Is cycling being air-brushed from Liverpool’s future?
Green Party councillors have slammed the council for not including dedicated cycle lanes as part of the planned revamp of Lime Street. The Greens say that when the plans were consulted on last year there were better cycling facilities proposed but the latest images of the plans released by the council have scrapped the dedicated cycle lanes, preferring less safe shared space for pedestrians and cyclists instead.
Cllr Tom Crone commented
“It is unbelievable that any city council could design a significant project like this and not include dedicated routes for safe cycling. Liverpool Labour pay lip service to improving air quality and reducing Liverpool’s carbon footprint, but these plans show it is nothing more than greenwash. I would say I am shocked, but this is unfortunately par for the course for this administration. They just don’t get the environment.”
The Greens claim this is just the latest in a long list of set-backs for cycling in the city, pointing out that is often relegated to a low priority for transport funding. They have organised a demonstration outside Friday’s Combined Authority meeting to get the message to metro-mayor Steve Rotherham that he needs to get serious about promoting cycling.
Cllr Tom Crone continued
“Merseyside has the highest number of cyclists killed or seriously injured of any metropolitan borough in the country. It just isn’t good enough. We are calling on all cyclists to join us on Friday 14th December at 9.30am outside 1 Mann Island to demand a proper plan for cycling. Please come on your bikes if you can!”
Refs:
Merseyside worst for cyclist casualties – https://wacm.org.uk/32.html
Original plans with segregated cycle path consulted on and agreed with cycling community input –
https://liverpool.gov.uk/parking-travel-and-roads/better-roads/better-roads-schemes/lcss-phase-one-lime-st-to-the-strand/
Plans circulated yesterday with shared space. This often leads to conflict between pedestrains and cyclists – https://twitter.com/Regen_Lpool/status/1072071238695174155