Environment

I am writing to apologise for my part in allowing the council to make out that they were serious about people on foot or bikes.

I cooperated with the council, when instead I should have raised awareness of the council’s poor record and I regret that the council will have used the fact that it was working with me, and others in the Peterborough Cycle Forum, as a way to get funding from Government.

I hope that our council leaders will also have the decency to apologise to all those now and in future generations whose health and quality of life will be damaged by the cabinet’s preference for delay and inaction over change, expressed very clearly in their decision about Crescent Bridge. I now expect no funding for our cash-strapped council from the government for cycling and walking in Peterborough for years.

I worked for many years on cycling schemes in Cam

bridgeshire and with European partners and when I retired wanted to help Peterborough, but must admit that I doubted whether the council would do anything. I raised these doubts with Peterborough Cycle Forum members but was told that the council was committed to working with the forum.

The council apparently has policies to address the climate crisis. It had appointed Cllr Howard as cycling champion, and set up an all-party cycling group to advise and build consensus.

The Conservative government and Peterborough City Council have introduced some clear and good policies on cycling. The Government wants to see half of all journeys in towns and cities by foot or bike and Boris Johnson himself has acknowledged that: “millions more people in this country want to cycle, if the conditions are right” (gear change).

I was pleased to see the temporary barriers on Crescent Bridge, but worried that some councillors might not understand what the scheme was about, but then pleased that the all-party group had recommended that the temporary Crescent Bridge scheme become permanent and be extended to usefully link with Thorpe Road and Thorpe Lea Road.

For Crescent Bridge, Cllr Allen said that cycle usage was much lower than car usage, so somehow cycling was not a priority, contrary to the council’s own policies. We need half of trips to be by foot and bike so obviously big changes are needed in favour of walking and cycling.

Cllr Allen and Cllr Fitzgerald referred to low usage on the temporary route, as if that was some justification for not doing anything, but did not refer to the fact that it was only a partial route that only dealt with a small part of the route along Thorpe Road (albeit probably the most challenging part). In cycling terms it was a “critical fail”, so only the bravest cyclists would be expected to use the temporary route. No one seems to have acknowledged the issues faced by people on foot or with disabilities. Apparently the cabinet say that it is committed to the scheme but want to do a study of options first – that has been a standard response for years. That study should have been completed years ago and would be simple and quick to do.

We all know that it would say that making the temporary scheme permanent and extending it to at least Thorpe Lea Road would be the best

value for money and anything else would take years. We know that the Government had committed funding for this and it could have been done quickly, so the council has turned down the chance for a quick gain in favour of long term delay. Doing nothing may be easier than change, but that does not make it right. The decision is depressing, but it won’t stop me cycling. The Crescent Bridge scheme was not necessary for me and others who are confident enough to cycle amongst traffic, but I fear that the more cautious may never cycle over Crescent Bridge. I have never seen a mobility scooter going over Crescent Bridge and it is hardly surprising.

The council has created no go areas and then says that no one is using them apart from car drivers. I imagine that after the cabinet decision the cabinet may have felt proud – members thought that they had found a clever way to get some money from Government for another scheme. This is short-term action that will almost certainly result in Peterborough losing credibility with the mayor and the Government and missing out on the opportunity to win the tens of millions of pounds that Peterborough could have got from the Conservative government’s funding commitment to transform our towns and cities. Crescent Bridge was simple, Peterborough faces much bigger challenges – where is the long term understanding that we need to change, where is the urgency to address the climate crisis? Rohan Wilson

Benland