Cycling Makes You Beautiful

Cyclists are smart, brave and a set apart from the average.
Cycling makes you beautiful.

These were some of the more positive messages that came out of the Cycle Campaigners' Autumn conference held in Liverpool on 2 November. The conference is held each year in different locations and brings together cycle campaigners and other interested groups.

However the messages at the conference were not all positive. It was also clear that there are some serious challenges for cycling in Britain. The Government is unlikely to meet its target of doubling cycling by the end of 2002; and cycling remains a minority activity, with cycling making up only 2% of short journeys and only 2.5% of children cycling to school.

   drawing

The Conference fielded some strong speakers and it was heartening to see that there are some excellent ambassadors supporting the campaigning cause. The speakers included Kevin Mayne and Roger Geffen of the CTC (Cyclists' Touring and Campaigning group) and Paige Mitchell of the Slower Speeds Initiative.

Get a group of cycle campaigning enthusiasts together and you almost believe that you can positively change society and behaviour for the better, but walk out into the city streets and you quickly realise just how far we have to go.

For me, some of the key conclusions and outcomes of the conference were:

  • cyclists are a fractious and fragmented group covering a wide range of individuals and activities and this probably doesn't help our campaigning clout.
  • there is a resistance to cycling from the general public, perhaps spurred by the media; cycling is perceived as somehow 'different' and even dangerous.
  • there is a new emphasis on the need for training potential cyclists particularly among the young; and for bringing along the many that use cycling for recreation but not yet for making journeys.
  • we could learn from the success of Living Streets the new name for a rejuvenated Pedestrians Association which has linked its campaigning to the wider Government agenda of regenerating city centres, improving health, enhancing the environment and tackling social exclusion.
  • the CTC will be putting campaigning at the centre of what it does with an emphasis on training and introducing new people to cycling; it will also look to see how it can tap into parts of the Government's agenda such as improving health and fitness.
  • the need for transport and the length of individual journeys is related to land use; and it is significant that John Prescott has called for an increase in housing density.

My overall conclusions from the conference were that there are some strong, committed people in the world of cycle campaigning and that with the increasing urgency to reduce congestion, enhance the environment and improve standards of fitness and health, then the pressures for change are on our side.

It will take some time for the wider public to get around to this view and all of the consequences, but as one of the speakers said, Cyclists get there first!

Stuart Andrews