Vote for Cycling!

In the run up to the local council elections on 6th May, Love Your Bike and Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign (GMCC) invited local council election candidates in every ward to complete a cycling issues survey which asked the candidates to respond to five questions:

• How often do you cycle?

• Do you support the introduction of 20mph speed limits in all residential areas such as the “20s Plenty for us” schemes as introduced in Portsmouth, Newcastle, Oxford, Warrington and Wirral? 

• Would you support your local council providing free adult cycle training to people who live/work in your local authority area?

• Do you think that people should be able to travel with bicycles on Metrolink during off-peak travel times?

• What policies does your party have to encourage more people to cycle to work, school, shopping or for leisure purposes?

A more detailed report is available on the Love Your Bike website but the key findings are shown below:

•  Top of the poll for the proportion of candidates responding were the Green Party (43%) followed by the Liberal Democrats (16.5%), Labour Party (11.5%) and Conservative Party (2.9%).

• The highest turnout figures from candidates were in Trafford (25.84%), Manchester (24%) and Stockport (21.6%).  The lowest turnout was in Oldham (1.3%).

• The survey results indicate that local election candidates in Greater Manchester cycle more often than the average person in the North West.

• Over 90% of the local council election candidates who responded supported the 20mph speed limit in residential areas. There were high levels of support from most political parties: Green (97%), Liberal Democrat (96.8%) and Labour (88%). The majority of the Conservative Party candidates (60%) also supported this policy.

• Of the local council election candidates who responded, over 90% supported local councils providing free adult cycle training. With high levels of support from most political parties: Green (97.2%), Liberal Democrat (93.1%) and Labour (91.3%).  Only 33% of Conservative candidates supported this idea.

• Despite being a potential ‘hot potato’ issue for local council election candidates given the recent decisions by the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) regarding bicycle carriage on Metrolink trams - the survey results indicated that there was support for cycle carriage on off-peak trams across all political parties and Council areas: Green (100%), Labour (95.8%), Liberal Democrat (86.7%) and Conservative (66.7%).

Love Your Bike and Greater Manchester Cycling campaign have thanked all the local council election candidates who responded to the survey and have stated that they "would welcome the opportunity to work with local councillors to improve cycling infrastructure and facilities and to increase the number of people cycling in Greater Manchester."