Agenda item

Councillor Diana Holl-Allen presented a report which detailed the performance, operation and delivery of the West Midlands Cycling Charter initiatives. She commented that it was an ambitious plan working towards £283 million expenditure over a ten year package of cycling initiatives.

Hannah Dayan explained the various elements of the report.

Councillor David Stanley observed that the role of ‘Cycling Champion’ had previously been undertaken by Councillor Peter Lowe and suggested that this role now be taken by Councillor Roger Lawrence, Portfolio Lead for Transport. Councillor Judith Rowley expressed concern that the role of Cycling and Walking Commissioner was not being progressed. She commented that both London and Manchester had such positions. Laura Shoaf explained that no decision had yet been taken on this matter, that the situation in the West Midlands was different to that in London and that the role had yet to be determined.

Councillor Pervez Akhtar commented that all parties were convinced of the importance of cycling and that delivering the various initiatives was important. He reminded the Committee of the Mayor’s aspirations to increase expenditure on cycling to £10 per head of population. He requested that the Mayor attend a future meeting of the Committee to report on the future of cycling and its role in improving health, quality of life, air quality and reducing noise pollution. The Chair agreed to invite the Mayor to attend a future meeting of the Committee.

Councillor Mohammed Hanif welcomed the report but commented that only three voluntary organisation within the Dudley MBC area were involved in delivering activities and/or encouraging more people to continue to take up cycling and walking as a form of active travel as well as a way of promoting healthy active living. He enquired how this was promoted and if feedback was received from the voluntary organisations. Hannah Dayan explained that the voluntary organisations referred to in the report were those that worked currently with the respective local authorities. She advised that Transport for West Midlands did not have a lot of inter-action with these voluntary organisations as they worked with the local authorities. The list of organisations was updated as necessary based on information from the local authorities.

Councillor Mohammed Hanif enquired whether the various health groups were approached. Hannah Dayan explained that this was a decision of the local authorities.  Sandeep Shingadia suggested that these matters could be raised with the Cycle Charter Group and the methods of capturing feedback could be explored.

Councillor Timothy Huxtable commented that on 24 November 2017 a sum of £30 million had been allocated for HS2 Road Safety schemes in Birmingham, Solihull, Staffordshire and Warwickshire and requested that further details be included in a future report to the Committee. Sandeep Shingadia advised that the announcement had been made after the Agenda and supporting papers had been despatched and that the monies had been allocated to the respective local authorities and not the WMCA.

Resolved:

1.    That the progress to date with the West Midlands Cycling Charter Action Plan be noted;

2.    That the Chair invite the Mayor to attend a future meeting of the Committee to report on the future of cycling and its role in improving health, quality of life, air quality and reducing noise pollution.