City of York Council rejects bike champion plea (From York Press)
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City of York Council rejects bike champion plea
9:06am Saturday 25th February 2012 in Cycling
By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter
YORK council chiefs have dismissed a Government minister’s call for a “cycling commissioner” to be appointed to make the city’s roads safer.
Transport Minister Norman Baker said every city should have such a cycling chief, even those without an elected mayor.
However, he stressed that the final decision on whether to appoint someone into the role should rest with local authorities.
City of York Council used to have “cycling champions”, whose role was to act on behalf of the local community to ensure the authority fully considered cyclists and cycling in its policy-making.
in 2009, Conservative councillor Joe Watt quit as cycling champion after a year in the position, revealing he had felt uneasy in the role and claiming that York was becoming “anti-car”.
He was replaced in the job by Green Party leader Andy D’Agorne, but the council then axed the champion’s roles in May last year.
Council leader James Alexander said yesterday such champions “lacked the teeth’” required to effect real change in their respective areas.
He said such responsibilities would therefore be taken on by the relevant cabinet members who had the authority to take meaningful decisions.
He said: “In terms of cycling, we couldn’t have more of a champion for cycling in the city than the current cabinet member for city strategy, Coun Dave Merrett, who’s campaigned for better cycling routes and other provision for cyclists for the best part of 30 years.
“He’s leading on developing the new £4.6 million Intelligent Travel York initiative off the back of the successes of the former Cycling City York, and leading on work with transport partners across the city to improve sustainable travel in York, so I see no need to create another position for responsibilities Coun Merrett has already taken on.”
Comments(17)
roskoboskovic
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9:24am Sat 25 Feb 12
gurgles
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9:44am Sat 25 Feb 12
Fat Harry
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11:19am Sat 25 Feb 12
Someone needs to check their sense of perspective, I think.
Or are the CTC organising pogroms against motor show rooms as a precursor to the mass extermination of car drivers?
Von_Dutch
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11:38am Sat 25 Feb 12
pedalling paul
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11:39am Sat 25 Feb 12
Pete the Brickie
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1:58pm Sat 25 Feb 12
Bigsharn
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2:54pm Sat 25 Feb 12
roskoboskovic wrote:The minority? There are more cyclists in York than there are motorists. (ie. most motorists have a bicycle as well as a car)
much respect to joe watt who refused to join the cycling nazis and who had the foresight to see what was happening in york.it is unhealthy for a minority to have such influence and just because that most pretentious of cyclists david cameron insists that cyclists should be given more protection it doesn t mean that they should be given preference over other road users.
Cyclists should have more protection, as should pedestrians, and the council is ignoring this in the majority of their road designs
Bigsharn
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2:56pm Sat 25 Feb 12
Theendoftheworld
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3:03pm Sat 25 Feb 12
Bigsharn
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3:10pm Sat 25 Feb 12
Theendoftheworld wrote:Fair enough, but the majority I know use their bikes to get around town, then cars when they need to go shopping/want a day out. Just going on personal experience ofc.
Bit of a sweeping statement Bigsharn. I don't know ANY motorists who have bikes.
magic cat
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5:17pm Sat 25 Feb 12
pedalling paul wrote:Then can someone tell me why Tracey Simpson Laing has been appointed as the Older Person's Champion - whatever that is or does?
All the "Champion" roles came under scrutiny when Labour took office. In many respects they were ineffective, as the incumbents had extremely limited powers to press their respective causes......
cherokee
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5:10pm Sun 26 Feb 12
Bigsharn
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5:17pm Sun 26 Feb 12
sounds like plenty of taxation to me
Sillybillies
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5:43pm Sun 26 Feb 12
Cyclists pay Council tax, for the mostpart income tax and the VAT on their bicycles' cost.
sounds like plenty of taxation to me
Nothing like the amount of VAT car owners pay on the cost of their cars, plus the VEL and the crippling cost of VAT and other taxes on fuel. Yet in York alone many hundreds of thousands of pounds are squandered on cycling provision for very few cyclists.
meme
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4:34pm Mon 27 Feb 12
However i cycle approx 50% of the time and use car the rest of the time
There is a place for cycling and the car. However I dont need thousands spent on cycle lanes etc to find a safe route across the City. I use my common sense and inbuilt sense of self preservation and so far have not been hit/hit anyone else/been shouted at or vice versa so fail to see why the two road users seem to hate one another?
Is one cross because in cars its warm whilst the other angry because out of cars its faster but colder?
Live and let live and stop wasting money on stupid schemes that just get lots of peoples backs up
Bigsharn
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8:22pm Mon 27 Feb 12
In short, cyclists pay a fair share of tax for what they use. I admit SOME VED goes on road upkeep, but this will pay for maintenance on motorways, rather than urban streets.
(That's what Poll/Council tax is for)
Theendoftheworld says...
9:13am Sat 25 Feb 12