Cambridge and Oxford  – in Oxford we know that 72% of journeys each week by bike take place within the city. and this is what we need to achieve outside these cities and I believe with the right strategic approach and political commitment we can do it the context of Oxfordshire. 

If we were to adopt levels of Holland or Denmark research by Cycling UK shows: 

Save the NHS £17 billion within 20 years 

• Reduce road deaths by 30% 

• Increase mobility of the nation’s poorest families by 25% 

• Increase retail sales by a quarter 

• Reduce air pollution and save 400 productive life years 

• Reduce cycling casualties by 2/3rds 

• Saves a third of road space compared to driving 

It is for these reasons that a simple solution, on two wheels is right here. 

Combined with e-bikes as a game changer the bike can help us unpick the multiple woes we have brought upon ourselves with car usage.

We need to achieve a paradigm shift – to change assumptions about the way we travel. 

Placing people at the centre of travel, placing the most vulnerable first rather last, and being politically bold. 

Reducing and restricting traffic is crticial as the experience of the Netherlands has shown. 

A shift away from isolated schemes towards integrated networks, 

We know it can be achieved as it has elsewhere

Political willpower and commitment is absolutely critical. We need champions of cycling at all levels and layers to make this case. 

Commissioners with responsibilities to oversee processes and embed this agenda at the heart of the agenda for our towns and cities. 

To shift from ‘niche’ to ‘normal’ for travel by foot and bike 

Welcome!

Welcome to the official website of Conservative Friends of Cycling! After two very successful conference events and with the cycling agenda making headline news it felt like the right time for the group to go public and start sharing our fantastic articles, news of events and to further influence the cycling agenda across the whole of the UK.

British Cycling Tour of Manchester Velodrome, BMX track and training session with Team GB with Cllr Suzanne Bartington (Oxfordshire Cycling Champion), Sir Graham Brady MP, Alex Wolfe (2019 Vice-President of CFoC)
2019 Conservative Conference event with Chris Boardman MBE, Julie Harrington (CEO of British Cycling), Andrew Selous MP (2019 Chair of CFoC), Cllr Martyn Bolt (2019 Deputy Chairman of CFoC), Cllr Suzanne Bartington (Oxfordshire Cycling Champion), Alex Wolfe (2019 Vice-President of CFoC), Lucy Haynes (HSBC),
2018 Conservative Conference event with Conservative Friends of Cycling member Alex Wolfe with CEO of Brompton, Will Butler-Adams