London Cycling Campaign’s ‘Dare To Dream’ campaign asks Mayor to commit to big ideas for London…
The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) and Londoners are calling on the Mayor to deliver on his promise to make London a climate-neutral city with safe, healthy and people-friendly streets and no more people killed walking, wheeling or cycling. To achieve that the Mayor needs to ‘Dare To Dream’ bigger and be bolder on action on building people-friendly streets for London and the planet, says LCC’s new campaign.
LCC’s Dare To Dream campaign asks Londoners to demand bold ideas and more action from their Mayor, with the campaigning showcasing four big ideas for London: Car-free Sundays, Family-friendly Cycling In Outer London, A Bike For Every Londoner and a Low Traffic West End. More information on LCC’s Dare To Dream campaign here.
A lasting legacy?
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, won an unprecedented third mayoral term a year ago on 2 May. In his first two terms, the Mayor was rightly lauded for his political bravery and boldness on expanding the ULEZ to cover all of London, driving down pollution levels, quintupling the amount of protected cycle tracks on busy roads and increasing cycling levels strongly, as well as the delivery of the Elizabeth Line, transforming cross-London connectivity and a world-leading Direct Vision lorry system that has already measurably cut lorry-related deaths. But this term, so far?
It’s the Silvertown lorries tunnel and a vague plan to pedestrianise Oxford Street that will need government intervention, a corporation setting up and a fair amount of headwind to deliver – as a result, it’s likely years away. For Sadiq’s third and likely last term, we’re asking him to re-find his boldness and London to ask him to step up.
With the Mayor’s Net Zero 2030 deadline looming, and his own Transport Strategy targets on walking, wheeling and cycling off track, the Mayor really does need to deliver bold action if he wants to end this term credibly. To help the Mayor, LCC has four big ideas that he could and should get on with across London in the remainder of this term.
“Sadiq has spent eight years delivering bold and brave leadership on decarbonising London, cutting pollution and championing active travel, but the first year of his third term has seen the opposite. For the Mayor to hit his own transport, safety and climate targets, he really needs to get back to big ideas and bold action. LCC’s “Dare To Dream” campaign is here to help him do that.” Tom Fyans, Chief Executive, London Cycling Campaign
Four big ideas for London
At the end of last year, LCC asked London experts from across a variety of disciplines what they thought the Mayor most needed to do. Four key ideas emerged relating to active travel and cycling specifically, all within Sadiq’s power to at least start the ball rolling on within this term and all with high capacity to deliver change quickly and realistically. They are…
1. Car-Free* Sundays
If every London borough had cycle rides on closed roads for cars once a month, this creates more space for a wider range of people to grow in confidence cycling. Imagine RideLondon’s FreeCycle or LCC, Lime and the Zero Emissions Network’s just completed London Cycling Festival only every month through spring and summer, in every borough!
2. Family-friendly cycling in outer London
Outer London town centres have the greatest potential to see ‘mode shift’ from short car journeys to walking, wheeling and cycling – and these types of journeys aren’t traditional commutes but frequently involve families. The Dutch plan for low traffic residential areas and main road cycle tracks around their suburban town centres so that children can get around independently and families can all cycle to amenities together. And we’ve already got a good working example of how the UK can do this in Waltham Forest in north east London.
3. A bike for every Londoner
Across a significant part of London, there’s the beginning of a true cycling network. But in those areas, there are other barriers that need removing to help more people cycle – such as the upfront cost of owning a bike, and where to store it safely. (And when we say “bike” we include trikes, cargo cycles, adapted cycles and basically all forms of inclusive micromobility.) The Mayor has a big opportunity to help reform schemes such as Cycle To Work to deliver not only for those in employment, and not just standard cycles, but more – an increasing number of Londoners aren’t riding privately-owned cycles for good reasons, while others don’t feel able to leave their bike given current theft levels and lack of secure cycle parking.
4. A low-traffic West End
Oxford Street can only be the beginning of a low-traffic West End. On its own, the scheme should revitalise a tired but iconic shopping street, but unless there’s schemes around it, cycling and active travel generally could really suffer, as could residents. The scheme will force Westminster into a real conversation about how and why Londoners get around the West End. Removing most motor traffic there would enable us to compete with global cities such as Paris and solve knock-on issues pedestrianising Oxford Street could cause, while delivering a people-friendly city centre for walking, wheeling, cycling, living, visiting and trading.
LCC will be putting out more information on our vision of a Low Traffic West End in early July.
More information on LCC’s Dare To Dream campaign here.
* Closing streets to moving motor vehicles, or removing cars entirely for a few hours so that just about everyone can walk, play, wheel, scoot & cycle can be done with necessary emergency, Blue Badge etc. access – and we can see how many cities are learning to balance ‘car-free’ spaces and temporary events with broader inclusive mobility issues.
