'Made to Move': Time to Act!

Love Your Bike

Love You Bike is calling on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to support Chris Boardman's (Greater Manchester cycling and walking commissioner) 'Made to Move: 15 steps to transform Greater Manchester' plan at the GMCA meeting on Friday 15 December.

Made to Move aims to put "people first, creating world class streets for walking, building one of the world's best cycle networks within a generation" and outlines 15 steps to achieve this goal including a commitment to establish a "ring-fenced, 10-year, £1.5 billion infrastructure fund and immediate short-term Mayor's Active Streets Fund to maintain delivery for walking and cycling."

Love Your Bike strongly supports the Made to Move plan and is encouraging people across Greater Manchester to contact their Council leaders and urge them to support the plan.

The recently published Bike Life Greater Manchester 2017 report highlighted that:

• 77% of resident’s support building more protected roadside cycle lanes, even when this could mean less space for other road traffic. 
• £70 million annual benefit to Greater Manchester from all trips currently made by bicycle.
• 86p per mile net benefit for each mile cycled instead of driven. 

More than one million cycle journeys have been made on the Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road Cycleway in Manchester since recording began in September 2016.

Pete Abel, from Love Your Bike said: "The Oxford Road route has demonstrated that when we provide safe and convenient cycle routes more people will cycle and more than 75% people in Greater Manchester support building more protected cycle lanes."

"The benefits from increased cycling and walking are clear, it is time for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to show leadership and support the Made to Move plan and provide the funds required to deliver high quality cycle schemes such as the Manchester - Chorlton Cycle Way."

Love Your Bike welcomes Andy Burnham's comment that the £243 million for transport improvements in Greater Manchester announced in the Budget could be used to improve cycling infrastructure in Greater Manchester.

Enabling more people to choose to walk or cycle can help Greater Manchester tackle congestion, physical inactivity, climate change and air pollution.

In 2012, Love Your Bike published the 'Getting moving: a cycling manifesto for Greater Manchester' supported by British Cycling, Cycling UK, Sustrans and 30 other businesses/organisations in Greater Manchester.

It contains five headline actions:

• Political leadership & governance that facilitate the transition to a cycling city 
• High standards of design to enable all people to cycle confidently and safely
• Sustained promotion of cycling as a mode of transport
• Safe cycling and safe driving through facilitation and enforcement
• Integration of cycling with other modes of transport

And called for funding of a minimum of £20 per person in Greater Manchester.